Please meet my greatest sandwich invention to date. The BZT.

The BZT is a sandwich of great beauty and deliciousness. It is salty, zingy, rich, fresh and awesome, all in equal measures. It’s also pretty fancy, if I do say so myself.

It’s a Bacon Zucchini Tomato.

I can’t be the only person out there thinking that Lettuce is seriously letting the team down in a traditional BLT. Bacon = Awesome. Tomatoes, when ripe, are perfection. Toast is always great, and whatever sauce you choose is down to personal preference (I happen to like a cheater’s aioli made from mayo, lemon zest and a little grated garlic).

But the lettuce? Watery, bitter, often a little wilted from the heat. It’s underwhelming in a profound way.

Enter this shaved, raw zucchini salad. Wafer thin, crisp ribbons of fresh zucchini, dressed with lemon juice, salt and pepper. It’s my latest passion.

This simple salad single-handedly taught my man-friend to love zucchini. Before this, he couldn’t stand it, now he loves it any way it comes. You gotta get this into your life. It’s delicious.

And when you replace boring old lettuce with an exciting, textural, lemony zucchini salad, you have the best damn BLT of all time. The BZT, baby!

For a healthy-ish version, I just skip the top slice of bread and the cheat’s aioli, and have an awesome open faced sandwich. A little avocado, and it’s my kind of diet food. Which is not really diet food at all… So, how are your resolutions going?

xx Sarah.

The BZT (Bacon, Zucchini & Tomato Sandwich)

An original recipe by Sarah Coates for The Sugar Hit.

Serves 2

INGREDIENTS:

3 tbsp mayo

zest of 1/2 lemon

1 small clove of garlic, grated

4 slices sourdough bread

6 rashers streaky bacon (or as much as you like)

1 large, ripe tomato

1 large, fresh zucchini (courgette)

salt, pepper

juice of half a lemon

First, make your Cheat’s Aioli by stirring the mayo, lemon zest and garlic together. Next, lightly toast the sourdough slices, and cook your bacon until crisp. I recommend doing this in a dry non-stick frying pan, draining away as much of the fat as possible. Slice the tomato and set aside. Prepare the zucchini by peeling off thin pieces of each side of the zucchini using a vegetable peeler. Keep going until you reach the seeds in the middle, and then move to another side – the seeds are watery and bitter. Place the shaved zucchini in a bowl, and dress with a pinch of salt and pepper and a squeeze of lemon juice.

To assemble the BZT, place three rashers of bacon on one slice of toast, followed by half the tomato slices, and half the zucchini. Spread another slice of toast with half the Cheat’s Aioli, and place on top of the zucchini. Repeat with the remaining ingredients to complete the sambo! TUCK IN.