Bacon Spinach Tomato (B.S.T) Grilled Cheese Sandwich

B.S.T - Bacon Spinach Tomato Grilled Cheese Sandwich

Did you know that April is "Grilled Cheese Sandwich Month?" I didn't know until I went on Pinterest. There are all sorts of grilled cheeses popping up and everyone is talking about April being grilled cheese sandwich month. Who knew I would actually get my news from Pinterest :)

In honor of this special month, I decided to make us panini for dinner. Panini are really just fancy grilled cheese sandwiches after all :) Even though this was a last minute decision, I knew exactly what I wanted to make. The idea came to me after I made a batch of bacon candy. Bacon candy! Omg. There are few recipes that you know will be instant hits even before you make them. This was one of them. It had a stellar list of ingredients. Dutch oven bread. Delicious, no matter what you do with it. Almond pesto. Delicious, no matter what you use it in. And did I mention bacon candy?! I think bacon candy might just be my new obsession. Oh boy! :S Sorry vegans.

Cranberry orange almond dutch oven bread.

I make dutch oven bread every week now so that we would have breakfast bread for the week. This week I made a cranberry, orange, and almond version. It really is amazing but I still want to tweak it a bit more to experiment with the flavors. Late this afternoon as I was washing spinach for a salad, everything just came to me. Now I don't have any lettuce at home but I do have lots of spinach. I can't make a B.L.T but I could make a B.S.T by substituting spinach for lettuce. I'm totally making this up but I'll just go ahead and call it B.S.T since the classic B.L.T sandwich inspired it :)

Last summer, we went for lunch at Little Nest with my girlfriend and her boys. We absolutely LOVE Little Nest on Commercial Drive. My girlfriend ordered a B.L.T sandwich that was delicious. I didn't even know what a B.L.T was. Then I thought about it and guessed it stood for bacon, lettuce, and tomato since those were some of the things in the sandwich. Lol. For tonight's panini, I was totally going for a taste similar to what I remembered in the B.L.T sandwich at Little Nest. Gooey and yummy! The panini were a hit, just as I suspected :) After grabbing the link for Little Nest, I can now see that I wasn't too far off in my list of ingredients. Cool!

Sprinkle bacon with brown sugar and bake.

Candy bacon! It actually reminds me of Indian salmon candy.



Bacon Spinach Tomato (B.S.T) Grilled Cheese Sandwich
(Inside the assembly of 1 sandwich)

2 slices of dutch oven bread (I used mild flavored cranberry, orange, almond)
1 1/2 to 2 tbsp almond pesto
4-6 thin slices of elemental cheese (enough to cover each slice of bread)
2-3 slices of candy bacon, broken in half (instructions below)
4-5 leaves of spinach
2 slices of tomato (most of the seeds removed)

To make the candied bacon, sprinkle bacon with brown sugar and bake in oven at 350 F for around 20 minutes. Half way through, remove and pour out as much bacon grease as you can. You can discard the grease or save it for another dish. Continue baking the bacon. When it is done, it should look crispy and dry. Remove and place on a plate lined with paper towels to absorb more fat.

Spread pesto onto one slice of bread. On the other slice of bread, lay half the cheese on it. Top with spinach, then bacon, then tomato, then the rest of the cheese. Cover with the slice of bread you put pesto on. Grill this in your panini grill until the cheese melts and the sandwich is heated through. About 5-7 minutes. Serve immediately.

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