Smoked-Salmon BLTs with Chipotle Cream Cheese

Smoky salmon, smoky bacon, cream cheese with smoky chipotle…what’s not to love? These simple, fast sandwiches are big on flavor, and the only thing you need to cook is the bacon.

The chipotle adds a zippy touch of spice to mild cream cheese for a tasty warm-cool balance. For this recipe, I used crusty-outside, airy-inside ciabatta to make the sandwiches, but sourdough slices or baguettes would be good too.

Ciabatta

Also check out Smoked Salmon Nori Rolls with Wasabi Sauce.

Serves 2

Ingredients

• 1/3 cup cream cheese, room temperature
• 1 chipotle pepper in adobo sauce, finely chopped
• 4 slices of thin bacon, halved crosswise
• 2 3 X 5-inch rectangles of ciabatta, cut horizontally into tops and bottoms
• 4 oz thinly sliced smoked salmon (sold packaged at most seafood markets)
• 4 thin stem tomato slices
• baby lettuce leaves, for serving
• sea salt

Smoked Salmon

Preparation

1. Mash together the cream cheese and chipotle pepper until well combined.

Cream Cheese and Chipotle 

Chipotle Cream Cheese

1. Heat a nonstick skillet over medium heat and cook the bacon until cooked through but not too crisp. Drain on paper towels. (Time depends on thickness of the bacon and fat content.)

Cooked Bacon

1. Lay the 4 bread slices on a work surface and spread 1/4 of the cream cheese mixture on each. Divide the salmon on the bottom halves.
2. Top the salmon with tomato slices, bacon, and lettuce.

Chipotle Cream Cheese Layer 

Salmon Layer 

Tomato and Bacon Layer

Sprinkle with sea salt and close the sandwiches.

Smoked-Salmon BLTs with Chipotle Cream Cheese