When I first laid eyes on the Barefoot Contessa’s tomato sandwich recipe, I had a feeling I’d found my new go-to summer lunch.
I’ve had tomato sandwiches before, typically with the same straightforward 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. As someone who loves flavored mayo, I was immediately excited to try the recipe — and I wasn’t disappointed.
After buying tomatoes and bread, I prepped and measured all of the basil mayo ingredients.
The basil mayo requires seven ingredients total: mayonnaise, kosher salt, black pepper, basil leaves, lemon juice, garlic, and olive oil.
I kicked things off by measuring out a cup of my go-to mayonnaise and putting 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.
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.
After slicing the tomatoes, it was time to assemble the sandwich.
The result 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.
The basil mayo was the real star of the show.
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 it definitely 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.
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