It is always in winter, when I find myself at the stove more than any other time of year, that I have such difficulty sharing recipe posts. I blame it on the short days and lack of natural light! And so, because of that, along with the fact that I have been consumed by building my very own home studio… I give you breakfast toast.

There is nothing necessarily difficult or unique about making breakfast toast. The important thing is to use quality ingredients, that are ideally in season, that you absolutely enjoy.

After working in bars and restaurants for 10+ years I finally learned the secret from a co-working cook of how to make a perfectly jammy “7 minute” egg. It isn’t as simple as boiling an egg for 7 minutes - unless of course your egg is room temperature. If you take it straight from the fridge you will want to lower it gently into a pot of boiling water and let it cook for eight minutes, drain the hot water and refill your pot with cold tap water and let it sit there until the egg feels cool. I have also heard that adding salt and white vinegar to your boiling water help the shells peel easily. Personally, I don’t think that’s necessary.

Last year I spent the first three month of 2020 on an elimination diet working with a functional doctor to get to the root of some GI and skin issues I was having. Going into it I was convinced I was gluten intolerant but testing showed no evidence of that. Over the rest of the year I slowly started adding bread back into my diet and now enjoy it but go out of my way to eat bread that is naturally leavened sourdough and locally made. We are very fortunate to have multiple craft bakeries here in Athens, my favorite being Independent Baking Co.

For this meal I toasted a slice of their Danish Rye Bread (whole rye flour, cracked rye berries, water, natural leaven culture made with rye flour, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, barley malt syrup & sea salt) which is dark and dense and deep with flavor. Once toasted I topped that with a small pat of grass-fed butter, some local arugula, smoked salmon, a sliced boiled egg and I love finishing it with Pet Pet Spicy, an Athens-made togarashi.

This is truly a choose-your-own-adventure folks. Sub salmon with avocado, use baguette instead of rye, slice up some tomatoes in place of greens, fry your egg in lieu of boiling it. Breakfast toast is all about starting your day with a meal that makes you happy.