Sometimes, only toast will do, whether it’s thickly cut and slathered with butter (and maybe combined with flaky salt and topped with sliced radishes), popped under a mound of sauteed mushrooms (take Guardian food columnist Meera Sodha’s lead and stir in some brown and white miso), or bulked up with cheesy curried butter beans à la Yotam Ottolenghi. Toast can do it all, and at any time of day.
That said, I think we can all agree that toast is often best under some lovely, bubbly cheese. Patrick Williams, chef-owner of Kudu Collective in south-east London, does this “the South African way [AKA braaibroodjie], to snack on with a beer at a braai”. It’s serious business, too: “Back home, there’s competition between my brother and I about who makes the best,” Williams says, and success relies on using only “decent stuff”, which means good-quality cheddar and tomatoes (“bull’s heart or, if you want to be a bit ‘out there’, pineapple tomatoes”), and Mrs HS Ball’s chutney: “It’s South African and tarter than Branston pickle, and you can get it in the world food aisle of big supermarkets.” Everything then gets stuffed between two slices of bread along with a few crushed coriander seeds, salt and pepper, sometimes sliced red onion, and then goes into a pan to crisp up.
Theo Randall, chef/patron at Theo Randall at the Intercontinental in central London, meanwhile, is more likely to be found rubbing toast with garlic, and topping it with slow-roasted tomatoes (datterini, for preference), burrata, torn basil, plenty of good olive oil, and some black pepper and sea salt. “Other favourites are ciabatta cut in half, toasted, buttered and topped with a couple of good salted anchovy fillets,” he says, plus a squeeze of lemon for good measure. If he’s in need of something more substantial, it’s got to be courgette bruschetta: “Cook sliced courgettes in olive oil with garlic and a pinch of salt for a good 10 minutes, with the lid on, so they go soft.” Uncover, and cook for another 10 minutes, so they caramelise, then add basil, and season. “Rub the toast with garlic, spread with tapenade, then put the cooked courgettes, a few rocket leaves and slivers of ricotta salata or feta on top – delicious!”
Fish, be it tinned or fresh, makes another fine toast topper. In his book Cooking, Jeremy Lee lightly oils and seasons butterflied fresh sardines, fries them skin side down until the flesh turns pale, then flips and cooks for another minute. Pile the fish on to toast with some chopped blistered spring onions, crown the lot with a fried egg, and you’ll want for nothing more. (Of course, eggs, whether scrambled, poached, boiled or fried and basted in oil/butter and turmeric or harissa, are another no-brainer with toast.)
On the sweet side, Dom Fernando, founder of Sri Lankan restaurant Paradise in London, whips up a batch of cashew butter: “It’s creamier and a bit more mellow than peanut, and it’s easy to make” – just toast cashews in a low oven for 10 minutes, then blitz in a food processor. “The secret to making it super-smooth is to add a little coconut oil,” Fernando says, and you could sprinkle in sea salt, too. When he’s short on time, however, he often turns to simple cinnamon sugar: “Blend a little cinnamon and sugar, and sprinkle on buttered toast. That’s almost French toast without the effort of actually making it.”
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