Avocado and Burrata Toast with Pickled Carrot Ribbons
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The toast series: An Introduction
I never set out to be a toast account on Instagram but people seem to like the toasts I make. And I get asked all the time for recipes for my toasts. Personally, I do not think that toasts should require a recipe. Toasted bread is like a tasty blank canvas. Put whatever the hell you want on it, you don’t need me to tell you what to do. I am the kind of person that would find a toast recipe incredibly stifling, and I urge you to get to a point where feel confident enough in your abilities in the kitchen to feel the same way.
My spouse always is there to lend a different perspective, though. He can’t do anything in the kitchen without a recipe, and even then, I think he doesn’t have enough cooking experience to grasp the nuance of things; how time sensitive something cooking on the stove can be and that sort of thing. He reminds me that just because I have that confidence and intuition to cobble things together and make it taste good, doesn’t mean everyone does, and maybe that confidence can be built over time but it needs to start with the practice that comes from following a recipe first.
So, okay, I hear you. I’m gonna try to capture “recipes” for my favorite toasts, but I urge you not to depend on measurements (which won’t always be there) and rather use this as an ingredient list or a starting point. And don’t let getting caught up in precise details prevent you from enjoying the process of assembling your own toasts! Now, let’s get that bread, literally.
About this Toast
I made this toast as a celebratory post on the 2-year anniversary of my Instagram account. I think the curly scallions and the carrot ribbon swirls resemble party streamers. The flowers all came from my backyard garden (violas, marigolds, and chive blossoms) and the pea leaves and tendrils came from seeds that a neighbor planted in the communal area right outside my house.
How to Make Avocado & Burrata Toast with Pickled Carrot Ribbons
Ingredients for the Pickled Carrot Ribbons
1 carrot
4 tsp sugar
1/4 cup rice vinegar
1/4 cup hot water
salt
other ingredients for this toast
2 slices of sourdough
butter, for toasting
1 avocado
1 ball of burrata
1 scallion
everything seasoning
pea tendrils
edible flowers
Procedure
Prepare quick-pickled carrot ribbons. Using a vegetable peeler, remove rough outer skin of carrot and discard. Continue using the vegetable peeler to shave thin “ribbons” of carrot. Rotate as necessary until reaching the core of the carrot. (Feel free to snack on the carrot core!) In a small bowl, combine 1/4 cup hot water (does not need to be boiling; hot tap water is fine) and sugar; mix until sugar is dissolved. Mix in rice vinegar and a pinch of salt. Add carrot ribbons and allow to marinade for 15 minutes to (in the fridge) overnight. Note: You will have more than you need for this recipe.
Slice scallion lengthwise into thin strips. Place in a bowl with ice water, and place bowl in the fridge to allow them to curl up. This can also be done in advance of making the toasts.
Toast the bread to your preference. I like to melt some butter in a skillet, toast one side in the butter, and then flip over and turn off the heat. This allows the toasted side to withstand the toppings and provide crunch, but prevents the bread from becoming a gum-cutter.
Cut the avocado in half, remove the pit, and carefully peel off the skin. Thinly slice crosswise, and fan out one half over each of the pieces of toast. Grab small globs of burrata and arrange them over the avocado. Top with the remaining ingredients as desired.
For more toast inspiration, check out all the posts with the “toast post” tag here.