International surf and turf on rye

Last week my mum sent me a big box of goodies from back home. It felt like Christmas had come early. When I started ripping off the wrapping paper, the first thing I felt was the scent of rye bread. It's one of the foods I miss most from back home. So of course, I had to make sandwiches to celebrate the arrival of the long awaited goodies. I also made mayo last week, and still had some left over, so I thought what would be better than a BLT and tuna-salad. BLT on proper rye bread is so much tastier than those horrible tasteless things pretending to be bread in this country. I also use a trick I learned in Italy, rubbing garlic on the bread after toasting, it gives a wonderful garlic taste to the bread. So Finnish rye bread meets Italian garlic and British bacon. The best kind of international collaboration.


Surf and turf on rye (for two, or one really hungry):
BLT
2 pieces of rye bread
1 tbsp mayo
1 tomato
iceberg lettuce
2 rashers of bacon
garlic clove peeled


Tuna salad
2 pieces of rye bread
1/2 can of tuna 
1 tbsp mayo
1/4 cucumber
1 hard boiled egg
cayenne pepper
garlic clove peeled 


Half a serving (i.e. one BLT and one tuna salad sandwich) contains 370 kcal (17g carbs, 25g fat and 16g protein). This is calculated for a small piece of rye bread (Sinuhe ruisnappi), tuna in sunflower oil and home made mayo according to the linked recipe.


The howto:
For the tuna salad, mix tuna, mayo, finely chopped cucumber, finely chopped egg and season to taste with cayenne pepper.
For BLT, slice the tomato and pan fry the bacon in it's own fat.
Toast bread, rub the garlic clove over the bread. To assemble the tuna sandwich, coat bread with lettuce and add the tuna paste. For BLT, spread mayo over the bread, pile on lettuce, tomato and bacon. 


The verdict:
In my absolutely unbiased opinion, there simply is no other bread which tastes as good as Finnish rye bread. Toasted it becomes unbelievably crispy, and the garlic goes divinely with rye. I think the home made mayo is superior to any store brought brand, in this case because it has a fuller and softer taste as I don't use any vinegar or other acidic ingredients. Out of the two sandwiches, if I had to pick a favourite, it would definitively be the BLT. Whoever originally thought of combining mayo, tomato, lettuce and bacon was a culinary genius.