Easy Entertaining_Sum19_Ed-final.qxp_Road Trip_Cinci.qxd 5/30/19 6:44 AM Page 36
food | easy entertaining
EASY entertaining
T
he current culinary rage is avocado toast. These crunchy and
creamy treats can be seen on menus with many other top-
pings and are also being enjoyed at home. Avocado toast is the most recent recreation of a long-standing French dish called tartine – literally meaning “a slice of bread.” Few experiences can make you feel more French than sitting at a sidewalk table of a Parisian café early in the morning, watching the world go by, sipping a café au lait and eating a tartine de beurre, a ficelle (a small baguette) split horizontally and spread
AToast toToast The creamy and crunchy texture of avocados sliced and arranged prettily or smashed chunkily and spread thickly on toasted bread has been quickly adopted by American restaurant chefs and inquisitive home cooks. Seeing the potential variations that can be played upon this simple idea of toast and toppings, we thought it would be fun to create our own combinations. They can be served as appetizers/canapés before a summer patio dinner party, or offer a selection of toasts along with perhaps a frittata and sliced melon or berrybased fruit salad for a simple-to-puttogether brunch on the deck.
36 Summer 2019 www.foodanddine.com
thickly with butter and perhaps some confiture, the thick French jam. This is the basis on which the concept of the tartine is built and which has finally migrated westward to become an American food fixation in the form of avocado toast. BY TIM & LORI LAIRD | PHOTOS BY DAN DRY
You hardly need a recipe to make tartines. The hardest part is thinking of new combinations for toppings. And, of course, choosing the right bread for those toppings is important. We offer specific suggestions for pairing bread and toppings, but there is no reason to go overboard and stuff your breadbox. For any party, no matter the varieties of toppings you want to include, two or three different loaves will do fine. That said, here are some of our suggestions. You can go with geographical themes, as some of our recommendations below imply. Some of our toppings that seem quintessentially French, like on the French
Fantasy, work well on French bread, either baguettes or slices of boule, the round country bread. Or focus on Kentucky ingredients, like the one we below call the Bluegrass Supreme, which you can put on a country loaf. You can go all vegetarian, like the Fig, Cream, and Green or the Broccoli Spice, in which case you could use a multigrain bread or a loaf that incorporates very healthful ingredients like flax seed. Some toppings meld well with rye bread, or try sourdough. In all cases, you will want to toast the bread, lay on something spreadable (or meltable) and then garnish with savories or even sweets. A party based on toasts is so easy to put together that you can enlist anyone to help. If they can manage to spread things on bread and carefully place sliced meat or vegetables on top, give them an apron and promote them to sous chef. We also created a special cocktail to go with all these toasts, a “fusion,” if you will, of a screwdriver and a mimosa, a drink that would be welcomed either in the early evening before dinner, or on a late weekend morning with brunch. Our name for our creation is the Finmosa, since we used Finlandia vodka, Korbel California Brut Champagne and orange juice. Enjoy our wonderful combination of toasts, raise your Finmosa and give a toast! My toast is, “May your only pain be champagne.”