Open Face Roasted Tomato BLT's

Last night I made these open faced BLT's - they sounded and looked so good in the magazine (Food Network) but they weren't an A+++. They were good but not the best BLT I've ever put in my mouth. I would give them a B... so they are tasty just not FANTASTICALLY irresistible. You can find the original recipe here: BLT's.  I changed a few things and here is how I made them...

Open Faced BLT's

ingredients
• 4 plum tomatoes, halved lengthwise
• Kosher salt & freshly ground black pepper
• EVOO (extra virgin olive oil)
• 1/3 cup homemade mayo (recipe to follow)
• 1 tbsp horseradish
• 1small head savoy cabbage, sliced
• 1/4 small red onion, thinly sliced
• 8 slices thick cut apple wood bacon
• 4 slices thick cut bread (I used whole wheat)
• 1 tbsp fresh dill
• 1 tsp red wine vinegar

directions
1. Preheat the oven to 250º. Place a cooling rack on top of a baking sheet. Arrange the tomatoes, cut side up, on top of the racks. Drizzle with some olive oil, salt & pepper to taste. Roast until slightly dry around the edges of the tomatoes which will take about 3 hours, 30 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool. If you think you will be short on  time you can do this the day before and store them in the fridge.

2. Whisk the mayo, horseradish & pepper to taste, cover and store in fridge.

3. Toss the cabbage, red onion, 1 tbsp water and 1/2 tsp salt in a colander and set over a bowl. Let the cabbage drain and it will begin to soften for about 30 - 45 minutes. Rinse completely and pat dry. It's a good idea to squeeze out any excess liquid as well. Note:  I only let the cabbage sit for 20 minutes and it would've been more tender so let it sit 30-45 minutes.

4. You can either fry the bacon in a skillet or you can roast it in the oven which I prefer. To roast the bacon click HERE for recipe. Make sure to reserve about 1 tsp of the bacon drippings regardless of how you cook the bacon.

5. Toast the slices of bread. Toss the cabbage/onion mixture with 1 tsp bacon drippings, dill, vinegar, S&P in a bowl. On each piece of bread spread some horseradish, mayo, 2 slices bacon, 2 tomato halves and top with the cabbage mixture. Drizzle with a tiny bit of bacon drippings if desired.

Homemade MAYO
1 cup

Homemade Mayo

ingredients
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1 large egg yolk at room temp
• 1 tbsp distilled white vinegar
• kosher salt & pepper

directions
Combine the 2 oils in a glass measuring cup. Whisk the egg yolk and the vinegar together in a glass bowl, add 1/4 tsp salt. Whisking constantly slowly drizzle the oil into the bowl until it's smooth and thick. If the oil is not emulsifying then stop adding the oil and whisk the mixture until combined. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Store in air tight container in fridge for up to 4 days.

Wow! This came out really good even though my arm is still really sore from all the whisking... it's funny because about halfway through whisking the oil into the egg yolk I thought why in the heck am I not using my stand mixer with the whisk attachment. I had a moment and just finished by hand... note to self. I would imagine you could flavor this with all sorts of things but per the recipe it only lasts for 4 days in the fridge so you would have to use it up fast!


Enjoy!