B.L.A.T (Bacon Lettuce Avocado Tomato) Sandwich with Aioli Sauce and Feta

Does anyone else have a habit of accidentally insulting people when you mean to compliment them? I do this all the time. You want to tell someone that they are awesome, but then it backfires because your reason for thinking they are awesome is totally lame.

My old roommate Sarah also had a problem with unintentional backhanded compliments. One time a friend of ours walked into our apartment wearing her hair in low pigtails, and Sarah said, Why, you look just like Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz! For Sarah, I’m sure this would have been a great accomplishment. But instead of a Wow thanks! the girl looked completely crestfallen. I guess she wasn’t going for the youthful innocence look. (Which also leads me to wonder what, exactly, she was going for, but that is a question for another day.)

At least Sarah’s faux pas wasn’t as bad as what someone in high school once told me. A girl in first period looked at me, squinted her eyes and drew closer, and said, Your eyelashes are so long. Before I had time to feel good about that, she went on: It looks like a spider is crawling out of your eye. Um…thanks? Gotta love high school tact.

I can’t even begin to tell you how amazing this sandwich is. And guess what people: I thought it up myself. (If you are about to point out that this sandwich is nothing more than a glorified BLT, read the above situations about tact.) The aioli sauce and feta totally make the sandwich. And the avocado. And you can’t do it without the focaccia. Or the bacon, duh. So pretty much every element of this sandwich is essential. Essentially delicious.

B.L.A.T (Bacon Lettuce Avocado Tomato) Sandwich
with Aioli Sauce and Feta

Source: The Food Charlatan (yes, I am citing myself, because the fact that I came up with my own recipe is so rare and shocking that I feel I deserve it.)

1/4 cup mayonnaise
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon lemon juice

1/2 cup feta cheese
4 pieces of focaccia bread, split horizontally

4 slices of bacon, cut in half and
1/2 avocado, sliced
1 tomato, sliced
4-8 pieces of lettuce (I used Romaine)

Cook the bacon. To bake, place the bacon strips on a metal cooling rack. Place the rack on a rimmed baking sheet. (Cover the baking sheet in foil for easy clean up). Bake at 400 degrees for 15-20 minutes, until desired crispiness is achieved. Or you could fry the bacon like normal.

Turn on your oven’s broiler. Spray a baking sheet with nonstick spray. Place the focaccia bread, cut side up, on the pan. In a small bowl, combine mayonnaise, garlic, and lemon juice. Spread aioli sauce on the split pieces of focaccia. Sprinkle one or both sides of the bread with feta cheese (I like to put it on both sides). Broil the bread for about a minute and a half, until the edges of the bread are just turning brown and the cheese is barely melting. Remove from oven promptly.

Place 2 strips of bacon (which is really one strip cut in half) on one side of the bread, topping with tomato, lettuce, and avocado. Add the top of the bread, and voila!! Beautiful BLATs.

Makes 4 sandwiches.