Wednesday, August 13, 2008

Avocado Toast: Best Breakfast in the World!


I love breakfast. On the weekends I make something special, always. Last Sunday I had a tomato sandwich accompanied by steamed green beans dressed with a lemon butter sauce and finished with parsley and salt. I also had sliced radishes, as well as, fresh blue berries with figs and a sliver of avocado. It was beautiful and healthy and filling, my favorite.

Unfortunately, my weeks don't allow me the leisure of the weekend to chop, dice, steam, fry etc. Instead I have to be quick and efficient. Yet, I still like to eat well. I think I started putting avocado on toast after I visited my cousin Patty when she was in grad school at Buffalo.

When I went to visit Patty she was living in a large old Victorian house. It was a bit shabby. She shared the apartment with a Chinese student who made food in a slow-cooker. I think the whole time I was there she was cooking something in the slow-cooker. They didn't have any living room furniture. Patty said she did not want to make the investment. The living situation was very paired down; we ate that way too.

One night we had pasta that was made with sun dried tomatoes and sour cream. We improvised it from a family recipe. In El Salvador you would cook chicken breast in a sauce made of fresh tomatoes and fresh cream. It is really rich and delicious. You sop up the sauce with homemade tortillas, which in El Salvador are not like the ones you see in the super market and bodegas here. Tortillas over there are thicker. They are made from corn that has recently been dried and taken to the mill that very day. When I lived there with my grandmother one of my chores was to take the parboiled corn to the mill. She would yell at me because apparently I didn't put enough water in the masa.

Normally I would eat an avocado with a tortilla, any kind. Yet, on my visit to Patty's place that all changed. She cut an avocado in half and took out a loaf of french bread. She said, "I just eat it like this." Then she dug a hunk of bread into the avocado. I took my half and did the same. I think I must have asked for salt. I feel like avocado tastes better with salt. It was good, simple and really good.

Going back to Memphis I went through a phase of putting avocado and tomato on toast with salt. That's good, but not as good as adding hot sauce. I think I like the tang of vinegar. You don't need to add salt if you add hot sauce because the sauce is salty. Also, my favorite is the cheap kind. I am no frills when it comes to hot sauce. Eventually I stopped adding the tomato because slicing tomato takes away precious time in the morning. Just the hot sauce, toast and avocado is enough, perfect really.

Hermes' Avocado Toast

Avocado
Good bread, sliced and toasted*
Hot Sauce

Spread your avocado on the bread, add hot sauce. Eat over the sink, maybe as you sprint to the subway.
*If your bread is really fresh, toasting is optional.

Additions to consider when you already know you're gonna be late:

sliced radishes
slivered red onion
tomatoes

or substitute hot sauce for:

Pepper flakes
Sea salt and cracked pepper

Buen provecho!!!



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