Justice for toast, justice for lentils

Plus, this week I learned you all really don't like the concept of burnt tomatoes

HI. I’ve eaten toast every day for breakfast for the past ten days. And man, do I feel alive.

If you know me, you know I’m usually much more of an oats girl. An obsessive, if you will. But after reading Kat Craddock’s Grub Street diet, all I could think about was super crusty bread and SUPREMELY salty butter. That plus an apple has been my breakfast go-to lately. Not a protein in sight. Just two slices of bread, a hunk of butter and a few big pinches of flaky salt. Extra points if it’s smoked. Heaven.

And since this is my newsletter and my niche-small-internet domain (this is as close as I’ll get to a dictatorship, I advise you all not to let me get any closer), I’ve decided to give you my current definitive ranking of breakfasts breads.

(These might not be the most helpful to know about if you live outside of New York City, but if I travel this year, I’ll try to update this list! I think my 2024 is the year of embracing bread that is not my own. Which is an idea I came up with just now, as I’m writing this on my couch.)

Justine’s Top Three Breakfast Breads (as of 1/19/2024)

• ACQ Living Bread - a seedy, sprouted, naturally leavened loaf that’s small, but what it loses in size it makes up in heartiness. Alice Waters loved this bread, and I can only bolster her opinion.

• She Wolf Bakery Polenta Pullman - it’s soft yet crusty, and somehow moist in the best possible way. I blame the polenta, naturally.

• Any Sourdough that Someone Makes For Me - bread a task, and at least a 48 hour commitment. If someone ever gifts me a loaf, it’s automatically in my top three breads.

Now this bread pattern quickly lead to the Date Ginger Butter that I impulsively made on a snowy morning this week. The short of it: mashed dates, ginger and butter, amen. The long of it: gooey medjool (only!) dates and ginger that you warm up just long enough to lose its bite. I use a microwave (sue me) and then mash everything together with the butter until it’s spreadable. The dates melt into toast, and with sesame or tahini, it’s a nutty, slightly spiced, sweet-meets-salty spread.

So you see why I’m on a toast kick, no?

Enough about bread, our weekly round-up!

The aforementioned Date Ginger Butter - I basically gave you the recipe up there, but I also advocate for adding cinnamon!

Burnt Tomato Lentils & Cod - This is my burnt-tomato round two (after trying to make burnt tomatoes happen once), and I’ve learned, like a responsible adult, that most people really don’t vibe with burnt tomatoes. And that’s ok! We’re pivoting. Think of these as long-stewed tomatoes, packed with concentrated flavors, and finished with petite black lentils. Which are the only lentil I crave, to be honest. They keep themselves together.

Camembert & Roasted Pear Biscuits - Oooooo I’m EXCITED for these and the newsletter is getting them FIRST! Think gooey, creamy camembert that gets crisp at the edges of the biscuits, roasty pears, lemon zest, thyme and candied walnut crust. Happy baking if you end up making them!

And that’s it for this week! I hope you don’t shy away from the lentils if they intrigue you. The input is minimal and the outcome is so good. But with or without (burnt) tomatoes, I love having you here and I hope you fee the same way.

Happy weekend, and I’ll see you next week!

Xoxo,

Justine_Toast