Bacon. Poached Eggs. Avocado. Fresh, sweet, cherry tomatoes. Tender baby lettuce. Sliced sourdough bread that has been brushed with olive oil and toasted outside on the grill until it is just the right amount of charred. You’re with me, right? Yes, this is Eggs Benedict meets BLT meets Guacamole…it’s the perfect mash-up of some of my favorite comfort foods, all on one lucky plate. So move over, regular Eggs Benedict…the BLT Benedict is in town!
You want to soft cook the poached eggs so they are just the right amount of runny, because they are going to take the place of the million calorie and tricky-to-make hollandaise sauce that usually goes on Eggs Benedict. And if you have never made poached eggs before, I promise that you can. The short form of my super easy approach to poached eggs is in the recipe below, but click here if you want to see the step by step process. It will change your poached egg life forever!
Meantime, you are going to marinate those gorgeous baby tomatoes and the avocado in a little dressing of garlic, fresh chopped parsley, olive oil and a teeny bit of wine vinegar. That’s where you get just a little of the guacamole taste…not exactly the real thing, but a close cousin.
Now send someone reliable out to the grill to toast up the sourdough bread…or any other substantial bread that you have on hand. One slice per person, because this is an open-faced sandwich. (I’m going through an open-faced sandwich phase right now. I love them.) And if you don’t have a grill or just don’t want to, a toaster will work just fine.
Cook up the bacon and the poached egg in the meantime. Or do it in any order you like – one of the great things about this sandwich is that you can make the other stuff ahead of time and have it at room temperature and save cooking the egg for the very end.
Now the assembly: spread a little mayo on the grilled bread, then layer on some some lettuce, then the bacon, then some of the tomato mixture. Pop an egg on top and break it just enough for the yolk to spread over the whole thing. Drop a few more tomatoes on top. It’s going to be the one of the best things you ever tasted, I promise. Almost as good as a practically empty jar of peanut butter.
Almost.
Here’s the recipe!
BLT Benedict!
- 1 cup halved grape tomatoes
- 1 avocado, diced
- 1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley
- 1 garlic clove, minced
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- Salt and pepper to taste
- 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar, divided
- 4 large eggs
- ¼ cup mayonnaise
- 4 slices sourdough or other hearty sandwich bread, brushed with olive oil and grilled until toasted (or if you MUST, you can put them in the toaster!)
- 3 cups baby lettuce
- 12 thick bacon slices, cooked
- Combine tomatoes and next five ingredients and 2½ tsp. red wine vinegar in a small bowl.
- Fill a large deep skillet with water and bring to a simmer. Break each egg into a separate small bowl or teacup and slip into the water. Cover immediately, remove from heat and let sit for 4-5 minutes, depending upon how firm you like your poached egg. Remove with a slotted spoon.
- Spread mayonnaise on one side of each bread slice. Layer each with ½ cup lettuce, 2 bacon slices, some of the tomato mixture and one egg. Top with remaining tomato mixture and serve at once.