These hot summer days call for the best sandwich of the summer, the BLT, in all its sweet, summer tomato glory. The only thing with BLT’s is, bacon is kind of annoying to cook. Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE bacon, and cooking it in the oven isn’t all that messy, but you still have to deal with the bacon grease, etc. Enter: prosciutto. Italians, shield your eyes (and ears). Prosciutto is absolutely delicious on its own, but have you ever crisped it up in the oven?! It. is. DIVINE. The flavor becomes so intense, amazingly salty, and shatteringly crispy, and it only takes 10 minutes to bake. Plus, it’s already pre-cooked, so no need to wash your hands after handling, or deal with a bunch of fat to have to store or dispose of. Loop in some collagen-spiked herby aioli, and this sandwich might just be THE sandwich of the summer.
Preheat the oven to 400°F and make the aioli. To a food processor, add all ingredients and process until creamy and smooth and the herbs are in tiny bits. You can also chop the herbs up small by hand and mix everything together in a bowl.
Crisp your prosciutto. Position the racks in the top and lower thirds of the oven, then arrange your prosciutto slices on a couple of large, parchment-lined baking sheets. Bake for 10 minutes, rotating the racks halfway through cooking, then remove and transfer to a paper towel to cool and finish crisping up.
Assemble. Shmear your aioli on all slices of the toasted bread, dividing it up evenly between each, then top half the bread slices with an ounce of lettuce each, ⅙ of the tomato slices each, sprinkle with flaky salt, then top each with ⅙ of the crispy prosciutto (around 6 slices each, depending on the brand), and finish with the other slice of aioli shmeared toast. Enjoy immediately!
Notes
For extra fiber, smash some avocado onto one of the slices of toast before adding the aioli, or you can leave off the aioli on that slice altogether to balance the calories out similar to the original recipe.If you’re using a thicker sliced prosciutto, bake for up to 5 extra minutes!
I'm a big eater, a huge fan of pasta (and mac n cheese), and I'm on a mission to prove that indulgence and balance can exist well together without silly restrictions or dieting. Life's too short to eat bad food!
