Cooking for two Stars’ darling, avocado toast, easy to make
Sept. 16 was National Guacamole Day, so we understand if you instinctively grabbed the bag of tortilla chips and started to dip.
But surely you know by now that slathering good-fat guacamole on a slice of whole-grain toast is far more fashionable?
Credit Gwyneth Paltrow’s devotion to avocado toast, a recipe she featured in her cookbook It’s All Good (2013), for turning the buttery fruit into an A-list celebrity with its own day.
Perhaps we missed the observance because we were distracted by the Twitter chitter-chatter of an Australian real estate mogul calling out $19 avocado toast as the reason millennials could not afford to buy houses. Economists quickly started breaking it down and found his assertion more than a bit exaggerated.
But cultural food trend barometers are getting a little cranky about the “bourgeois” avo toast craze, calling it “the devil on toast.”
Avocado toast was in the news again when Time reported that Americans are now spending $900,000 per month on avocado toast — a jump from $17,000 per month in 2014.
Despite its overexposure, it’s hard to hate a tasty, good-for-you option that works just as well for breakfast, lunch or dinner as a snack, and takes no culinary skill to make.
The only drawback? Square, the merchant services aggregator, has found, on average, Americans are paying $6.78 per pop for avo toast in a restaurant. So making it at home can keep more green in your wallet.
Probably not enough green for the down payment on a house, but maybe enough for an avolatte — yes, a latte served in a hollowed-out avocado skin.
And just to keep things interesting, The Kansas City Star’s avo toast recipe includes variations worth exploring, such as egg, bacon, tomato, salsa, radish, smoked salmon or strawberries.
Avocado Toast
1 ripe avocado, halved, seeded and peeled 1 teaspoon lemon juice
¼ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
Salt and pepper, to taste
2 slices country-style wheat bread, toasted
Using the tines of a fork, mash avocado in a bowl. Add lemon juice, red pepper flakes and salt and pepper. Stir to blend well. Divide between the two pieces of toast.
Serve as is or add one of the following variations.
Makes 2 servings.
VARIATIONS
Avocado Toast With Egg: Poach, scramble or hard cook an egg. Place egg on top of avocado toast and serve. Top with chives if desired.
Bacon Avocado Toast: Top each piece with a slice of crisp bacon that has been halved and crisscrossed across toast. Tomato Basil Avocado Toast: For each piece, slice 4 cherry tomatoes and layer on avocado toast. Sprinkle with finely chopped basil. Salsa Avocado Toast: Spread a tablespoon or two of salsa over toast.
Avocado Toast With Radishes: Thinly slice radishes and place on avocado toast. Add chopped chives.
Smoked Salmon Avocado Toast: Top avocado toast with thin slices of smoked salmon and sprinkle with minced fresh dill. Strawberry Avocado Toast: Slice two or three strawberries and place on top of avocado toast.