BLT - Better than Lettuce and Tomato
On Acid and Resisting Resistance
Recipe - BLT, But Vastly Improved
Words fall quite flat.
I don’t wait to write.
I want to walk, by myself, along the trail by the sea at dusk.
I want to stop and watch a hermit crab cross, small green shell floating above the mud.
I want to walk, and stop to watch the hermit crab, and walk a bit longer, and turn around to go home.
I want to eat dinner in the dark kitchen, leaning against the counter.
I want to read a novel about characters very different from myself.
I want to sleep deeply on top of the covers, until dusk the next day, and maybe I’ll go for a walk.
I exchange regular emails with an older man named G. He’s a progressive pastor in California, and runs a bible study which has been stuck on the book of Job for as long as I’ve known him. His emails to me are insightful, funny, and paternal. My emails to him often read like the frenzied last words of a person awaiting execution.
He wrote, recently,
“… the key to dealing with any kind of resistance – any kind of tension between you and your world -- is first to not mind it. Not put a lot energy into resisting it. “Resisting the resistance” good one! Beyond that, if you understand “resistance” not as resistance=a bad thing, but rather as resistance=a gift from the Great Whatev telling you exactly where you need to focus your soul’s attention – if you really get that and learn to work with those energies, you will always be moving in the direction of your highest good. That makes for an ultimately fulfilling way to spend your minutes. Not a lot of folks get that kind of a path. It’s not particularly easy. There is a kind of freedom – a kind of release - in doing that work, though. Seems like maybe you and the things you resist got some talkin’ to do.”
Resistance is a way of life, and I’ve become exceptionally skilled. Resisting pain, boredom, truth, hunger, desire. There are a thousand things to resist and a thousand more ways to do so.
My girlfriend is a marketer, and speaks in acronyms that are largely mysterious to me, but I care about her interests, so I’ll call this a CTA: Admit you’re hungry. Out Loud.
Anthony Bourdain has an excellent prelude to a recipe in Appetites. He touches upon the many structural flaws of a club sandwich, which he considers to be the worst among sandwiches.
Many of the issues Bourdain raises also apply to the BLT- unevenly distributed, slippery, elusive ingredients just tenuously held together the bread make it a peril. This sandwich is the answer to your BLT disappointments. By switching the lettuce and traditional pork bacon for kale and turkey/tempeh bacon, we add protein and fiber to this meal, and we satisfy the tastes of yours truly, and by chopping the kale to a paste and pulsing the tomato into an emulsion, we’re able to ensure each component is present in every bite, and infuse them with the flavor of all of our aromatics. Finished with the brightness of yellow California chilis and fresh lemon, this sandwich is a welcome departure from the single note that is the source material.
BLT - BETTER than LETTUCE and TOMATO
Prep & Cook time: Less than 5 minutes
Serves 1
INGREDIENTS
3 strips turkey bacon or tempeh bacon
two slices high quality sourdough
Grass fed butter
Bright kale spread:
1 small handful Kale
2-3 strips of culantro (a small handful of cilantro would work as well)
1-2 California pickled yellow chili (if you can’t find these, pepperoncini works fine, but they’re kind of the star of the show)
1/4 small red onion
2-3 tbsp Mayo (full fat, please)
Lemon juice, salt, + pepper to taste
Garlicky tomato emulsion:
1 handful (6-7) cherry tomato
1 clove raw garlic
4 tbsp Olive oil
Salt to taste
DIRECTIONS
To create the kale spread:
Add your ingredients directly to a cutting board
Chop your culantro, kale, onion, and peppers into a fine paste, mixing in the mayo and as you go
Season to taste
To create the tomato emulsion:
Add ingredients to a high speed blender
Pulse for just six seconds to maintain a chunkier texture
Toast 2 slices of sourdough, and 4 slices of turkey or tempeh bacon, and assemble your sandwich.
Serve with an extra dish of that tomato emulsion for dipping, and a cold glass of dry sparkling wine.