Avocado Toast Royale

This isn’t so much as a recipe as it is a suggestion for your otherwise basic avocado toast. But I have a cute story to share here about me and the basic avocado toast, so I thought it was worth a post. 

Way back before the avocado toast trend caught on as a millennial thing, I was making avocado mashed on a piece of toast for breakfast. I’m not saying that I started the avo toast sensation because there’s no real way to know how this caught on. Around this time, I was asked by a group of film students to help them with their cooking segment film final. They needed someone to film as a cooking show sort of demo, and I was happy to oblige. Since the stage set didn’t have an actual kitchen, I’d have to create something easy to make. I wouldn’t have a stove or an oven, and also I’d need to create the recipe step by step. Of course, making avocado toast checks off all of these boxes. 

I arrived at the film school with my toaster, and all ingredients in separate containers prepped and ready to go. The film students were getting their cameras in position— camera one and two, respectively. 

The stage set had a horribly ugly fake brick background that made me feel like I was on the set of Sesame Street. There were a few random curtains in different colors draped around the brick background that clashed with my frilly pink apron and top. The visual on the whole wasn’t quite Instagram worthy. 

As we began to film, I cut open one of the four avocados I brought along for the avocado toast tutorial. Then I cut another avocado for another take. Eventually, I had split open and smashed all of the four avocados. I also had to continually toast each slice of bread, then slice the avocado, squeeze the lemon, and sprinkle on the spices. Easy enough. But by the time the cameras caught up with my step-by-step process, the fourth take of the avocado toast was beginning to look sad. Bright stage lights were increasing in heat, and time was ticking before all of the avocado toasts turned mushy and brown. Life lesson: don’t let avocados go brown under stage lighting. Also: don’t expect avocado toast to look as mouthwatering on film as it does on Instagram. 

But I wasn’t as experienced being on-camera back then. After the film student video, I appeared as a food critic on MasterChef. I also sat with Chef Gordon Ramsay in a restaurant booth on another show. Those two television appearances broke me into feeling more natural on camera. But during my avocado toast filming, I was a bit awkward and didn’t speak as loudly as I could have. 

Needless to say, I didn’t ask for a copy of the video footage for my blog and Instagram use as I had planned. 

But what is it about the avocado that we love so much? It’s been called “butter fruit” in India, as well as “alligator pear,” but we love it just the same. Healthy fats, high in potassium, magnesium, and vitamin B-6, we can’t get enough of the green stuff.

I know avocado toast is basic, but crowned with toppings you can easily see why we call it Royale. Fix this any way you’d like, but I find mashing the avocado in a bowl like guacamole a good way to add spices and lemon juice a better method than directly upon the toast.

Avocado Mash:

• 1-2 ripe avocados

• 2 tbl olive oil

• spices (turmeric, curry powder, chili flakes, garlic powder, smoked paprika)

• 1-2 lemons, juiced

• 2 slices of fresh bread

• sea salt & pepper, to taste

Toppings:

• sliced radishes

• cherry tomatoes or sliced tomatoes

• za’atar spice blend (sumac, toasted sesame seeds, cumin, dried thyme, chili flakes, coriander, crushed pistachios)

• drizzle of balsamic vinegar

• baby kale & mixed greens

MASH AVOCADO IN A MIXING BOWL, UNTIL CHUNKY IN TEXTURE.

ADD OLIVE OIL AND LEMON JUICE.

TOAST THE BREAD.

SPOON THE AVOCADO MIXTURE ONTO THE TOAST AND MASH WITH FORK TO SPREAD.

LAYER AS MUCH AVOCADO MIXTURE AS YOU LIKE.

SPRINKLE AVOCADO TOAST WITH SPICES, SEA SALT & PEPPER.

CROWN YOUR TOAST WITH EXTRA TOPPINGS AND SERVE IMMEDIATELY.

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