Deconstructed BLT with Eggs

I love to cook and I love to read cookbooks.  I am also a somewhat-obsessive planner, organizer, and list maker.  Every Saturday I sit down with a stack of cookbooks and plan meals for my husband (Paul) and I for the entire week.  I don’t always stick to the schedule (things come up!), but I do enjoy making it.  I also love hosting and planning dinner parties, but those happen with much less frequency.  

I started this blog on a whim.  Paul showed me an article about Tuesdays with Dorie, which I used as an excuse to buy her Baking book, but that group was closed so I decided to use that as an excuse to buy Around My French Table and join the French Fridays with Dorie group.  I am starting this blog to document my attempts to keep up with that group, as well as to document other cooking projects.

I do most of my cooking on Sundays.  I’ll generally block out a few hours to cook something for dinner that I wouldn’t have time for during the week, and also to start some of the dinners for the week.  I knew I wanted to bake the bread for this recipe (since I discovered Jim Lahey’s no-knead bread I barely ever buy bread anymore), so I got the dough started on Saturday.  Sunday morning Paul woke up earlier than I did so he started the second rise (thank you, Paul) and I finished up the bread when I woke up.

Basic No Knead Bread

I started cooking pretty early this Sunday because we had Wilco tickets at night.  I roasted, chopped, and froze a bunch of green peppers that we got from the CSA and had to use up.  Then I cooked dinner for one night this week, using up CSA turnips (with their greens) and pak choi in a Deborah Madison recipe (a mash of potatoes, turnips, and goat cheese, smothered with greens cooked with well-browned onions).  

After that was finished, I started the Deconstructed BLT with Eggs recipe.  I immediately realized that I had forgotten to take the egg out (I always forget!  and mayonnaise really doesn’t work unless the egg is at room temperature), so I got that out before getting started.  I hard boiled the eggs using Sara Moulton’s method (cover with water, bring to boil over medium heat, take off heat, cover, let sit 13 minutes, into ice bath).  They come out perfect that way every time.  No grey ring and never over-cooked.  

Home Made Mayonnaise

 After that the recipe came together easily, and we both really enjoyed it.   I like any salad as long as it’s covered in bacon (I use turkey bacon), eggs, and croutons!  The homemade mayonnaise was also a great addition. I really prefer the consistency to what I buy in the jar, although I do still use purchased mayonnaise most of the time.

Deconstructed BLT with Eggs

Paul didn’t think it was quite filling enough for dinner, so next time I might add another side or some soup or something, but we just ate ice cream (home made malted milk from David Lebovitz’s the Perfect Scoop!) so that worked out perfectly for us.

Our Dinner

   I even enjoyed it for lunch the next day.

In containers and ready for lunch