The BLT may be America’s most recognizable sandwich. After PB&J, of course.

But with its popularity comes a host of mediocre attempts. Not even bacon can save a sandwich with flavorless tomatoes and dry mass-produced bread. So when I make a BLT, I try to do it right.

The sandwich consists of toasted Zingerman’s roadhouse bread, tomatoes,  lettuce, bacon, and dijon mustard. Served with roasted blue potatoes, seasoned sweet corn, and McClure’s pickles. All produce was grown locally, though I’m not sure where McClure’s gets their pickling cucumbers from. Total cost is about $6.00 worth of ingredients per plate.

I admire Zingerman’s bread. It’s only available around Ann Arbor, Michigan, and the store I buy from in Lansing (East Lansing Food Co-op) is literally as far out as Zingerman’s vans will deliver to. Their baked goods arrive fresh every morning and quickly disappear. Unfortunately, I arrived a bit late and was stuck with a choice between paesano, roadhouse, and chili cheddar. Chili cheddar was ruled out because it doesn’t work as a following-day breakfast bread and paesano isn’t sturdy enough for sandwiches. Roadhouse isn’t the best sandwich bread but its soft and chewy attributes can work if you toast it right.

Preparing the bacon was tricky. You want it firm but not crispy. I’ve had some trouble with bacon in the past, letting it go too long, so this time I watched closely. That’s not easy when you’ve got potatoes roasting and other things waiting for action.

I probably could have stopped here, but seeing as how it’s the end of summer and there’s so much great harvest produce out there, I couldn’t resist adding some sweet corn as a side dish. It’s easy — you just husk, snap, wash, butter, season, foil, and toss in a 350-degree oven for 15-20 minutes. Just make sure you floss before bed.

Overall this was a great meal made even better with fresh, local, in-season ingredients.

Saturday’s lunch was one my favorite meals in a while. And its construction was mostly unintentional.

That morning, I had purchased some lettuce (for salad) and tomatoes (for fun). As I was scrounging around considering my lunch options, I noticed there was also some leftover sourdough bread and bacon from Christmas festivities.

A thought popped into my head.

“B. L. T.”

It had been months since my last BLT (bacon, lettuce, and tomato) sandwich. Within 20 minutes, that streak would come to an end.

So I fried up a few slices of bacon (Applegate Farms), cut up some cheddar cheese, tomato, and lettuce, then added leftover organic turkey between two pieces of lightly toasted sourdough bread (Breadsmith).

Served alongside Terra chips, the resulting lunch was spectacular.

Ingredients

• Bacon (Applegate Farms Sunday bacon)
• Roma tomato (organic)
• Romaine lettuce leaves
• Sliced turkey (Natural/organic)
• Cheddar cheese
• Sourdough bread

The only somewhat-expensive item pictured was the bacon, which cost $6 for 12 ounces, but could easily have fed 4 people. Organic pepper jack cheese does cost a bit more than standard pepper jack cheese, but is worth the bump in fee.

Estimated cost of food pictured below: $4

Check out the Flickr photo page for a larger image version.

(1) Semi-omelet includes grazing-fresh eggs, organic pepper jack cheese (purchased at Foods For Living), roma tomatoes from Owosso Organics, jalapeno pepper from Owosso Organics, and organic mushroom from Meijer.

(2) Natural thick-sliced bacon purchased at Foods For Living. Vegetarian-fed, humanely-raised pigs from an Iowa farm. No nitrates added! Brand name escapes me right now.

(3) Honey whole wheat bread purchased from Great Harvest Bread company (Okemos, Michigan), with a little bit of real butter and natural blackberry jam.

(4) Seasoned roasted organic potatoes (mixed varieties) from a farm in Dewitt, Michigan.