On the Table: Warm BLT Salad

I love BLTs and TBMs...and pretty much anything with bacon and tomato.  However, as I may have mentioned a time (or two!) before, I don't necessarily love plain lettuce.  I like my lettuce cooked, just like greens!  I decided to make a warm salad using all the traditional BLT ingredients (if it's a salad, it's healthy...right?!), and it was delicious.  It sounds weird, but it was really yummy! To prepare:

Preheat oven to 250 degrees.

Dice up two small or one large tomato (I had half a big red one and a small yellow one) and spread them on a baking sheet.

Cook in the preheated oven for about 1.5 hours, or until the tomatoes are pretty well dried (but not so dry as to be crispy).

Dice up half a pound of bacon.

Put a medium-sized pot over medium heat.  Very thinly coat the bottom of the pan with canola oil, and add the bacon to the pot.

Cook, stirring occassionally, until the bacon browns.

While the bacon is cooking, cut up half a head of iceberg lettuce.  I cut the half in half again (through the stem) and then sliced it into medium-sized strips.

Dice up three slices of bread and then toast the pieces to make little croutons (or toast the bread and then dice it, depending on whether you are using a toaster or oven/toaster oven).

When the bacon is browned, add the lettuce to the pot.

Cook briefly, tossing well with the bacon (/fat!).  When the lettuce just starts to wilt, add in the tomatoes and a dash of salt.

Toss well to combine, then add in the croutons (in retrospect, I probably would have added the croutons at the end so they would stay crispy, but it was also good when they got a little soft!). 

Add in about 1/5 of a cup (or even a little less) of mayonnaise.  Toss well to coat and taste and adjust seasoning.

I served it with rice as an entree, but it would also be delicious as a side dish!

Enjoy!