My “almost” BLT panino: Bacon truly is the best!

I bought some bacon from the grocery store the other day and soon enough was faced with a dilemma: How to best use it? My husband is not a fan of bacon – he leaves for work early every day and finds it very difficult to eat a food as “heavy” as bacon at 4 o’clock in the morning. I was therefore left with quite a few slices of bacon. I ate a couple and then decided to use the bacon in a BLT sandwich or panino, so I went back to the store and bought a poppy seed bread roll and some Gouda cheese. I noticed they had yellow tomatoes on sale and got some of those too. Of course, being pregnant and very absent-minded, I totally forgot about the lettuce 🙂 It was too late to go back though, so I left the lettuce out and only relied on the bacon to deliver that much-needed element of crispiness.

I also used some spicy mustard I had in the fridge, which was a good choice since it provided an excellent hot “kick” which contrasted nicely with the mellow flavor of the cheese.

Ingredients

1 poppy seed bread roll (you can use any other bread of your choice)

4 slices cooked bacon

2 slices Gouda cheese

2 small yellow tomatoes

2 tsp spicy mustard

Cut the bread roll in half and brush each half with spicy mustard. Fold the bacon and put two slices on each half of the bread roll. Put the cheese slices on top of the bacon, on the half roll which will make up the bottom of the panino. Add the sliced yellow tomatoes on top of the cheese. Place the other half roll with the remaining two slices of bacon on top of the first half. Grill the panino for about 30 seconds, or until the bread roll is golden-brown.

This is how the preparation process looks like:

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Cut the panino in half and serve it with extra spicy mustard on the side.

What a difference a combo makes! In combination with the fresh tomatoes and the spicy mustard, the bacon gained a lightness which made it very appealing. It was as if suddenly a burden had been lifted, and the bacon – which had previously been endowed with a “meaty heaviness” – became supple and playful while keeping its protein-packed content. Meanwhile, the cheese added a delicious element of gooey goodness, which the cheeseaholic in me found extremely satisfying. 

This is a panino that will warm your stomach and will lighten up your thoughts. In my opinion, it’s the perfect “fast” food to enjoy straight from the grill on a chilly November evening 🙂

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