Girl meets resident toaster: a conversation

I woke up dreaming of breakfast.

Something must have shifted because I rarely eat before noon. Maybe it was the abundance of delicious food over the weekend that turned my head away from green juice on this particular morning.  

I fancied avocados on toast. I can tell you in all the years I’ve been on this planet, I’ve never woken up with a craving for avocados on toast.  

Something has changed, and it’s not just my appetite.

I sliced the slow fermented rye sourdough that I bought the day before. This craving must have been brewing in the back of my mind, and I was pleased that I’d had the presence of mind to stop for supplies on the way home from the weekend’s retreat.

I made toast, keeping an eye on the toaster. John brought this toaster into our relationship twenty years ago and I’m still waiting for its demise so I can drag out my beloved Dualit. It seems churlish to wish ill on a toaster, but here we are. Most toasters are just ‘pop and go’ but not this one. This one has an arbitrary set of controls and it’s impossible to know in what state anything will emerge. 

I used to think you made toast by blackening it and scraping off the top layer. I’d seen it done many times by my mother. Her toaster had an over-efficient pop-up mechanism and I marvelled as she deftly caught the slices before they hit the floor as they catapulted from the toaster. Her lightening reflexes. Mother’s Pride.

Toast is meant to be such an effortless task. A quick and easy solution. But there’s nothing easy about this particular toaster. It’s an uncomfortable conversation.

The toast popped up. It needed another 30 seconds.

Of course it did.

Reluctantly, I submerged the slice of sourdough back into the depths of the toaster and watched it like a hawk. I caught it just in time.

The irony is not lost on me that I own multiple instruments for precision food preparation but that blasted wretch of a toaster is so unpredictable.

No one wants to start their day snarling at kitchen equipment.

I’m off to find the Dualit.  

Here’s what I made.

Long fermented sourdough toast with crushed avocados, a little lemon and roasted jammy tomatoes with a sprinkling of Aleppo pepper for a little heat.

Aleppo pepper is a milder chilli flake, with a sweet tangy flavour with notes of citrus. It is a lot less harsh for breakfast than regular chilli. If you can’t find it, you can use a cautious pinch of regular chilli flakes instead.   

No, this dish isn’t raw. So, shoot me.

JAMMY ROASTED TOMATOES

This is enough for four portions. The roasted tomatoes keep well in the fridge for a few days.

INGREDIENTS

2 tablespoons olive oil
½ tablespoon balsamic vinegar
pinch Himalayan pink salt

200g cherry plum tomatoes or baby tomatoes on the vine
1 red onion, peeled

METHOD

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees C. Slice the onion into quarters and pop these with the cherry tomatoes in a shallow roasting tin with the olive oil, vinegar and salt.  Get your hands into it and ensure all the vegetables are well-coated with the oil mix.  Roast for 25 minutes until the tomatoes are starting to split and the onion is softened. Remove from the oven and allow to cool.

CRUSHED AVOCADOS ON SOURDOUGH TOAST WITH JAMMY TOMATOES

Serves 2 people or 1 hungry person.

INGREDIENTS

1 ripe avocado
½ lemon
a pinch Himalayan pink salt
a large pinch Aleppo chilli flakes

A twist or two of black pepper

To assemble

2 slices sourdough, toasted

1 clove smoked garlic (or regular garlic)

A few jammy roasted tomatoes

Basil leaves

METHOD

Peel the avocado and remove the pit. Place the flesh in a bowl and lightly crush it with the back of a fork. Take care not to over crush as you don’t want it reduced to a pulp. Add a little finely zested lemon, lemon juice, salt, black pepper and a generous pinch of Aleppo chilli flakes, loosely mixing it through the avocado.

Halve the smoked garlic clove and rub a little of the cut side over the toast. Don’t overdo it unless you have no plans to see others for the rest of the day. Pile the avocado evenly over the garlicky toast and top with the roasted cherry tomatoes and onions.  Finish with basil leaves.