Obviously, a BLT is nothing new or earth shattering. But I like to remind people that ingredients as simple as bacon, lettuce, tomato, homemade mayo, and whole-grain bread, when made with great ingredients and based on great products, can create a sandwich that is so much better than the sum of its parts.
Now that a lot of us have access to really great pastured eggs, we should not be afraid of the raw egg and boldly go forward and make our own mayonnaise. Homemade mayo is simple and quick and much superior in flavor to store bought. And especially now, as we're finding out that canola oils and refined oils could be more detrimental than we thought, I like knowing exactly what goes into my sandwich spread.
The hard-boiled egg can be something special when pickled, with a beautiful tan outer layer and a bright-orange, creamy and delicious, barely cooked-through yolk.
Combine 2 cups water with all the pickled eggs ingredients in a quart-size Mason jar, seal, and refrigerate for 2 days. Makes 6 pickled eggs. Extras?
You can leave the eggs in the pickling liquid for up to 1 month; the longer you leave them, the more pickled (and spicy!) they’ll become. Then remove them from the pickling liquid, cover, and refrigerate for up to a week.
In a medium bowl, combine the coconut oil, bacon fat, and olive oil. In a food processor, mince the garlic. With the motor running, add the eggs one by one. In a thin, steady stream, add the liquid from the pickled jalapeños, then add the oil/bacon fat mixture. Do this in a thin, steady stream with the motor running, in order to keep the mayo from breaking. Season with salt and pepper. Makes 3 cups.
Thinly cut 2 of the pickled eggs into horizontal (long) slices. Spread some of the homemade mayonnaise on one side of each of the 4 slices of bread. I like to assemble each sandwich to be as tidy as possible: Nestle half of the sliced pickled egg into the mayo on 1 slice of bread, then nestle the tomato slices into the mayo on another slice. Layer the bacon on the egg and the lettuce on the tomatoes. Season the tomatoes with a little salt (not too much!) and a bit of cracked pepper, if you like. Sandwich together the 2 slices of bread and serve.