"Bae" Toast with Crispy Bacon Lardons, Marinated Avocado, + Luscious Cheesy Scrambled Eggs on Garlic-Rubbed, Bacon Fat Fried Multigrain Sourdough Toast

If you could do one thing for me when it comes to cooking, it would be to make this avocado toast... before anything else. Have you ever wondered what "bae" stood for? Some people believe it to be what I already previously stated. But in my crazy foodie world, it obviously stands for bacon, avocado, + egg. Yep, the craze of 2016 had to be avocado toast. I wasn't really on board with it in the beginning because I'm not much of an avid avocado person. Don't get me wrong though, I love me some guacamole. But just toast and avocado? I wasn't quite buying it just yet. However, I started seeing recipes pop over all over the blog-o-sphere and pinterest and they included much more than just a piece of bread + avocado. That inspired to make one of our favorite dishes yet, Smoked Avocado Toast with Herbed Crab Salad, Bacon Fat Fried Sourdough, + Citrus Caviar. It's so good that we make it a few times a month. So, I knew I would've eventually come up with another twist on this new-found classic. What I absolutely love about this recipe is that you can literally eat it for breakfast, brunch, lunch, a snack, or dinner-- it is so versatile! Now, let's break down each component. First let's talk about the "toast"... if you could even call sliced thick cut, multigrain sourdough pan fried in smokey bacon fat toast. It's crunchy on the exterior, but perfectly melts into your mouth like a perfectly cooked piece of bacon. That golden brown piece of bread is then rubbed with garlic, which gives the toast a little bit of bite, especially in such a rich dish. Speaking of rich, let's get to the marinated avocado. I personally think avocado is a little too bland to me. So any time I use it, I like to "marinate" it. I do this by buying an almost ripe avocado, cutting it into slices, and then smashing it ever-so-slightly with some salt, pepper, extra virgin olive oil, lime juice, and lime zest. This adds just a wee bit of flavor and intensifies it just enough to bring everything together. Now far and away, the best component of this toast are the luscious cheesy scrambled eggs. A chef can make or break a recipe by the way they cook their eggs. And this is the only way I will scramble an egg. Eggs are beaten together with heavy cream (YES), kosher salt, and fresh cracked pepper. They are then slow-slow-slow-and-low-low-low cooked in a skillet with butter and oil. This is very, very important. The key to getting fluffy, luscious, and creamy eggs is to continuously stir and fold the egg mixture with a rubber spatula. If I could describe it best, I would say to graze the pan, gently moving the cooked eggs from the outside of the pan towards the center. I will say that this method will take some time, anywhere from 15-30 minutes, but it is so unbelievably worth it. At the very end of cooking, I like to grate some parmesan on top of the curds and gently fold it in. I also love to garnish with fresh chives, but that's completely optional! Really, all that is left are topping the toasts with crispy bacon bits and a sprinkle of red pepper flakes... and that is it! It is such a simple dish, but oh-so-amazing! I mean, anyone can make this. I hope y'all love it as much as we did. Enjoy :)

For the Marinated Avocado:

2-3 Ripe Avocados, Sliced

1 Lime, Zested + Juiced

1T EVOO

Kosher Salt + Fresh Cracked Black Pepper, To Taste

For the Luscious Cheesy Scrambled Eggs:

2T Unsalted Butter + 1T EVOO

6 Extra Large Eggs

¼C Heavy Cream

Pinch of Kosher Salt + Fresh Cracked Black Pepper

½C Freshly Grated Parmesan

1-2T Fresh Snipped Chives

For the "Bae" Toast:

Prepared Marinated Avocado

Prepared Luscious Cheesy Scrambled Eggs

6 Slices of Thick Cut Applewood Smoked Bacon, Cut into Lardons + Cooked until Crispy

Reserved Bacon Fat, For Frying

4-6 Slices of Multigrain Sourdough Toast, Fried in Bacon Fat

1 Large Clove of Garlic

Dried Red Pepper Flakes, For Sprinkling

Directions:

1. Fry the bacon lardons in a large skillet over medium heat until they are perfectly crispy (but not burnt). Remove the bacon lardons from the hot pan and place them on a paper towel to drain and cool them. Reserve the rendered bacon fat for frying the toast.

2. For the Bacon Fat Dried Multigrain Sourdough Toast: In the same large skillet, over medium heat, add in about 1-2 inches of the rendered bacon fat. Fry the toast for a couple minutes on each side until they are golden brown and slightly crunchy. Repeat this process until all of the bread has been fried/toasted. Set them aside and let the toast cool for a few minutes, and then rub the clove of garlic all over the warm surface of the bread. Set them aside before assembling.

3. For the Marinated Avocado: In a mixing bowl, add in the sliced avocado, followed by the lime zest, lime juice, EVOO, kosher salt, and fresh cracker pepper. Toss all of the ingredients together, so that the avocados are covered in the lime. Right before assembling, mash the sliced avocado slightly, so that there are still some large chunks amongst the smoother smashed avocado. Set the marinated avocado aside until you are ready to assemble the toast.

4. For the Luscious Cheesy Scrambled Eggs: In a medium-sized mixing bowl, whisk together the eggs, heavy cream, kosher salt, and fresh cracked pepper. Heat a large nonstick sauté pan over low heat. Add the butter and EVOO and allow it to melt and start to froth a bit. Pour the egg mixture into the warm pan. Using a heat-resistant rubber spatula, continually stir and fold the eggs until super soft curds form. It is important that you neatly and gently scrape (or graze) the sides of the pan, making sure to never stopping the motion. Push the eggs from the outside of the pan towards the center and repeat it until they are creamy, but cooked through. This process should take 15-30 minutes depending on your stovetop. Once the curds form and the eggs are cooked, sprinkle the top with the freshly grated parmesan and snipped chives. Stir to combine and be prepared to serve them while they are still warm.

5. Assembling the "Bae" Toast: Grab your perfectly browned bacon fat fried toast and rub the surface with the clove of garlic. Top each of the slices with some of your marinated mashed avocado and season with a pinch of salt. Spoon a mound of the luscious cheesy scrambled eggs on top of the creamy avocado. Scatter the crumbled, crispy bacon lardons evenly over the avocado. Garnish with some red pepper flakes for some spice and enjoy!

Smoked Avocado Toast with Herbed Crab Salad, Bacon Fat Fried Sourdough, + Citrus Caviar

Okay, I've finally jumped on the avocado toast bandwagon (#avotoast). I will be the first to admit that I'm not the biggest fan of avocado to begin with. I always found their mushy texture and lack of flavor to be less than appealing... even though I do love me some guacamole. So, when I saw recipe after recipe of pieces of bread topped with nothing besides avocado, I normally just skipped over them and didn't think anything else about it. But my Mountain Man is a lover of avocado and begged me to make them for him. As with most of my recipes that involve bread, I always have to fry them in some kind of fat or oil, this time I chose bacon fat... because we all know I keep a jar handy in the fridge. I love the smokey flavor and the richness that the bacon fat lends. But, if you aren't a crazy person like me (who keeps bacon fat in a jar), then any oil will be fine here. The toast should be beautifully golden brown, saturated in yummy fat, and perfectly crisp. After you have fried the slices of bread, make sure to give them a rub-a-dub-dub with a big ole' clove of garlic while they are still warm. Now here is the fun part... the smoking of the avocado (and y'all it's so damn easy)! Essentially, all you have to do is get a large dutch oven and place a small bowl upside down in the center. Scatter your choice of flavored wood chips around the bowl, no need for soaking them in water, and turn up the heat to high. While you wait for the chips to start smoking, scoop out your avocado into another small bowl and dress them with fresh lime juice and zest, as well as some fleur de sel. If you want more smokiness to your avocado, then I suggest you slightly smash them, if you want a tame smoke flavor, just leave them in halves. Next, all you have to do is put the bowl of avocado on top of the overturned bowl in the dutch oven (with the chips smoking away), and cover the pot. Smoke the avocado for 5 minutes... any more and it might be overkill. While the avocado is smoking, it's time to quickly whip up your herbed crab salad. This is easy-peasy. In a medium mixing bowl, add the in the jumbo lump crab meat, homemade aioli, dijon mustard, fish sauce caramel, lemon juice + zest, red pepper flakes, minced garlic + shallots, and fresh herbs. If you can't find/make fish sauce caramel, a white balsamic reduction or honey would be a good substitute. As gently as possible, fold together the lump crab meat with the herbed aioli until the crab is completely coated, but still has a few big pieces of meat. Now your bacon fat fried toast, herbed crab salad, + smoked avocado are all ready to be assembled into amazing avotoast. I'm a little coo-coo, in that I had Finger Limes shipped to me from California... specifically for this recipe. Finger limes are so interesting because we you slice them open, a citrus caviar comes out, as opposed to pulp and seeds. If you can, order some, they are so fun, and can be used in a million different ways. But, the toast is just as good with some lime zest + freshly squeezed lime juice on top, so don't worry about it if you can't wait to make this. This smoked avocado toast is so good that we've made it for the past three weeks. I believe I'm now an avocado toast lover... who would've ever thought? Enjoy :)

smoking the avocado

bacon fat fried toast

bacon fat fried toast + smoked avocado slices

all of the components for the herbed crab salad

it's hard to resist it, but save it for the toast

see the citrus caviar from the finger limes on top?

citrus. caviar.

For the Herbed Crab Salad:
8oz Jumbo Lump Crab Meat
3-4T Homemade Aioli
1t Dijon Mustard
1T Fish Sauce Caramel
1 Lemon, Zested (plus the juice from half of that lemon)
1-2t Red Pepper Flakes (or depending on how spicy you want it)
1 Small Shallot, Finely Minced
1 Clove of Garlic, Finely Minced (into a paste)
½t Fresh Cracked Pepper + ¼t Kosher Salt
1T Fresh Snipped Chives (plus a little extra for garnishing)
1t Fresh Tarragon, Basil, + Parsley, Finely Minced (plus a little extra for garnishing)

For the Smoked Avocado: 
2-3 Avocados
1 Lime, Zested + Juiced
Pinch of Kosher Salt


For the Smoked Avocado-Crab Toast:
Prepared Herbed Crab Salad, Chilled
Smoked Avocado, Lightly Mashed or Gently Sliced
4 Slices of Sourdough, Fried in Bacon Fat (or any other oil can be substituted)
1 Large Clove of Garlic
Citrus Caviar (finger limes) or Fresh Squeezed Lime Juice
Mixed Herbs, For Garnishing


Directions:
1. For the Herbed Crab Salad: In a mixing bowl, put in all of the ingredients of the herbed crab salad. Gently fold these together until the crab is coated in the herb-aioli mixture. Do not mix too hard because you want to maintain as much of the “lump crab” pieces as possible. Now, taste and season with salt and pepper, if it is needed. Refrigerate this crab salad until you are ready to assemble the toasts.
2. For the Smoked Avocado: Line a Dutch oven (or any heavy bottomed pot with a lid) with foil to keep your pot from burning. Place a small metal bowl upside down in the middle of the Dutch oven. This will help prop everything up. Then, scatter about 2C of wood chips around the small metal bowl. We used mesquite wood chips, but any kind will work (hickory, apple, etc.), and there’s no need to soak these either! Turn up the heat to medium-high and wait for the chips to start smoking, it can take anywhere from 3-5 minutes. Meanwhile, while you’re waiting for the wood chips to smoke, it’s time to get to avocados ready to be smoked by halving, pitting, and peeling them. Put the avocado halves into another small bowl and zest + juice a lime over the top. If you want sliced avocado for your toast, leave the halves untouched. These will be slightly less smoky. If you love a smoky flavor, lightly smash the avocado, which gives more surface area for the smoke to infuse into. Once the chips are smoking, place the bowl of avocados on top of the upside down bowl in the pot. Top the Dutch oven with a lid and set your timer for 5 minutes (any more time than that, it’ll be way too smoky). After the time is up, remove the smoked avocado, season with some fleur de sel, and place in the fridge to chill.
3. Assembling the Toast: Grab your perfectly browned bacon fat fried toasts and rub the surface with the clove of garlic. Top each of the slices with some of your chilled smoked avocado and season with a pinch of salt. Spoon a mound of the herbed crab salad on top of the creamy avocado. Scatter the citrus caviar evenly over the crab mixture. If you can’t find finger limes, some lime zest and lime juice will do just fine! Garnish with the leftover mixed herbs for presentation.