wholemeal sourdough toast with persian feta, white anchovies, spiced almonds & a continental parsley salad.
Can you imagine what the world was like before there was toast?? It doesn’t bear thinking about does it… No fruit loaf slathered in meltingly rich butter, no vegemite on toast (the ultimate comfort food), no toasty crumpets with honey drizzling though the holes, no oozy cheese on toast, no pop tarts…. OK OK, I am sure the absence of pop tarts isn’t going to break any hearts….not here in Oz at least…. But without toast your classic big breakfast would just be eggs with stuff and baked beans would be lost without their pillowy support… long live toast, I say.
The Italians have perfected the art of things on toast with their bruschetta and crostini, the French have the infinite variety of their tartines and the Mexicans have their tostadas. Actually the Mexicans tend to fry the tostadas rather than toast the corn bread…but the sentiment is still the same. Countless times the concept of topping a toasted bread base with whatever happens to be on hand has provided me with inspiration for a quick and tasty meal.
This was the case last Sunday when I was looking for a light lunch to tide me over until the late afternoon when I was to share a couple of bottles of vino and some cheese on my favourite balcony in Darling Point…. The result was a pleasant surprise: a thick slice of wholemeal sourdough from the Bourke St Bakery goldenly toasted and spread with a generous layer of creamy marinated Persian feta from the good people at South Cape. Thinly sliced white marinated anchovy fillets provided a refreshingly acidic counterpoint to the creamy cheese and some chopped spiced almonds completed the picture. All that remained was to make a quick side salad of continental parsley leaves drizzled with a little lemon juice and extra virgin olive oil and a sprinkling of the spices from the almonds….all good things…