Lunch time

One of my mandates is that the best sandwiches require at least 9 ingredients. When I make a sandwich, I carefully prepare each component, from the perfectly toasted bread to the drained tomato slices seasoned with salt and pepper. Yes, I'm a bit zealous about my mis en place, and it is not unheard of for me to spend 20 minutes composing my lunchtime sandwiches! But lest you think my sandwiches are complicated, let me tell you that my enjoyment comes almost as much from the process of creation as from eating them. I savor the moments of twisting the salt grinder, folding the turkey in just the perfect way over my growing stacked masterpiece, and cutting the sandwich with a darling diagonal cut.

I've got to share my sandwich with you today, because it is bursting with flavor and stars thick, meaty slices of my homegrown tomatoes. My seven tomato plants are just coming in with their luscious fruit now, and they are yielding giant red beauties, many more than 6 inches in diameter!

Erica's Sandwich
Toast sourdough bread until golden, let cool. Meanwhile, thickly slice homegrown tomatoes and remove the watery seeds. Sprinkle with finely ground sea salt. Once toast has cooled, generously spread with Dijon mustard. Layer slices of avocado over, sprinkling with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Mash avocado against the toast gently with a fork (so the avocado slices don't come shooting out when you bite into the sandwich), then cover with a thick bed of alfalfa sprouts. Blot tomatoes with a paper towel, then place over the sprouts, sprinkling with more salt and black pepper. Add a couple slices of roasted turkey breast, and top with green leaf lettuce. Mmmm....

Okay, so sometimes salt and pepper each count as an ingredient to get me to my golden-sandwich-number 9.