Maillard Toast (Pea Toast)

20230906 #breakfastdiary 838, 23°C/mostly clear, 21min/exercise(C) Pour a little water into a pan, add peas, and cook for 2-3 minutes — a low-moisture cooking method. Wondering if they were done, I tried one, and even being frozen peas, they were sweet. Drain and set aside in a strainer. Brush olive bread with olive oil and toast both sides until crisp, hoping for the #Maillard reaction. Plate the toasted bread, then in the still-warm pan add a little olive oil and warm through the cooked peas. Figured a bit of saltiness wouldn't hurt, so in goes some salt, and — to cut any off-flavor, and because it'd technically feel like something's missing without it — a little pepper too. Pick up the bread and spread ricotta cheese on it. Ricotta spreads quite well. (Cream cheese, by comparison, is the villain of spreadability.) Pile the pan-warmed peas generously on top, then add parmesan cheese. Finish with a light dusting of pepper, because it'd feel like something's missing without it.

- 1 slice olive bread - 1 cup peas - 2T ricotta cheese - Parmesan cheese - Olive oil - Salt - Pepper

1. Pour a shallow layer of water into a pan, add the peas, cook for 2-3 minutes, then drain and remove excess moisture. 2. Brush olive bread with olive oil and toast both sides until crisp. 3. In the same pan used for the bread, add a little olive oil, then add the peas from step 1 with salt and pepper, and warm through. 4. Spread the bread from step 2 generously with ricotta cheese, then top with the peas from step 3 and parmesan cheese. Finish with pepper.