Yesterday, while roaming the kitchen, I caught a glimpse of a beautiful meaty tomato sitting on the countertop. There are few things as wonderful as a perfectly ripe tomato at the height of summer, and suddenly I felt the need for a tomato sandwich. I turned to K. “I’m going to make a tomato sandwich with mayonnaise and basil,” I announced. “Want one?”

“With bacon?” he said, hopefully.

“I don’t want to go to the trouble of frying up bacon,” I said. “I want a sandwich now.”

“I’ll make bacon,” he said.

“In that case, I’ll wait for the bacon.”

It was worth it.

BBT sandwich recipe:
(BBT = bacon, basil, and tomato; recipe makes two sandwiches)

Assemble the ingredients: Toast four slices of bread and fry up four slices of bacon until crisp. Cut a ripe tomato into slices. (Thick slices, not those paper-thin translucent doilies of tomato that you get in fast-food restaurant burgers.) Wash a few leaves of basil and cut a garlic clove in half.

Assemble the sandwich: Gently rub one side of the toasted bread all over with the cut side of the garlic clove. (If you’re not gentle, you might rip the surface of the toast.) Spread mayonnaise onto the garlic side of the bread; use as much as you want. On one piece of bread, put down the basil leaves and cover with a layer of tomato slices. Crack some fresh pepper over the tomato. Top with a layer of bacon and the second piece of bread.

Eat. The bacon is crunchy, the tomato is sweet and juicy, the basil adds depth, and the garlic tang lingers after each bite. This is what summer tastes like. Make these now. You won’t regret it.

(No, of course there’s no picture. I didn’t take any pictures; I just ate the sandwich. No sane, hungry person would pause to take a picture before eating this sandwich.)

PS: The tomato in question was a purple Cherokee, from a friend’s garden. It’s a delightfully meaty tomato, with little in the way of seedy goop; great for sandwiches.