I tried Ina Garten’s tomato sandwich recipe — and found it to be the perfect easy summer lunch

• Ina Garten’s tomato sandwich recipe was delicious and easy to make at home.
• I especially loved the herby, salty basil mayo, which balanced out the juicy heirloom tomatoes.
• I plan to put it on other sandwiches and use it as a dip — but next time, I’ll include less salt.

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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