Lazy Saturday Brunch Sandwich

We try to get up early on the weekend.  Not as early as on a weekday, but as most people do, we only get two days a week that are our own, so we like to stretch it out and pack in as much as we can into the daylight hours.  We have both been exhausted from a very busy November, so this morning we both slept in.  It surprised me that I could stay in bed for almost 10 hours, but clearly, it was needed.  When I finally got up and made coffee, I was hungry!  All of that sleeping was hard work.  So I set about to make a quick breakfast, well brunch actually, because it was too late in the morning to call the meal breakfast in my books.

I had a hankering for avocado on toast.  I have long loved avocado slices on a sandwich.  I adore homemade guacamole (especially my homemade guacamole), but I only recently discovered the lusciousness of eating a lightly seasoned avocado mashed on a slice of toast.  The heat from the toasted bread brings out the rich and unctuous nature of an avocado.  Eating the avocado simply on its own on a grainy slice of toasted bread lets the avocado be the star.  Since avocado contains “good” fat, it is healthy too.

I sort of felt like having an egg, but I wasn’t feeling very ambitious, so I put it to a vote.  Bjorn voted “yes” to an egg, so the above sandwich was born.  I’m sure Bjorn would have enjoyed a fried egg, but I’m not very good at frying eggs, so the egg ended up scrambled in a little bit of butter.  While the eggs were slowly cooking, I toasted 4 slices of grainy and fiberous New England Brown Bread by Country Hearth.  This bread is a staple in our pantry.  There are only 90 calories and 4 grams of fiber in a slice of this stuff.  It has become my favorite bread for toast.  I sliced and slightly mashed an avocado, and stirred in a shot of lime juice, a pinch of red pepper flakes, salt and pepper- all of which I consider to be essential seasonings for an avocado.  I also sliced a ripe, red tomato.  Once the eggs were mostly set, I added shredded Colby Jack cheese, chopped fresh chives and a little salt and pepper.  I lightly buttered one slice of toast –this bread is very grainy, and is pretty dry without cheese, butter or some other spread on it– and mashed 1/2 of the avocado on to the other slice for each sandwich.  I piled on the eggs, and sliced tomatoes.

The last step was to salt and pepper the tomato slices lightly.  Eggs, avocado and tomato are all foods that taste best with a little salt and pepper.  Seasoning each element of the sandwich kicks up the flavor, it is just as important to use a very light touch on each so the sandwich doesn’t become too salty and peppery as a whole.  I put the avocado-topped slice of toast on top of the egg and tomato slice, Bjorn ate his open-faced.  Either way is great.  The sandwich is tasty and gave me plenty of energy to get moving and make something of the day.