Has it been this long? Really?! OK, let’s get on with it...sandwiches..simple. This little concoction has everything I love. Some ways to make this more whole foods friendly are to use uncured bacon (basically, all the goodness of smoky, salty bacon without the nitrates) and use a legitimate sprouted whole grain brain like Ezekiel. The delight of this sammie is the combo of all the ingredients. I highly recommend using all of them. Tomato jam sounds fancy but you’ll see how simple and delicious it is. In fact, it’s awesome on almost anything...burgers, alongside steak, chicken. Really, anything. Swap out another cheese if you’re not into the amazing taste of sheep’s milk Manchego, but I like how it stands up to the unctuous avocado and bacon.
On to semantics. Technically, I don't "grill" this sandwich as you would with a typical grilled cheese. I melt the cheese on the bread then build the sandwich with the remaining ingredients. I'm not into warm avocado or greens, but if you want to heat the whole shebang, have at it. Heat a griddle pan or large frying pan over medium heat and lightly grease with butter or some leftover bacon grease. Add composed sandwich and toast each side until cheese is melted.
Serve it solo or alongside your favorite soup. Pop this recipe into the rotation and I know you’ll be happy.
2 slices whole grain bread
4-6 slices bacon
¼ avocado, smashed
Enough Manchego cheese to cover each slice of bread
10-12 grape or cherry tomatoes, sliced in half
Handful of spinach or other greens
- Line a plate with paper towels and set aside. Heat large skillet on high. Add bacon slices and fry for a few minutes on each side. Cook longer if you like crispy bacon. Once the bacon is cooked to your liking, turn off the heat.
- Remove bacon from skillet and place on paper towels to absorb excess grease.
- Carefully drain off all but enough bacon grease to coat the bottom of pan. I like to ball up some paper towels and, using tongs, sop up the grease I don’t need, and just toss the paper towels in the trash.
- Re-heat the pan to medium and add tomatoes. Cook until tomatoes break down and are the consistency of jam. Taste and add any salt, black pepper or crushed red pepper you like.
- Grate or thinly slice the cheese and, using a toaster oven or broiler, melt the cheese on each slice of bread.
- While the cheese is melting, slice avocado and using a fork, mash the avocado until spreadable. Season if you’d like, but consider the salt in the bacon and cheese.
- Assembly time. There’s no wrong way to do this, but I like to build sandwiches with ingredients on both sides of the bread with the meat and greens in the middle. On each slice: spread avocado on top of the melted cheese, then tomato jam, greens and finally bacon. Combine each side and boom. Magic.
Enjoy! I most definitely did…
MJM
