Breakfast banh mi
Prep: 45 minutes Cook: 4 minutes Makes: 4 sandwiches
2 carrots, peeled 1 teaspoon sugar 1⁄81 teaspoon salt ⁄4 teaspoon plus 2 tablespoons Sriracha sauce 2 tablespoons rice-wine vinegar 1 ⁄2 cup mayonnaise 2 teaspoons soy sauce 1 teaspoon sesame oil 1 loaf ciabatta bread
1⁄2 cup mixed fresh cilantro and mint leaves 1 jalapeno pepper, seeded, sliced into matchsticks 1 ⁄2 cucumber, peeled, halved, seeded, sliced into crescents 8 slices brown-sugar bacon (recipe follows) Canola oil 4 eggs
1 Pickle: Use a vegetable peeler to carve carrots into long strips. Pile strips into a bowl; rub with sugar, salt and 1/4 teaspoon Sriracha. Pour in vinegar and enough cold water to cover. Let soak at room temperature, briefly — or up to two days, chilled. When ready to build sandwiches, drain carrots, rinse and pat dry.
2 Mix: Whisk together mayo, remaining 2 tablespoons Sriracha, soy sauce and sesame oil. Chill this spicy sauce.
3 Slice: Cut ciabatta into four 3-by-3-inch squares. (Save any extra bread for crumb duty.) Slice in half horizontally. Open sandwich sets, crust down, crumb up.
4 Build: Spread both crumb sides of each sandwich with spicy sauce. Sprinkle both sides of each with cilantro/mint combo. Settle some jalapeno sticks, cucumber crescents and carrot curls on both sides. Fold 2 slices bacon onto each bottom half.
5 Fry: Place a large skillet over medium-high heat. Pour in a little canola oil. When hot, fry eggs, turning once, to your liking. It takes about 4 minutes for edges that are crisp, whites that are set and yolks that aren’t.
6 Serve: Top each bacon set with 1 fried egg. (They may hang over the edges a bit — that’s OK.) Close up sandwiches. Enjoy. Brown-sugar bacon: Line a rimmed baking sheet with foil. Set a rack on top. Spread out 1/3 cup dark-brown sugar on a plate. Brush 8 strips thick-cut bacon on both sides with soy sauce. Press one side into the sugar. Set bacon strips, sugar-side up, on the rack. Grind on some black pepper. Slide into a 350-degree oven and bake until dark brown (but not entirely crisp), about 25 minutes. Cool.
Provenance: Adapted from a recipe by chef David Sherman, of Cafe Cito, Baltimore.