The French Way to Make Avocado Toast 10x Better
And if you're looking for a way to wake up your avocado toast, there's one simple (and shocking) ingredient you need to try. To give your dish a brunch-restaurant-level upgrade, top your avocado toast with sliced bananas. Yes, you read that correct. Bananas. This unexpected ingredient upgrade from French bread baker and bakery owner Apollonia Poilâne will make you see avocado toast in a whole new light.
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Sliced bananas are a game-changer in a number of toasts and sandwiches, including sweeter options like peanut butter and jelly or Nutella. And a similar synergy happens when you add a banana to a savory avocado toast, with "the sweetness of the banana and the greener flavor of the avocado bouncing off of one another," as explained by Kristen Miglore of Food52.
In her cookbook, Apollonia Poilâne makes her avocado tartine (the French term for open-faced sandwich) seasoned with lime zest and juice, red pepper flakes, honey and, of course, the banana.
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While it might sound curious or farfetched, the combination of avocado and bananas is far from novel. In various Latin American cuisines, bananas or their more savory sister, plantains, are deep fried and served alongside creamy avocado. In Filipino food culture, a common dessert is a bowl of mashed-up avocado and banana drizzled with sweetened condensed milk.
Bananas won't just enhance the flavor of avocado toast. The potassium-packed fruit will also help round out the toasts as a more filling, satiating lunch. I will definitely make this as my next busy workday mid-day meals! It doesn't hurt that I basically always have the ingredients needed on hand.
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Ready for a life-changing piece of avocado toast? Of course you are. For the full recipe, you can head on over to Food52's website, but here's the gist of how to make avocado tartines with banana and lime:
Start by toasting a couple of slices of sourdough bread or another crusty, sturdy bread. Halve, peel, pit and mash one avocado. Spread the avocado mash onto the toasted bread slices and arrange sliced bananas on top of each toast. Garnish with lime zest, add a squeeze of lime juice and season with red pepper flakes. Drizzle the avocado banana toasts with honey and serve immediately.
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