#MushroomToast

20250705 #breakfastdiary 1442, 27°C/cloudy Mariage is French for 'marriage,' but it also carries the meaning of 'combination' or 'blend.' So whenever you hear the word 'mariage' used, it's almost always in the sense of wine-and-food pairing rather than actual marriage — red wine goes with meat, white wine goes well with fish, that sort of thing. In English, mariage becomes 'pairing,' a term used more broadly than mariage. It covers not just wine-and-food matches, but ingredient-to-ingredient combos like tomato and basil or cheese and apple, aroma-to-aroma harmonies like vanilla and cardamom, and texture pairings like creamy avocado with crispy sourdough. Pairing becomes the guiding principle for deciding which ingredients to use, how to cook them, and what kind of kick to add, in order to make and enjoy a given dish. Through pairing, the breakfast I make the next morning gains depth and actually becomes something cookable. And within that, principles straight out of chapter one of any pairing intro book come into play: Congruent Pairing and Contrasting Pairing. Heat a pan, swirl in a ring of olive oil, then sauté mushrooms with salt, pepper, and herbs — the deep umami and aroma pairs beautifully with the soft, nutty flavor of egg. Put both in your mouth at once and the flavor multiplies. That's Congruent Pairing — combining ingredients with similar tastes and aromas to make the flavor even richer. Like roasted potatoes with roasted garlic and rosemary, where similarly-scented ingredients come together for a deeper flavor. (My breakfast diary — I tend to aim for breakfast pairings) Button mushrooms and a fried egg are a great pairing. Of course, any mushroom works, not just button mushrooms. A 400kcal #mushroom toast with crispy toasted sourdough, butter-sautéed button mushrooms, and a fried egg

1 slice sourdough, 5-6 button mushrooms, 1 egg, 2T basil pesto, salt, pepper, olive oil, a little parsley

1. Brush off any dust from the button mushrooms and slice thin. For more chew, slice them thicker instead. Add butter to a pan and sauté the mushrooms. Season with salt and pepper. 2. Fry 1 egg sunny-side up. 3. Drizzle olive oil on the sourdough and toast until crisp on both sides. 4. Place the sourdough on a plate, spread with basil pesto, then top with the mushrooms, fried egg, and a little chopped parsley.