Make Some Truly Amazing Avocado Toast With Nuja
Despite my elderly millennium, I’ve never been crazy about avocado toast. (And still I still rent !) That’s okay – nothing wrong with that – but I usually prefer to spoon the avocado straight from the leathery rind into my mouth with a spoon.
But fate had other plans for me. As part of a recent effort to eat more vegetables and less shopping, I recently signed up for Imperfect Foods, a cute little program that keeps groceries (and meat and dairy products, if you like) at your doorstep. A few weeks ago I saw that I could supplement my usual fruit and vegetable set with a tube of La Quercia ‘Nduja Americana as an add-on. You better believe I added this.
I don’t know if I believe in fate, but it looks like some higher power put the spicy fermented pork right next to the avocado in the imperfect box. My dad had just brought me a beautiful boule he bought from the bakery and I just couldn’t ignore the signs. I needed to make avocado toast and I had to make it with nduja.
I toasted a thick slice of bread, then put in a thin layer of hot and unusually spread salum, before kneading half the avocado on top. I finished it off with a little flaked salt, took a bite and heard something like Hallelujah choir. The scents were perfect together. The spread was spicy and salty, yes, but as fruity as a super ripe pepper can be. He was quite wealthy, but he was never heavy. Aggressive nduji flavors cut through all of that fat, keeping the bites balanced and accentuating the sweetness of the avocado.
Unless you live next to a fully realized Italian deli, finding a nduja can be a little tricky. In fact, the La Querica trademark is not even a real nduja, but a “spicy prosciutto spread” made from all the little things left over from the production of prosciutto and the company’s specks. (This is very good, though.) If you can find a real deal, take it. If all you can find is Nduja Americana, take it. If you can’t find either, you can make your own very close approximation of store-bought sausages and Calabrian peppers. All three options will serve you well in your quest for avocado toast, no matter what generation you’re in.