Credit: Haarala Hamilton
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Bliss On Toast: 3 elevated open sandwich recipes from Prue Leith’s new cookbook
3 years ago
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2 min read
Next time you’re stuck for an easy yet satisfying work from home lunch, look no further than these three open sandwich recipes from Prue Leith.
Whether it’s simply buttered, beans on toast, Welsh rarebit, Scandi-style sandwiches and much more, there’s no limit to what you can do with a humble slice of toast.
Breakfast, lunch or dinner, it’s likely that you can always throw together something delicious with a couple of slices of bread and whatever you happen to have on hand. But if you’re after some fresh inspiration, the one and only Prue Leith is here to help.
The much-loved GBBO co-host has enjoyed a decade-spanning career in food. From graduating from the Cordon Bleu Cookery School to opening her own Michelin-starred restaurant and founding the world-renowned Leith’s School of Food and Wine – not to mention countless cookery books and TV appearances along the way – it’s safe to say that Prue is a woman who knows her way around the kitchen.
Credit: Haarala Hamilton
And with her latest book Bliss On Toast, she’s turning her expertise to toast – offering 75 simple yet inventive ways to spruce up the household staple for any time of day. So next time you’re in need of a quick, tasty and satisfying lunch in between meetings while working from home, we suggest you look no further than these three recipes.
Forget your standard cheese sarnie, though. Topping her sourdough with kale, chilli, burrata and tapenade, Prue elevates the lunchtime staple to something worthy of serving to guests. Plus, it comes together in less than 10 minutes and packs a green punch, thanks to the portion of kale.
And while we all know and love a classic basil pesto, Prue offers a new take with her punchy combo of walnuts, garlic and cheddar cheese. Simply coupled with tomatoes and piled on top of toasted focaccia, as she notes, the paste is also perfect for pairing with other veggies, meats and pasta dishes.
Finally, sitting somewhere in between a smoken salmon sandwich and our go-to avo-salmon sushi rolls, Prue’s smoked salmon, wasabi and avocado open sandwich is more than tempting for an easy lunch al desko, while also more than satisfying for a weekend brunch or speedy supper. Bliss on toast indeed.
Kale, chilli, burrata and tapenade on sourdough
Prue says: “You can buy mozzarella almost anywhere but its more luxurious cousin, burrata, is still something of a rarity other than in the largest of supermarkets and the best delis. Burrata is basically mozzarella stuffed with cream: decadent in the extreme, and all the better for that. I like to eat this while the kale is still hot, as I like the contrast with the cold creamy burrata.”
Ingredients
- large handful of roughly chopped curly kale leaves
- ½ red chilli, finely chopped
- 1 garlic clove, crushed
- extra virgin olive oil
- 2–3 tbsp water
- 2 slices of sourdough bread
- 2 tsp black olive tapenade
- 1 burrata, drained of whey
- ½ tsp coriander seeds, toasted and slightly crushed
- sea salt flakes
Method
Put the kale, chilli, garlic and 1 tbsp olive oil and all the measure water into a wok or frying pan and stir fry for 4-5 minutes until the water has evaporated and the kale is bright green and beginning to crisp around the edges. Take of the heat.
Toast the bread slices, duress thoroughly with the tapenade and drizzle a little olive oil over them. Put them on plates and arrange the kale on top.
Cut the burrata into 4 and put 2 pieces on top of each kale-covered toast. Sprinkle with coriander seeds and a pinch of salt.
Tips
- There is more power in the seeds of chilli than in the flesh. So if you don’t like it too hot, deseed the chilli before chopping.
- Kale with chilli and garlic makes really good crisps. Instead of stir-frying them, mix the kale leaves (which must be dry) thoroughly with the chilli, garlic and a little olive oil. Spread out in a single sparse layer on a baking sheet and cook in an oven preheated to 150°C/fan 130°C/Gas Mark 2 for 20 minutes, until dried out and crisped up.
Tomatoes with English pesto on toasted focaccia
Prue says: “I think I prefer this English version of pesto even to the classic Italian basil one. It’s lighter and more versatile. It’s good with pasta, on pizza, or just as flavouring for salad dressing, or indeed to serve with grilled chicken or lamb chops. Just about anything really!”
Ingredients
- 2 squares of focaccia
- 4–6 big slices of ripe tomato
For the pesto:
- 20g walnuts
- 30g bunch of parsley
- 1 garlic clove, crushed
- 30g Cheddar cheese, finely grated
- 75ml rapeseed oil
- salt and freshly ground black pepper
Method
Preheat the oven to 200°C/Fan 180°C. Put the walnuts on a baking tray and into the hot oven for 5 minutes to toast. Or toast them in the microwave for 5 minutes, giving them a store half way through.
Chop the stalks of the parsley, which have a lot of flavour you don’t want to waste, with a sharp knife. (Chopping in the machine can result in stringy bits - better to start by hand). Put them, the parsley leaves and garlic into a blender and chop briefly. Then add the cheddar and walnuts and blend again. At this point you will need to add some oil to loosen the paste. When everything is in, blitz to a smooth-ish sauce and season with salt and pepper.
Toast or grill the focaccia pieces to warm them through, then spread with the pesto and overlap the tomato slices on top.
Tips:
- The pesto will keep for a couple of weeks in the fridge if stored in a jar with a little more oil on top to keep the air out. But it will lose its brilliant colour, sadly.
- To make it vegan, use vegan Cheddar or any other hard vegan cheese
Smoked salmon, wasabi and avocado on granary bread
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp fresh curd cheese or cream cheese
- 1 tsp wasabi paste
- 2 slices of granary bread
- 1 ripe avocado
- 150g smoked salmon or gravlax
- finely grated zest of 1 lime
- ½ tsp each of black and white sesame seeds
- a few pea shoots or tendrils (optional)
Method
Mix the cheese with the wasabi and spread it on the bread.
Slice the avocado thinly and put it in an even layer on top of the wasabi-cheese mix, then cover with the smoked salmon.
Sprinkle on the lime zest and sesame seeds and garnish with the pea shoots of tendrils, if you have found any.
Tip
- You can sometimes buy wasabi paste in tubes, but it’s usually sold as dry powder and must be mixed to a paste with a little water.
Photography: Haarala Hamilton
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