Toast?  Really? 

I have been incredulous about toasts for a long time.  When I was growing up, toast was a sad breakfast item—a slice of bread browned in a toaster, not very exciting or inventive.  It was only attractive if there were softened butter and cinnamon sugar or strawberry jam around.  Who would want toast if they could have a donut, a danish or better yet a sticky bun?  But a few years ago, toast became a foodie “thing.”  There were whole restaurants dedicated to toast in larger cities.  Millennial nieces started asking me if I had tried avocado toast.  I even heard about toasts at a Weight Watchers meeting.  I was puzzled and skeptical.  Could toast really be a trend? The answer is simply….yes.

Toast is a special thing.  And it can be amazing.  Think of toast as an easy way to do a low calorie but yummy breakfast or lunch.  Let me translate “toast” for you.  It really is just an open faced sandwich on toasted bread.  As far as I can tell, and I have researched the topic, things like avocado toasts became a thing over the last decade as skinny sophisticates wanted to feel like they were having a meal when they really were just enjoying some low fat toppings on a slice of toasted bread.  Now, there’s even a mainstream television advertisement where two little girls make their mother “princess toast” (a piece of toast covered in tons of icing.)  

The whole avocado toast thing puzzled me enough that I ordered it recently in a California restaurant.  And I was amazed.  As I had presumed, avocado toast was simply that—mashed avocado on a piece of artisan bread that had been grilled, garnished with a few slices of radish and a cherry tomato.  For $8.  It was a thing of beauty—it was yummy and I applauded the restaurateur for the ingenious way he built a reputation on Yelp for something that had the lowest food cost possible.  I even had a laugh when I saw the avocado tree in the restaurant courtyard—the cost of my lunch for the restaurant was about fifty cents, the cost of two radish slices, a single cherry tomato and a piece of stale bread revived under the broiler.  I realized that if I owned a trendy restaurant, I would have embraced the whole toast thing myself—as a great way to pay the rent.  But now you are asking “why talk about toast with home cooks?”  Because it can be a “thing” at your house too. 

If you want to switch up that old Saturday morning breakfast or try a different way to enjoy an avocado in the morning, try toast.  If you are on a diet and want to feel like a princess at the table, try toast covered in roasted berries.  If you want your kids to try something different, use toast!  I am a convert for sure.  Here are a few of my favorite toast “recipes” just to get you started—once you have tried toasts, you will stop laughing at me and make up your own!

Roasted Berry Princess Toast

(I do really have this at my house when I have a few leftover berries or I am just feeling like a fancy breakfast for one.  Roasting the berries first for just a few minutes in the toaster oven brings out their sweetness.)

½ cup mixed fresh berries

1 slice of brioche style bread or farmhouse white bread

If you have a mix of strawberries, blueberries and blackberries, cut the strawberries so they are in pieces about the sixe of the blueberries.  Put them on a small foil lined pan and toast them in the toaster oven for 3-5 minutes.  Pull them out and toast the bread until it is golden brown.  Assemble by putting the roasted berries on top of the toast.  Enjoy immediately. 

Gourmet Cheese Toast

1 slice hearty rye bread

¼ cup grated specialty cheeses such as very sharp cheddar and/or gruyere

Dijon mustard (optional)

First, very lightly toast the rye bread.  Spread with a bit of mustard and sprinkle the cheeses over the mustard.  Put it all back in the toaster oven or under the broiler and toast it until the cheese is completely melted.  Enjoy immediately.

Avocado Toast

1 slice sourdough bread

½ avocado

Garlic salt

Toast the bread, sliced the avocado and spread it across the toasted bread.  Sprinkle with garlic salt.  Garnish with chopped parsley, a sliced radish or whatever you like.  Enjoy immediately.