BLT bean salad

B is for bacon gremolata, L is for shred-tuce, T is for tomato vinaigrette.

The beauty of a BLT is beyond the bacon, lettuce and tomato. In fact, we should actually start calling it BLT for blissfully layered toastie or beautiful little treasure. It is a national treasure, after all! It’s the crunchy olive oil toasted sourdough combined with the juiciness of an in-season tomato sliced into thick rounds and the crispy-ness of golden bacon, all married into one bite. It’s peak summer enjoyment and it’s beautiful in it’s simplicity, especially with a freshly squeezed lemonade - or, make it a lychee lemonade and now we are talking!

Now I hope you are excited about this as much as I am, but a BLT in a salad with beans, toasted sourdough bread torn and toasted in rendered bacon fat, crispy bacon added through italian gremolata and tomatoes in the form of a juicy tomato vinaigrette and thick slices of heirloom tomato is kind of heavenly. I’m still 100% here for the sandwich, but this makes for cute summer outdoor dinners. Put this salad down on the table on an evening in June alongside chargrilled chicken, a pitcher of lychee lemonade and some fries while we’re at it.

I adore displaying the tomatoes this way with bacon gremolata sprinkled over the top. Each serving gets a thick slice of heirloom tomato, basking in salt plenty of time beforehand so it’s perfectly seasoned. The classic tart tomato vinaigrette brings liveliness to the beans and allows for the essence of tomato to dress the entirety of the salad.