Monday, August 17, 2009

Canadian Breakfast BLT’s

One of my favorite morning sandwiches is the elusive breakfast BLT. I don’t know why they aren’t on every menu, as tomato and mayonnaise are the perfect complement to fried eggs. I love to make these on the weekends, and it holds you over until a late lunch quite nicely. Since we were in Canada, I decided to do a bit of a twist on my usual, eh. At the small local grocery store, the meat selection is surprisingly fresh, and local. Not a BIG selection, but there were some great finds, PLUS they wrap them in paper and tie it with butcher twine. AMAZING. Oh, and I forgot to mention, the deli workers were nice. Really nice. What a breath of fresh Canadian air (especially after the Chez Piggy debacle).

So when I saw peameal bacon, I knew it had to be tried. Peameal bacon is basically uncooked Canadian bacon with a corn meal crust. It is not smoked, like most of the Canadian bacon we get in the States. It is also not called Canadian bacon, rather, just bacon (we don’t ask for American Bacon here either). So I wanted to try a method that would keep the peameal bacon from becoming tough and dry, a common problem with the smoked variety.


To combat this, I fried it in butter, and every couple of minutes I would pour in a bit of water and a bit more butter. This combo helped it steam/fry, and it browned up quite nicely. Cook time was around 20 minutes, and this gave me a chance to focus on the other preparations. I WAS cooking for 6 after all.


Luckily on our way in, we came across a farmer selling his farm fresh produce, and he had some beautiful tomatoes we picked up, along with Canadian sweet corn (aka peaches and cream), some serious blueberries, and some small potatoes. The Canadian peaches and cream corn is indigenous to the area of Ontario we were staying, and it is spectacular. The kernels are speckled white and yellow; it is some truly sweet, delicious corn on the cob.


I was able to slice these delicious tomatoes (that only summer can produce) and cook some onions in the renderings of my beautifully browned Canadian bacon simultaneously. I toasted some wheat bread from the exquisite small bakery in town, washed some fresh Romaine, and (last but certainly not least) prepared a few fried eggs over medium. The way that the yoke partly drips through the sandwich (lightly coating the other ingredients) makes the healthy splash of mayo even more indulgent, and its soaking into the crisply toasted bread keeps me coming back to this delicious breakfast treat time and time again. With the tomato and lettuce, you fool yourself (only slightly) into believing it is a bit healthier than your traditional breakfast sandwich!


Assembly instructions:
I always go mayo, and I always elect to moderately slather both pieces of bread. I just think that if I am eating a sandwich, it better not be dry, and toast’s lack of moisture has a tendency to really dry out your mouth (especially in the morning). After those slices are satisfactorily mayo-ed, I place the fried egg directly on the bottom one. Salt and pepper the egg. Put the slow-cooked onions on top of that, then add the bacon (whichever kind you are using). Next, I go with lettuce and then top the pile with tomato, so that it’s touching mayo-ed bread. Now, if you prefer your tomatoes to be touching egg or bacon, I understand completely. You build it for you. I tend to switch it up according to what the ingredients are like on that particular day. Just make sure you use plenty of mayo, and you don’t skimp on the meat!

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