Ina Garten's tomato sandwich recipe was delicious and easy to make at home.I especially loved the herby, salty basil mayo, which balanced out the juicy heirloom tomatoes.I plan to put it on other sandwiches and use it as a dip — but next time, I'll include less salt.
Sometimes, I'll glance at a recipe's ingredients and just know, in my heart, that it's going to taste amazing. That's exactly how I felt the first time I laid eyes on the Barefoot Contessa's tomato sandwich recipe.
Traditionally, this kind of sandwich only has a few ingredients: two slices of bread, some tomatoes, mayonnaise, salt, and pepper. Ina Garten's recipe, however, kicks the sandwich up a notch with a mayo that has a large cast of flavors, including basil.
The basil mayo requires seven ingredients total: mayonnaise, kosher salt, black pepper, basil leaves, lemon juice, garlic, and olive oil.
As someone who loves flavored mayo, I had a good feeling about this recipe immediately — and my suspicions were delightfully confirmed.
I prepped and measured all of the basil mayo ingredients.
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Anita George
After buying a loaf of bread and some heirloom tomatoes, I was ready to give this recipe a try. First, I measured out a cup of my go-to mayonnaise and put it into a bowl.
Next, I chopped the basil. The recipe calls for 10 to 15 basil leaves; I love the flavor, so I chopped 15.
I also measured out and added the kosher salt, olive oil, ground black pepper, lemon juice, and minced garlic.
The spread came together quickly.
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Anita George
I used a small whisk to mix everything up in a bowl.
A fork would also probably work here, but the mayonnaise was so thick that I found a whisk much easier to use.
Then, I slathered the bread with basil mayo before adding slices of heirloom tomatoes.
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Anita George
The sandwich was amazing: The combination of the juicy, sweet tomatoes and the herby basil mayo made for a refreshing yet filling (and deeply savory) meal.
I chose to eat the sandwich with some seasoned waffle fries. Since Garten's recipe makes a ton of basil mayo, I used the remainder as a dipping sauce.
I'll definitely make this basil mayo again, but with some tweaks.
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Anita George
The basil mayo definitely stood out to me, and I already can't wait to make it again.
I enjoyed it as a dipping sauce for my fries, but I do think the recipe worked better as a sandwich add-on. On the sandwich, the salty flavor perfectly complemented the juicy tomatoes.
When paired with fries, though, the saltiness was a little overwhelming. In the future, if I make it as a dipping sauce, I'll dial back the kosher salt.
In the meantime, though, I plan to try out this versatile condiment on other dishes, too — including BLTs, turkey sandwiches, and even Italian subs.
