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1. Preheat oven to 325. Place tomato halves in 9 x 9 baking pan. Layer around them the herb sprigs, sliced garlic, salt and pepper. Pour over a layer of olive oil. Bake for about an hour and a half (depends on the size of the tomatoes). The tomatoes should be luscious and syrupy when they are done. I used red tomatoes that turned brick red.
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While the tomatoes are cooking, fry up the bacon, drain it on paper towels and crumble it.
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Slice the remaining tomatoes. I used a Valencia tomato (orange, as you may have guessed) and a Green Zebra. Contrasting tomato colors look pretty but are not essential.
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Now you are ready to poach the eggs and assemble the sandwiches. You have to move pretty fast on this. I assume you know how to poach an egg or can look it up.
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Cut the baguette slices in half horizontally. On the bottom half, smear a layer of roasted tomatoes (they will smush easily) and oil. The herb branches will be woody, so leave them in the pan. Save some roasted tomatoes for later in the sandwich construction.
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Layer crumbled bacon over the roasted tomatoes. Save some bacon for later, too,
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Put the arugula leaves on top of the bacon, feathering the leaves over the edge of the bread. The sandwich will look pretty if you do this.
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Put the fresh tomato slices on top of the arugula.
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Gently lay the freshly poached egg on top of the layered vegetables and bacon. Scatter bits of roasted tomato, the luscious tomato, garlic and herb oil in dribbles, and a little crumbled bacon over the egg.
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Serve with the top slice of bread on the side. This is a beautiful sandwich. It can be eaten with the top slice on if you have paper towels or you can eat it with a knife and fork. Of course you may want to add salt and pepper to the poached egg, another reason to leave the top of the sandwich off. It is very filling with a glass of lemonade and slices of watermelon after.
