avocado on toast
To me, avocado on toast is sunny food – it feels right on a summer’s day and brightens up a dreary one. It is a go-to when time is short and cupboards are bare. I often eat it as a hurried breakfast, very simply with some lime, salt and pepper. But these other ways have crept in too.
Since avocado is the star of the show, accept nothing less than soft, yielding, ripe and perfect. Avocados are loaded with good fats and omega 3, like the stuff you find in olive oil, and an artillery of vitamins and minerals. I would struggle to eat without them.
EACH MAKES 2 PIECES OF TOAST
· Mash an avocado with lemon, salt and pepper. Pile onto toasted sourdough, top with tomatoes, a little balsamic vinegar, a bit of basil and some olive oil.
· Mash an avocado with lemon juice and pile onto rye bread with a drizzle of honey.
· Mash an avocado with some lime juice, salt and pepper. Pile onto toasted bread and top with a good sprinkling of chopped, fresh red chilli.
· Mash an avocado with a little lemon juice. Pile onto hot buttered toast and top with a poached egg and some chilli sauce.
· Mash an avocado with a little lemon juice. Spread a toasted bagel with a fine slick of cream cheese and top with the mashed avo, generously grate over lemon zest and sprinkle with lots of black pepper.
· Mash an avocado with a little lime juice, salt and pepper and stir in a chopped spring onion, a teaspoon of toasted mustard seeds and some chopped coriander. Pile onto hot toast.
· Mash your avocado with a tiny bit of lemon juice. Top hot toast with a slick of coconut oil, the mashed avo and then some toasted almonds.
· Mash your avocado with a little lemon juice, pile onto toast, then top with a few thin slices of banana and a sprinkling of cinnamon.
· Mash a ripe avocado with a little lemon juice, pile onto toast, and top with chopped pistachios, some toasted sesame seeds and a little honey and cinnamon.
· Whiz some basil with a little olive oil. Mash an avocado with a little lemon juice and pile onto hot toast, crumble over some feta and pour over the basil oil.
Herbed Parisian scrambled eggs
Sometimes I need a reminder that something simple and classic is really, really good. In my imaginary life where I spend my days roaming around Paris flea markets this is what I would eat for breakfast. Classically, chervil is used in harmony of herbs too, but it’s not easy to find so I’ve left it out; however, if you come across some, buy it – it’s got such a piercingly delicate flavour and is great chucked into green salads. Basil and mint can be thrown into the mix here too.
A note on how to keep soft herbs: I use herbs a lot – their flavours are like nothing else, and each is so completely different from the others, I couldn’t cook without them. I appreciate that buying a lot of herbs for a little breakfast recipe feels extravagant. This is how I make herbs work harder for me. I buy a load once every week or so when they look good at the greengrocer, and I keep them like flowers, in glasses filled with a dash of cold water in the milk-bottle compartment of my fridge. This way they keep for a week or so. Every time I open the fridge I am met with a heady smell and a grassy green wall of herbs, which means they are appreciated and make their way into much more of my cooking.
SERVES 2
a little olive oil or butter
4 really good organic or free-range eggs
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
a few sprigs each of fresh parsley, tarragon and dill, leaves picked and roughly chopped
2 slices of good buttered toast (I like sourdough)
Everyone has their own way with eggs. This is how I scramble mine.
Heat a little oil or butter in a frying pan on a medium-low heat. Crack the eggs into a bowl, mix with a fork, season well, then pour into the hot pan and use a wooden spoon or a spatula to pull the eggs away from the sides of the pan, creating golden folds. Continue to do this until the eggs are how you like them. I like mine to just come together but keep a faint little bit of wobble.
Take the pan off the heat, taste, add more salt and pepper if necessary, and stir in the herbs. Pile on top of buttered toast.
MY MORNING FRUIT
To my mind there is no better way to start the day than with a bowl of in-season fruit. Here are the bowls I make as the seasons change. Some can be made in a batch for quick weekday breakfasts, others can be put together in a few minutes – try with the granola here.
SPRING
APPLES · PEARS · RHUBARB ·
RASPBERRIES · EARLY STRAWBERRIES
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•
•
QUICK RHUBARB COMPOTE
for 1 person
Take 4 stalks of rhubarb, chop small and
put in a pan with 4 tablespoons of good honey, a bit of vanilla, if you have it, and the juice of ½ an orange. Simmer for 15 minutes until soft through.
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•
•
SPRING FRUIT BOWL
for 1 person
Cut up 1 apple and 1 pear, squeeze over the juice of ½ a lime, mash a handful of raspberries with 1 teaspoon of honey and mix the two together.
SUMMER
STRAWBERRIES · CHERRIES · RASPBERRIES ·
PEACHES · APRICOTS ·
BLUEBERRIES · BLACKCURRANTS
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•
•
RED FRUIT SALAD
for 2 people
Cut up 10 strawberries and 10 cherries. Add a handful of raspberries and a handful of halved red grapes. Squeeze over the juice of ½ a lemon and if you like add a little honey. Optional: sprinkle with bashed coriander seeds.
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•
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QUICK APRICOT COMPOTE
makes a small jar
Put 250g of apricots (stoned) into a pan with 2 tablespoons of runny honey and the juice of ½ an orange. Bring to a slow simmer on a medium heat and cook for 10 minutes until softened.
AUTUMN
APPLES · PEARS · PEACHES · NECTARINES ·
PLUMS
