This sandwich is a marriage of a BLT and an actually grilled grilled-cheese sandwich. As in cooked on the outdoor grill. The buttery crunch of the bread, the juicy tomatoes, the melted cheese, the crisp bacon and lettuce — these two sandwiches were meant to find each other and become one.

Use iceberg lettuce if you want more of a crunch, and you can experiment with various types of cheese and bacon or pancetta. Use your imagination, and this recipe will make this the summer of grilled cheese.

• 8 slices sourdough bread
• 4 teaspoons unsalted butter, softened
• 1-1/3 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese (or choose your favorite cheese)
• 8 strips cooked bacon or pancetta
• 8 large pieces romaine or iceberg lettuce
• 3 plum tomatoes, sliced
• Kosher or coarse salt and pepper, to taste
• 2 tablespoons mayonnaise

Preheat the grill to medium-low.

Butter one side of each of the pieces of bread. Evenly divide the cheese among 4 slices of the bread, on the unbuttered sides. Place all of the bread, buttered side down, on the grill and cover the grill. Grill until the bottoms of the bread are lightly marked with grill marks and the cheese is melted. (You might need to remove the plain pieces of bread first, move the cheese-covered pieces to the top grill rack and cover the grill for a couple of extra minutes so that the cheese melts but the bottoms of the bread slices don’t burn.)

On the melted cheese slices, layer bacon, lettuce and tomatoes, and season with salt and pepper. Spread mayonnaise evenly over unbuttered sides of the 4 other pieces of bread. Place the mayonnaise- spread slices mayo-side down on the sandwiches, slice, and eat warm.

Approximate nutritional analysis, per serving: 1,042 calories, 30 g fat, 13 g saturated fat, 54 mg cholesterol, 2,169 mg sodium, 150 g carbohydrate, 8 g fiber, 15 g sugar, 43 g protein