RC’s Kitchen: Avocado Toast (avo-toast)
In SoCal, we love avocado in so many ways. This buttery and versatile fruit has tropical origins, but happily for us, California avocados thrive as a native plant from Monterey to San Diego. Naturally, avocados pair well with citrus and seafood or a simple spring mix salad, but our favorite recipe is the essential Cali snack: avocado toast. It’s portable. It’s its own vibe.
RECIPE
Our garlic avocado toast takes less than five minutes. Whip it up at your house. At the shop, we use Bread & Cie’s rosemary olive oil bread sliced to ½” and toast it up on a panini press at 490° but choose a bread you like -- a ⅝ toasted rustic sourdough makes for a fancier avo toast which lets you get in your indulgent brunch bag with a fork and knife. On the other hand ½ inch thick toasted whole wheat bread makes a fit on-the-go avo toast.
Of course, commercial panini presses are not a home kitchen staple so just toast it in your toaster; prep your extra ingredients while it toasts. Choose a ripe avocado, which will give a little at the press of your fingertips. Take great care halving your avocado the long way. Place the avocado on a cutting board with the stem pointing north and the wider base pointing south toward you. Hold one side carefully and with the top, working towards the base, of a sharpened chef’s knife, slice around the pit, shaped like a large round stone. If your avocado is ripe, the skin will give easily. Move the hand holding the avocado as you move your knife, taking great care to create a seam that divides the avocado symmetrically in half. Once you return to its north pole, you should be able to separate both halves with ease.
Thinly slice an avocado quarter (or a half, for more buttery avo goodness) and splay it across your toast similar to a casino dealer splaying out a deck of cards from left to right.. Slice the avocado super thin if your knife skills permit. Sprinkle himalayan pink salt and ground black pepper; then garnish with fresh micro greens (organic micro arugula is a great introduction to the world of microgreens) and sprinkled garlic powder or thinly sliced cloves of fresh garlic. At KUMA Cafe, we actually use cayenne garlic cloves that have been pickled. This isn’t exactly the easiest ingredient to find but many local farmer’s markets now carry these types of items regularly. Connect with your inner chef, extend that pinkie finger and drizzle your sauce of choice on top. My personal favorite is the signature garlic aioli used here at KUMA Cafe. Add a nice spicy kick by finishing with a drizzle of habanero sauce or sprinkling crushed red chili flakes on top. Dekimashita! A light and easy to digest So-Cal morning starter in the comfort of your own home.