To me, there’s nothing better than fresh tomatoes right out of the garden. I could literally eat them like apples! Now, unfortunately, it’s not quite tomato season, so it takes a little bit of effort to make those tomatoes taste optimal. I start with a little bit of basil. Basil and tomatoes are a match made in heaven. Add a beautiful grilled Portobello cap, some gorgeous, fresh tasting mozzarella and… I think you can guess what I’m going to say next… BACON! Toast that on some lovely Italian bread and you’ve got a beautifully summery sandwich, if I do say so myself.

Ingredients

3 strips Maple Leaf Hearty Slice Bacon

2 slices Crusty Italian bread

1 Portobello Cap

1 tbsp Olive Oil

1 tbsp Balsamic vinegar

2 slices Beefsteak tomato

5 leaves Basil

50g Torn Mozzarella (as much as you like, really)

1 tbsp Softened Butter

Salt and Pepper

Directions

1. Grab your Portobello caps and drizzle them with your oil, vinegar and season with salt and pepper. Let them sit for 5-10 minutes while your barbecue heats up.

2. Grill the portobellos on each side for 5-7 minutes. In the meantime, you can fry your bacon, cut your tomato and tear up your mozzarella.

3. Assembly: Lay down some cheese, bacon and your Portobello on a slice of bread.

4. Add your tomato

5. Then lots of basil

6. And finish with more cheese.

7. Top your sandwich with the other slice of bread. Butter the outer slices and toast it as you would a grilled cheese sandwich. This will give a nice crunch to the bread, as well as melt the lovely mozzarella.

8. I could have probably eaten about 10 of these sandwiches yesterday….