Broccoli Rising — a Toast to You
Don’t wanna cook? Don’t know what to cook? Darling, don’t fret — make French tartines. Or Danish schmorrebròd. Or Italian bruschetta. Or Czech chlebíčky. They sound elegant, exotic, but they’re comforting and familiar too. They’re open-faced sandwiches on toast.
Toast takes something you already like — mashed avocado, chopped tomato, braised beans, garlicky greens, even peanut butter, —and makes it better by juxtaposing texture and temperature. Peanut butter spread on a warm just-toasted slice of bread becomes a little melty. It’s easier to spread and a more delightful sensory experience to eat. You bite into crunch and creaminess, firmness and fattiness. This delicious study in contrasts goes far beyond peanut butter toast. A slice of good toasted bread elevates anything you top it with, both literally and metaphorically. It’s an edible pedestal.
Make your pedestal worthy of its topping. This means artisanal bread, whether homemade or from your favorite bakery. To my mind, commercial white bread doesn’t even count. It’s blood sugar-spiking simple carbs and chemicals and it’s just too squishy. Go for gutsy, crusty, and whole grainy, with the grain’s bran, germ and endosperm in on the action. Whole grains make for a more significant loaf, with a richer, nuttier flavor and more fiber. They make your toast a better foil for what goes on top of it. Gluten-sensitive friends, you can play too, with gluten-free breads, like these, all GFF Magazine-approved.
Now for the fun part — accessorizing. Delicious toast topping possibilities include:
nduja toast. Nduja is a luscious Italian pâté of Calabrian chili, fennel, garlic, and, alas, pork. But not here. My vegan nduja recipe uses umami-rich sundried tomatoes. It has the same gutsy spices, but no pig.
caponata, a Sicilian sweet and sour eggplant relish made for summer. Think of it as a sassier ratatouille.
the beloved British classic, beans on toast
tomato toast, with fresh or blistered tomatoes (here’s Adeena Sussman’s recipe).
Nigel Slater dials up tomato toast with a satiny bean puree base
Chef Tanya Holland’s simple but sensational black-eyed pea dip
kale toast. I first tasted this many years ago at San Francisco’s famed Zuni Cafe. It’s not dainty, it’s a knife and fork kind of deal that epitomizes the earthy, inviting culinary style of Zuni’s late great chef Judy Rodgers. It’s a kale celebration.
hold the egg creamy tofu salad is among my most requested recipes, no doubt because it’s so comforting, quick and easy. It’s my ready-in-a-minute rescue when the day has gotten away from me. On grainy toasted rye or pumpernickel, oh, man.
hummus —but really great hummus. The hummus from James Beard award-winning chef Michael Solomonov.
vegan cream cheese makes for a smooth blank canvas you can paint all kinds of ways. Michelin-starred Chef Jeremy Ford partnered with Violife cream cheese to create a luxe toast rich with herbs and tomatoes right from his farm.
Paid subscribers will find the Violife Toast recipe at the bottom of the post. Upgrade now to get access.
Garnish your masterpiece with:
roasted chickpeas
fresh microgreens
chopped fresh herbs
thinly sliced watermelon radish
crushed nuts
a sprinkle of spice
slivers of pickled onion
You’re a clever soul, you get the idea. Share your own toast creations in Notes. I want to see! I want to taste!
You can even make dessert toast:
Shibuya box toast, a TikTok phenom, wasn’t a big thing when I lived in Tokyo, and with fried white bread as a base, doesn’t have much of a health halo, but far be it from me to deprive you of dessert.
That said, a healthier option might be pistachio butter toast. Pistachio butter is available commercially, but this recipe from vegan pastry queen Fran Costigan is fast and flawless. Fabulous on toasted slice from a raisin-studded loaf. Pretty it up with a sprinkle of cocoa nibs, fresh berries and/or thinly sliced ripe fig. Whoa.
Note — Violife vegan cheese, hummus — Solomonov’s and other brands — and pistachio butter are all available commercially. Feel free to top your toast with these or other prepared plant-based spreads. Why struggle?
Buy or make the toppings ahead, and you have dinner or after-school snack halfway to ready. But toast your bread and top slices just before serving. Mushy toast defeats the purpose.
An assortment of toasts makes for a graze-y kind of meal that feels decadent but is easy, fun, and made for these late summer days. Consider adding a green salad. Just saying.
“It is impossible not to love someone who makes toast for you.”
-Nigel Slater
It’s also impossible not to love you, Broccoli Rising subscribers. Your support means everything to me.
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Upcoming Events
The Books & Books Literary Foundation presents… AN EVENING WITH MATT HAIG in conversation with Ellen Kanner presenting The Life Impossible.
Friday, September 6, 7 PM
Click here for tickets.
Next Monday is Labor Day and we all deserve a rest. In light, I will be pausing my regular Monday issue of Broccoli Rising. Paid Subscribers will get a special bonus on August 30. Enjoy Labor Day and don’t even stress about dinner because I’m planning a full week’s menu for you! It will drop in your inbox on Friday.
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And now for the Violife Toast recipes: