Another BLT (Bacon, Lettuce, Tomato) Salad

Contains:  Nightshades,   Is:  Quick and easy, gluten-free.

For me, bread is NOT the staff of life.  I am fine with eating breads, but I don’t have an overwhelming desire to need to eat them.  So, once again, I present a BLT salad devoid of breads.  A major benefit is that it took less than no time to make.  Fry the bacon, and while doing so, chop up the rest of the ingredients, arrange on your plate, finish that bacon, coarsely chop it and layer over the top of the dish, and jump in to eat.

I do provide a suggestion to adapt this salad to a sandwich at the bottom of this post, should you desire.

This one comes with pumpkin seeds and with  a request for a good quality horseradish sauce.  (I don’t like the Kraft version, which to me tastes rather artificial – you may have to hunt for the best variety in your area.)   I DO plan on making my own variant for this within the next month! But there are some good ones out there for sale.

To make this, I highly recommend using tomatoes from your own garden, or from a nearby farmer’s market.  It is still tomato season up here, and the supermarket ones are geared to outward longevity in the bins, but not towards flavor.

I like just about any variety of crispy lettuce with this.  Here, adding those pumpkin seeds adds just a bit more crunch.  You can substitute with pine nuts (I can no longer eat those, unfortunately), if you’d prefer.

Amounts are to your whim in this recipe.  Expand or contract depending on your desire.  I used cilantro, but fresh basil would be really good in this dish!

Prep Time:  10 minutes.
Cook Time:  Bacon cooking time, maybe 10 minutes.
Rest Time:  No.
Serves:  1 – just multiply for more!
Cuisine: American, I guess.
Leftovers:  No, bacon and lettuce will go soggy.

Another BLT (Bacon, Lettuce and Tomato) Salad

INGREDIENTS:

• 2 slices bacon.
• 1 large, tasty tomato – heirloom or at least locally grown.
• Leaves from a crispy lettuce.  (Romaine, iceberg, or other)
• 2 or 3 tablespoons of roasted pumpkin seeds (or pine nuts if preferred)
• Ground pepper to taste.  
• A teaspoon or so of apple cider vinegar
• 2 teaspoons of extra virgin olive oil (or of avocado oil)
• A couple tablespoons of creamy horseradish sauce.  
• Fresh cilantro or basil leaves for garnish. 

METHOD:

Prepare the bacon by your favorite method – I prefer to pan fry mine as I can watch for proper done-ness.  Preferentially cook to crispy but not burnt.

Meanwhile, prep the other ingredients – remove the bottom of the tomato, and any bad spots, and chop coarsely.  For large lettuce leaves, break up into smaller chunks as needed, by hand.  Scatter the above onto your dish.  Sprinkle the pumpkin seeds over.  Splash on the oil and vinegar, and then add the horseradish sauce in scattered dollops.

You can add the cilantro / basil leaves now, or after the bacon.  For the bacon, drain on a paper towel, then break up the pieces over the salad.  For the herbal garnish, coarsely tear the leaves to add.  (Cilantro stems are just as good as the leaves, if you are using them.)

Dig in, and enjoy!  (PS, if you like a little salt, go for it.)

Oh, PS:  If you do want to adapt this recipe to a BLT on toast:

METHOD TO SERVE ON TOAST:

Prepare everything as above, but omit the oil and vinegar.

Choose a good quality bread (ie, perhaps a bakery or homemade sourdough or rye), slice medium slices, and toast these slices.

On both inner slices of toast, spread the horseradish sauce.

Add the other ingredients in between.  (The veggie and bacon slices need not be broken up as much as they are in the salad presented above.)

Close up the sandwich, slice it on the diagonal (to be stylish) and enjoy, still warm.

This post links to: 

• • Full Plate Thursday
  • Fiesta Friday
  • Farmhouse Friday
  • What’s for Dinner – Sunday Link-Up