Recipe: Italian Spinach Bacon and Cheese Sandwiches

This recipe for a terrific open face sandwich ….the title is a mouthful to say… but I think covers it nicely …. is easy to make and sooooo delicious… you will love it!

It was inspired by a recipe I ran across from the Food Network Kitchens called Bacon Cheese Toasts. My recipe uses slightly different ingredients and the final sandwich or toast is assembled differently.

I was really searching for ideas for a spinach salad but all I came up with were ones I already had or had similar ones… when I saw their recipe I began to think of what I would put in a toasted sandwich… in large part what I had in the fridge and wanted to use ….the result is this recipe…

TIPS

I made my bacon in the oven… ever since trying it…I am sold on cooking bacon in the oven…. I suggest you do it also…

I made my bacon somewhere between just cooked and crispy… the bacon was cooked and starting to crisp… but was still pliable.

I originally tried making this by only toasting the one side of the bread (like the Food Network recipe) but found the sandwich to be a bit dry… so I began toasting both sides and had better results.

I used regular white bread for this… I wouldn’t use thicker sliced bread… this is already a “needs a fork to eat” type of sandwich.

I used Roma tomatoes and didn’t have a lot of them… so I didn’t put a lot of tomatoes on the sandwich… if using Roma or Plum tomatoes use more than two… I would use about four.

This sandwich is hearty… one is probably enough for a serving… larger eaters will probably want two.






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Recipe: Open Face Italian Spinach Bacon and Cheese Sandwiches

All you need:

4 strips of bacon
4 slices bread
2-4 ripe tomatoes, sliced (see Tip above)
1 ½ shredded part skim mozzarella cheese
1 tablespoon dried Italian Seasoning
½ cup Hellman’s Mayonnaise
5 scallions (green onions), finely chopped
Fresh Spinach
4 slices thinly sliced provolone cheese

All you need to do:

Place bacon strips on a 13x9 baking pan.

Place the pan with the bacon into a cold oven set to 400 degrees F. DO NOT PRE-HEAT THE OVEN.

Bake the bacon for about ten minutes or until bacon is cooked and almost starts to crisp (bacon should still be pliable). Baking time will vary with how fast your oven heats up… check after about 8 minutes to be sure you don’t over-cook the bacon.

Remove the bacon from the oven and drain on paper towels. Keep the oven at 400 degrees F... you will need it to bake the sandwiches.

Take about 2 tablespoons of bacon grease and put it into a large skillet to coat the bottom of the pan.

Place the bread slices in the skillet and toast until golden brown… flip and do the other side… you may need to add more bacon grease to the pan.

Place the toasted bread on a cookie sheet.




Place a layer of fresh spinach on each slice of bread.







Place a slice of provolone cheese on the spinach.








Place tomato slices on the provolone cheese.








Cut the bacon slices in half and place two halves on top of the tomato.





In a medium bowl combine the shredded mozzarella cheese, Italian Seasoning, chopped scallions and mayonnaise.

Divide the mozzarella mixture between the four sandwiches and place on top of the bacon.

Bake in the 400 degree oven for 15 minutes or until the cheese is melted and starts to brown in spots.

Serve immediately.