Mini Bacon Tomato Toasts

Printable version

I think my favorite things to make in the kitchen are bite-sized savory snacks. It’s easier to experiment with tiny treats because it’s just one bite, and you’re not committed to filling your belly with it. This allows room to work with a new ingredient or add a little more heat than usual. A small snack with some spicy fire is much more tolerable than an entire main course, which can affect a person for hours afterward.

For this recipe, I make a bite sized play on the classic BLT. I use cherry tomatoes with bacon on little toasted bread rounds cut from a slice of bread. I replace the lettuce with a sprinkle of cilantro and add a special mayonnaise based sauce featuring smoky chipotle pepper, to compliment the bacon, and the juice and zest of lime to brighten up the flavor. The combination of the sauce and cilantro give this little mini bacon sandwich a spicy southwestern flavor that will help make a plate of these disappear as fast as common sense from a newly elected member of congress.

BEHIND THIS BITE

Mini Bacon Tomato Toasts

I rarely muse about my writing process, but I have a little insight to my thought process. For three years, while I lived in New York, I performed stand up comedy, which was long enough to have a few minutes of decent jokes to perform.

Good stand up is really about good writing, when I sat down to write new material I would start with a story and look for opportunities to insert something witty. Once I found a spot for a joke I would write several different punch lines until I found something that I thought would get laughs, often I would come up with a number of lines before I found the one that I wanted to perform.

I do the same thing when writing for my column and blog. I had an opportunity for a smart-ass comment in the last line of the intro. I ended up with the comment about common sense and politicians, which was my favorite line among many, that I brain stormed through. Here are some of the others that didn’t make the cut:

... help make a plate of these disappear faster than a crowd of teenagers from beer bash in the woods busted by the cops.

... help make a plate of these go down faster than glasses of beer on penny draft night at the local college bar.

... help make a plate of these disappear faster than a pocket full of change at convention for pan handlers.

... help make a plate of these disappear faster than free bullets at a gun convention.

... help make a plate of these go down faster than a 777 out of gas over the Indian Ocean. (ok, too soon)

I think I chose the best one.

Eat well, cook often ...

THE RECIPE

Mini Bacon Tomato Toasts

Makes 24; 45 minutes
1/2 C Mayonnaise, plus more for bread
2 Tbs Chipotle in adobo, minced
zest and juice of 1 Lime
8 slices Bacon
8 slices White bread
1/2 pint Cherry tomatoes halved
1/2 C Cilantro chopped

Make sauce, cook bacon
In a bowl combine the mayo, chipotle, zest and juice of lime. Place in refrigerator at least 30 minutes for flavors to meld. Place bacon on a broiler pan and cook 15 minutes until crisp in a pre-heated 425° oven. Cut strips into thirds.

Cut, toast bread
With a cookie cutter portion three rounds out of a each slice of white bread, making 24 total. Coat each side with a little mayo. In batches, toast in a hot pan until golden brown, flipping halfway through.

Assemble
On toasted rounds layer bacon, sauce, cherry tomato and garnish with cilantro. Then serve.

The New York Club Pizza

A typical New York slice of pizza has a thin layer of sauce and a simple blend of Italian cheeses as toppings. The crust is thin, making it easy to fold into a taco shape for eating efficiency. It’s the opposite of Chicago-style deep dish pizza which is more likely to be consumed with a knife and fork.

Printable version

There were many times when I lived in the Big Apple that I needed a meal quick, and a warm slice was much easier to eat while walking to my destination than a burger and fries from a fast food joint – just fold it and go. When it is eaten like a taco you never have to put it down, but it has to be held carefully, otherwise, you’ll have stuff running down your forearm. It was and still is one of my favorites bites.

For this recipe, I make a simple New York style pizza, but I top it with another favorite – a BLT. The bacon goes on before it is baked and the lettuce, tomato and mayo sauce go on the after it comes out of the oven. The cool and fresh toppings create a sandwich-like experience on a slice of pizza.

BEHIND THIS BITE

The closest restaurant to get food at my first apartment in New York was a place called Twins pizza. It was owned by an Italian family that had twin sons. The father was always working in back making pizzas while the twins worked the counter. I always suspected the place was a front for organized crime (which is always a first assumption in New York) because every time I went to get a slice of pizza the only people in the place where the families of the Twins. Plus, both the twins had sports cars that they often parked out front. The walls of the place were adorned with pictures of the twins standing next to New York sports celebrities from the Mets and Rangers. (I'm sure the place was legitimate, the foot traffic that passed by was probably enough to keep a couple of families well fed.)

I soon discovered that the pizza at Twins was almost identical to nearly every other mom and pop pizza shop in New York City. The best deal was a regular slice for a $1.50 - which was a large slice of thin crusted cheese pizza. You could get other toppings on the slice for a little extra, garlic knots and other pizza parlor staples. That is the basic menu of every pizza joint in New York. I always got a chuckle out of people who claimed one pizza place was better than another, because to me they were all virtually identical. Much like the brothers who worked the counter at Twins.

If you are ever in New York, I highly recommend getting a basic slice from two or three different pizza parlors. There are slight differences in the lightness of the crust and the amount of sauce and cheese on a slice, but they will all taste nearly the same - and will always hit the spot. The New York slice is a home run every time no matter what local pizza joint you choose.

Eat well, cook often ...