Back when I first visited Tacoma in the Winne, Dan took me to this little cafe near his house where he told me to get one of their amazing bagel sandwiches. I did, and I was hooked. The bagel sandwiches haunted me until I got back to Tacoma in December when I promptly returned to the cafe many times and ate many bagel sandwiches. The cafe ended up being where Dan asked me to be his girlfriend and I actually worked there for a few months before it sadly went out of business and had to close. But I made so many of these bagel sandwiches (and ate so many), that I know by heart how to make them. The weather has been turning very chilly lately and these toasty warm sandwiches kept me warm all winter last year, so as the temperature drops this year, I've been craving them again. But, they're really easy and fast to make, so I've been eating them all week!
All you need is:
Jalepeno Cheddar Bagels (or, if you're not into the spiciness, just regular cheddar cheese bagels)
Cream Cheese
Cheddar Cheese
Black Forest Ham (or turkey, both are pretty tasty)
Onion
Tomato
Lettuce
and for the sauce:
Mayo
Tapatio
Cut your bagel in half and spread a bit of cream cheese on each side. It doesn't have to be very much, just a thin coating. Add your cheddar and onions to the bagel and then top one side with your ham or turkey. Put it in the toaster oven for about a minute and a half. I like to toast it for a bit to get both sides toasted, and then I switch the toaster oven to the broil setting so I toast the top with the meat, cheese and onions for a bit longer.
Once your bagel is done being toasted, add some slices of tomato and some lettuce, put the top and bottom together and cut it in half!
My favorite part of this sandwich is the dipping sauce. The sandwich itself is amazing, but the dipping sauce just takes it to a whole other level. The sauce is super easy to make, too. You can whip it up real quick while the bagel is toasting.
Just take equal portions of the mayo and tapatio and mix them together! Done! You can also add some lime juice if you like, to enhance the flavor a bit. It's a bit spicy, but it really is amazing. If you don't like it to be so spicy you can add a bit less tapatio when you make the sauce.
Enjoy!
