Getting Back To My Toast Point: Your Soup Needs A Sidekick
I think toast points are obnoxious, but I also think they're misunderstood. What's a toast point? Exactly. As opposed to the much more user-friendly "crostini," toast points are dated and refer to a Mad Men-esque era of tartare and full caviar setups where for some reason toast was cut into crustless triangles or rectangles. Adding the word "point" after "toast" is like specifying that it's toast for bougie reasons — definitely not butter with the intention of eggs. Or a BLT. As a result, it's been colloquially shortened to "toasts" and stuff is put on them for you. I enjoy this concept more.
A great example is this creamy Mexican carrot soup recipe we recently published. By itself, it's just another great immersion blender recipe. With the black bean toasts, it's a meal. The toasts provide umami, crunch, salt, carbs and even a little protein and are delicious with just about every soup. You can smash up anything — peas, lump crab, chicken, favas, olives, avocado, salmon, roasted garlic (well-done, you don't want to mess with straight-up garlic that's even slightly underdone or you'll emanate the smell of a roast chicken for at least a day). That happened to me once.
But yeah, smash it up with a fork and spread it on crostini with the aid of a little mayo or olive oil and voila, something-toast. Faux Nicoise salad with tuna toasts. Gazpacho with avocado toasts. Borscht with smoked salmon toasts! Chicken liver toast with absolutely everything, even dessert!? Thinking caramel with that one. I'm going to start serving everything I make with a toast, even if it is totally gratutious, like cheese grits with a soft egg toast or pho with a loaded banh mi toast. Crap, some extremely trendy Asian chef is going to see that and totes steal it. (False, extremely trendy Asian chefs do not read my column).
In conclusion: Reuben toasts for matzo ball soup.
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