Wednesday, December 3rd, 2014

The Anti-Turkey

P1050723After days and days of Thanksgiving leftovers (we cooked a 20+ pound bird this year, but the guests filled up mostly on sides and pie, which means there was mucho turkey meat to consume afterwards), I finally said ENOUGH, and decided to make something in the complete opposite direction…which for me is avocado toast. I know that avocado toasts have been having a moment (there are endless paeans to the combination of smashed avocado and toasted bread all over the interweb, and even this funny backlash on it’s popularity), but I honestly can say that the first and best avocado toast I ever ate was EIGHT YEARS AGO (so very pre-trend) while visiting a family of winemakers on their commune/farm in New Zealand. I was on the North Island, north of Auckland, reporting on a story for Saveur magazine, when the matriarch of the family made me a simple breakfast of toasted bread (fresh baked, she also ground the wheat into flour herself) slathered with butter (that she churned herself from their own cows’ milk), homemade (naturally) succotash, and smashed avocado from their lush garden out back. It was one of the most truly from-scratch things I’ve ever eaten and I’ll never forget it. Which is why every time I make myself an avocado toast, I think of that family and their sub-tropical paradise of homemade wonders in New Zealand. I never prepare it the same way twice, but I do always slather my toast with soft butter and then go from there.

Turkey-fatigue toast combination (as pictured above):

Toasted rye bread, slathered with butter.

1/2 a smashed avocado

Sprinkle with flaky salt, freshly ground pepper, and a big squeeze of lime juice.

Top with thinly sliced radish.

Chopped parsley.

Shaved ricotta salata.

Dot with sriracha.

ENJOY!