Brian’s Avocado Toast

It’s going to sound silly, but avocado toast is a completely new concept to me.  I’ve put avocado on sandwiches, on pizzas, on tacos, but never just on a toasted piece of bread.  It’s my new favorite snack/lunch/side dish!

The original recipe that inspired this version of avocado toast was from my Smitten Kitchen cookbook – it was called an Avocado Tartine with Cucumbers and Sesame seeds.  The cucumbers were tossed in rice vinegar and sesame seed oil, and sesame seeds were sprinkled on top.  I made it yesterday afternoon for a snack, and Brian suggested adding some balsamic glaze.  The addition of the balsamic was perfect!

On a side note, Brian is the tester for the first versions of a lot of my recipes.  He’ll eat just about anything (except mushrooms), and he usually has great suggestions for changes or additions – just like this one!

So I adjusted the ingredients a bit and added the balsamic glaze to create Brian’s version.  I almost want to call it an avocado bruschetta, and you could definitely add some chopped tomatoes to the topping if you wanted.  It was light and summery, and went perfectly with the beautiful weather today!

Brian’s Avocado Toast (serves 2 for a snack, for a lunch it might be a single serving)

• a 6 inch section of baguette, sliced lengthwise
• 1 avocado, sliced
• 1/2 cup English cucumber, peeled and chopped
• 1 teaspoon white wine vinegar
• 1 teaspoon olive oil
• salt and pepper to taste
• balsamic glaze (I recommend Gia Russa)

Toast the baguette pieces.

Mix the cucumber, vinegar and olive oil in a bowl.  Add a generous pinch of salt and some freshly ground pepper.

Top the baguette pieces with the sliced avocado.  You could lay out the avocado slices all pretty on top, but I took a fork and lightly smushed them into the toasted baguette.  (It makes the avocado less likely to take a tumble off the bread while you’re eating.)  Top each piece with the cucumber mixture and finally, drizzle with balsamic glaze.

Eat and enjoy!

This post is linked to What’s in the Box?  at In Her Chucks.

New CSA Box! Finally

I have been waiting all year for this and it is finally here. The CSA box! I feel like yelling the CSA box is here! The CSA box is here! So I guess I got that out of my system. I had intended to write a long-winded post during the winter on why buying into a CSA is the right thing to do but I found it, well, boring and preachy. So let me just say after our 1st year we upped our CSA from Birdsong Farms to include the fall option so YES it is the right thing to do. From our 1st box as well as some of the other Haymaker Farm Market vendors items we did a shrimp stir fry with garlic scapes, broccoli, brassica, red pepper, snow peas and zucchini. This was served over saffron pasta from Ohio City Pasta along with an orange juice stir fry sauce consisting of orange juice, chicken broth, soy sauce and corn starch to thicken it slightly. It is so nice to be eating fresh food raised by friends again. Thanks.

Fresh greens, radishes and turnips from Birdsong and Deck Art from Uncle Ross