03/22/14

I made a bacon & hummus fried bread sandwich. It kind of rocked.

I am not saying that this creation of mine is in anyway healthy. However,it would be true to say that it was inspired by healthy eating. On Monday, I am starting a healthy eating challenge that will last for ten weeks. In preparation, most of the meals I have had this week have been an exercise in getting rid of stuff that I won’t be able to eat during the challenge.

By the time that Friday came around, I was down to a few odds and ends. They didn’t necessarily go together but I didn’t want to buy any groceries before I did a meal plan for next week. Plus, I was crazy hungry and wanted something pretty much now.  Amongst the remaining items was a pack of thick cut bacon, a tub of Trader Joe’s Garlic Hummus Dip and two slices of a French bread loaf I bought at the farmer’s market last weekend.

bacon hummus fried bread sandwich ingredients

The bread was at that stage where it hasn’t gone bad but you pretty much have to toast it for it to be decent. On Thursday, I bought a brand new cast iron skillet. Seriously, I was so excited when it arrived but there hadn’t yet been an occasion to use it. Putting my foodie thinking cap on, I decided to see what would happen if you made a bacon and hummus fried bread sandwich. At the very least, I would get to take the skillet for a test drive.

I started by heating up the new cast iron skillet and getting it hot enough that the bacon would make that glorious sizzling sound as soon as it made contact.

frying bacon

I fried the bacon until it started to get nice and crispy. At that stage, I moved the bacon to the side of the pan and put the slices of bread into the pan.

fried bread and bacon

Fried bread is something that came to me during my years spent in the UK.  A common part of the famous British fry up, fried bread is essentially just bread put into the pan that has been frying the bacon and sausages. Rather than being toasted, the bread absorbs the fats and oils and crisps up.

With all the fat that had already come off of the bacon I was frying, it took no time at all for the bread to adopt a lovely golden crunch. Be careful not to let the bread be in the pan so long that it starts to burn. I only had to flip each slice of bread once before it was clearly done.

Once the bread was done, I slathered one slice with a layer of the hummus and then arranged the bacon on top.

bacon hummus sandwich

Finally, I put the second slice of fried bread on top and pressed it down to bring the bacon and hummus sandwich together.

The crispy crunching sound released by the bread as I pressed down was so beautiful to be nearly erotic. See for yourself in the video I put together of me making my bacon and hummus fried bread sandwich. Tell me that the crunch of that bread isn’t full out doughgasm material!

Sounds are one thing but it all comes down to how it tastes right? If I do say so myself, this was one mega yummy sandwich. The crunch of the crispy bacon and the lightly fried bread was a nice contrast to the soft hummus. Similarly, the garlicky hummus played off the salt of the bacon really well.

One thing is for sure, the bacon and hummus fried bread sandwich will be happening again. It just has to wait ten weeks until I am allowed to eat something so unashamedly unhealthy.