Email
PrintA Toast To Spring
The old saying goes: “The best thing since sliced bread.” In my opinion, bread is great, slicing sometimes helps, but we should be measuring innovation not by the slicing of bread but by the toasting of it. Toasting is truly the better mousetrap of bread cookery. It often strikes me that the greatest culinary advances are methods, approaches, or techniques rather than newly discovered ingredients or full-fledged recipes. The gold lies in between, in the shift in thinking that opens up a floodgate of new possibilities. Just the sort of shift that goes well with the innovative air of spring. Just such a shift is toast.
I love toast. True, there is little as comforting as the smell of fresh bread coming out of the oven, as all good real estate agents know. Bread in its many varieties, yeasted or not, baked however you please—in an oven, on a pan, in a tandoor, twisted on sticks over a campfire, on roadside grill, steamed in bamboo—is one of the great staples of global cuisine. However, when you add toasting to the repertoire, from gentle gilding to vicious charring, the flavor possibilities multiply along with the comfort level. Compare a tuna sandwich with a toasted tuna sandwich or a tuna melt—the coziness factor skyrockets with the added warmth, and the enjoyment increases with the experience of contrasts—crispness against softness, smokiness against freshness. If consumed while finger-pricking hot, expect a soul-satisfying flashback-to-imaginary-ideal-childhood sigh of “aaaah” to echo off the kitchen walls.
Perhaps I was just a particular type of hungry at the time, but from my first encounter with Alice in Wonderland at age 6, my favorite moment of Alice’s adventures has been the one in which she describes the contents of the mysterious “Drink Me” bottle as tasting, in part, of hot buttered toast. Redolent of home and hearth and the simplest of pleasures, could there have been a much more reassuring taste for Alice in her confusing and disorienting circumstances? I feel much the same way about the power of toast. It rebalances the nerves frayed by blustery March winds and the knife-edge chill that slips, in that sneaky spring way, with the comforts of winter past and the bold growth of the season to come.
ALMOST ALICE'S HOT BUTTERED TOAST
To approach the nostalgic magic of Alice's toast in our modern world, seek out the best slow-rise (true sourdough) bread you can find (or make—it can even be done gluten-free), and real butter from pastured animals. Make sure both are at room temperature when you start. Slice the bread to fit your toaster or grill pan, toast carefully while humming your favorite song, then slather on butter as soon as the toast has achieved your preferred level of gilded crispness. Crunch and enjoy!
COMFORTING CURRY TOAST
For the balancing buzz of ayurvedic spices in less time than it takes to Google a good Indian restaurant, toast your favorite bread, then spread when hot with either a teaspoonful of Patak's Mild Curry Paste, or a good curry powder stirred into a spoonful of ghee or melted butter. Spicy, warming, and peculiarly addictive (leftovers make amazing croutons— just dry out in a low oven).
SPRING ON A SHINGLE
For a reenergizing spring snack (and green enough for St. Patrick’s Day), while toasting your favorite bread, slip a handful of your favorite spring greens (arugula, spinach, parsley, whatever mix is available) on top of an equal quantity of extra virgin olive oil in a blender. Top with an equal quantity of untoasted nuts (light or green colored ones help keep the color bright, i.e., pine nuts, macadamia nuts, pistachios). Puree in blender until almost smooth, and then spread on toast. Sprinkle with a little salt and fresh-ground pepper. Also lovely with fresh peas or steamed edamame added, and a little lemon zested on top.
Sharon Abra Hanen is a writer and creativity coach who lives with a shiny retro toaster, a vintage copy of Alice in Wonderland, and the results of many creative experiments (many actually edible). She blogs about food, writing, and the creative life at http://wellfedpoet.wordpress.com
