Displaying items by tag: toast

Bang on the toast trend, we are excited about this new company called The Cheese Postie. For a £3.99 a week subscription, a DIY savoury or sweet toasted cheese sandwich will drop through your letterbox.  The ready to assemble ingredients will include quality artisan bread (including gluten free) the filling and a toasting bag.

Toast is getting big and very posh. It's moved across from San Francisco and been spotted at the London based Brickhouse Bakery who have been creating limited edition flavours. If you want to look like Gwyneth Paltrow, then eat Avocado Toast. Gwyneth has a recipe for vegan avocado toast in her recipe book, 'It's All Good' - she compares it to 'a favourite pair of jeans'. Here at SuffolkFoodie, we don't look like Gwyneth but are bang on trend; we're eating Hot Cromer Crab on Toast.

INGREDIENTS (serves 4)

 1 dressed Cromer crab
2 tablespoons mayonnaise
2 teaspoons readymade English mustard
2 tablespoons finely grated Parmesan cheese
2 tablespoons finely grated Cheddar cheese
1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley

1 tablespoon chopped chervil
juice of 1/2 of a lemon and a teaspoon of the finely grated rind
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
a little oil, for greasing

4 slices of thickly cut bread  (sourdough is perfect)

Preheat the oven to 180C / gas 4 and lightly oil a baking tray.

In a bowl mix together the crabmeat, mayonnaise, mustard, half the chopped herbs, lemon rind and lemon juice, and season well.

Preheat the grill, or heat a griddle pan, and lightly toast the bread on one side only. Arrange on the prepared baking tray, toasted side down, then generously spread each slice with the crab mixture and sprinkle with a little of each cheese. Put into the preheated oven for about 8 minutes, until the cheese melts and turns golden brown. Take out of the oven, sprinkle with the remaining chopped herbs. Serve with the salad leaves, tossed with the dressing, and a wedge of lemon.

It may not be the only reason I became vegetarian, but lodged somewhere in the back of my memory is the image of a smooth spongy material spread on a well-done piece of buttered toast. It was truly offal – though I see from brief search on the internet such delicacies are not entirely confined to the past.

My memory has stopped short of storing the flavour of it, but I do remember eating brains on toast when I was a kid in the 60’s. I also remember pig’s trotters, brawn, kidneys, fish roes and liver - evidence enough that we didn’t have a lot of money, and that we used every possible bit of the animals that were killed to feed us.

Perhaps we were less fussy then, but I remember fighting with my two brothers at every meal to finish whatever was put in front of us. Seconds! Thirds! Whoever wolfed down the first helpings would get their hands on the next. Oxtail stew, sheep’s hearts anyone? I think our mother drew the line at tripe and black pudding (we lived in London after all), but she put her mind to the best presentation of the least palatable stuff available at the local butchers.

There was plenty of it, and it was cheaper. Of course we had beef stew on rarer days, but there was cod, haddock, sprats, and a plentiful supply of cheese, bread and digestive biscuits. Then, every Sunday, a roast with all the trimmings. At Christmas, the (gravy) boat was pushed out with pork, beef, and of course turkey. But during the year no-one turned their noses up at less glamorous fare. Nor, as my memory assures me, slimy grey sheep’s brains boiled first, then fried in butter, liberated from their membranous sheath and thickly spread on toast.