A Welcome Interlude: Toast, Three Ways

 🎓 1st Year PhD + • 📘 History • ⏸️ Pausing

You know those days when you’re either bogged down with something work-related or have gone down several rabbit holes and lost track of time? Maybe you were deep-diving into some avenue of research or new line of inquiry—or, like me, most likely were intensely immersed in various distraction projects. Usually, scouring the internet for a new pair of shoes or some other item I’ve suddenly deemed absolutely essential to my wardrobe (and hoping the dark depths of eBay or Vinted have it on sale), or going from one ASMR video to the next like some kind of junkie (it’s official: I’m addicted). 

On such days—and they happen wayyyy too often—I’ll look up at the time and suddenly realise:

a) I’ve done next to nothing anyone could remotely call productive, and

b) it’s creeping up to lunchtime, and I can’t really afford to spend ages cooking something if I’m going to rescue the evening from PhD-ing.

Queue the Mighty Toast. Quick, cosy, versatile. Depending on your mood, toast can be utterly dull or resoundingly comforting. Armed with the right ingredients, it can pass as a little ray of sunshine in the middle of the day—especially if you opt for fancy bread and a few choice frills to accompany it. From the first year of my PhD it has forever been my mainstay backup plan for days when I need something cheering, sustaining, and which I can knock up in minutes. Clearly, these ‘recipes’ won’t make headlines and I’m not trying to reinvent the wheel—but that would be antithetical to what this blog is about anyway.

A few notes on the recipe: 

Below you will see three toppings that have become pretty standard in the Carmel Kitchen. I regularly add different/additional things to each of them: 

Want some fried sliced courgettes or caramelised red onions on your feta yoghurt—crack on.

Want to change up the cheese in your scramble eggs—marvelous.

Fancy some feta and coriander sprinkled on the mounds of avo’—go live your best life. 

However, for the purposes of this blog, I’ve kept the recipes fairly simple so you can jazz them up however you please. As someone without dietary requirements, I’m unsure which substitutes to recommend here—but if you’re one of those people, you’re far better positioned to judge what swaps will work.

For the yoghurt in the Yoghurt & Feta Topping, I must insist you use Greek or a thick natural yoghurt (or the lactose-free version of). Anything thin or ‘light’ just won’t hold its own against the feta and olive oil, and the intended consistency—thick, billowy clouds—simply won’t be there.

Also, the portions are generous for a small-to-medium sized slice of toast (as in the photos), for which I’d recommend having a knife and fork to hand. For a large slice of toast, the portion will be more modest—but better for a ‘grab and go’ situation.

Servings: 1            🥕 V

Time:

👐 Hands-on: 10 minutes

Ingredients

For the Toast

• Slice of bread (your choice)

• Butter (optional)

Yoghurt & Feta Topping

• 50g Greek yoghurt (or another thick, full-fat plain yoghurt)

• 50g feta 

• 1 tbsp olive oil (the best quality you can manage)

• A good grind of black pepper

• Nigella seeds (optional)

• A few mint leaves (optional)

Scrambled Eggs & Parmesan Topping

• 1 heaped tsp butter 

• 2 eggs

• A generous pinch of salt and good grind of black pepper 

• 15–20g Parmesan (depending on your cheese appetite), finely grated

Smashed Avo’ & Seed Topping

• 1 small ripe avocado, or ½ a large one
• Juice of ½ lime (or to taste)
• 1 tbsp olive oil (the best quality you can manage)
• A generous pinch of salt (flaked, for preference)
• 2-3 tsp mixed seeds (I used pumpkin seeds–which I would heartedly recommend, as well as pine nuts, and flax seeds)

Instructions

1. Toast your desired slice of bread—either in a toaster or under the grill. Once toasted, spread on a bit of butter, if you’d like (it’s a non-negotiable for me). Meanwhile, prepare the topping of your choice:

For the Yoghurt & Feta Topping: in a large bowl (so it doesn’t go everywhere), whip together the yoghurt, feta, olive oil and pepper with a fork. This may take a few minutes and you may never get rid of all the graininess—but it adds texture. Slather onto the toast and sprinkle with nigella seeds and a few finely chopped mint leaves.

For the Scrambled Eggs & Parmesan Topping: melt the butter in a non-stick frying pan on a medium-low heat. Lightly whisk the eggs in a separate bowl—but not so much that the yolks and whites are completely combined. Once the butter has melted, pour in the egg mix. Now this is important: stir slowly with a wooden spoon or spatula, gently lifting the cooked egg at the bottom into the uncooked egg. Keep it low and slow; if the egg is cooking too fast, turn down the heat. The eggs should stay creamy and wet. Once it’s mostly cooked but still a tad underdone, take off the heat (it’ll continue cooking in its own heat), then stir in the grated Parmesan until melted through. Spoon onto the toast and add more Parmesan, if you’d like. 

For the Smashed Avo’ & Seed Topping: spoon the flesh from 1 small avocado (or ½ a large one) into a large bowl (again: so it doesn’t go everywhere). Add the lime juice, olive oil and salt. Whip up until as smooth or chunky as you like. Meanwhile, toast the seeds in a dry pan until golden. Lather the avocado onto the toast and top with the toasted seeds.

Storage