Tomato Tahini Toast Recipe

I look forward every summer to the arrival of ripe tomatoes. As the heat waves of July start, I can have my favorite summer breakfast: Tomato Tahini Toast. It’s like the best parts of a BLT without the heat, splatter, and other problems of bacon. Tomato Tahini Toast makes a fine quick lunch or appetizer too. Ripe, juicy, creamy, crispy, and smoky in every bite, all in the time it take you to make toast. Check out the nutritional information below too. This breakfast is tasty and healthy.

Recipe: How to Make Tomato Tahini Toast

Active time: 5 minutes. Total time: 5 minutes. Serves 1, doubles well. Vegan. Gluten-free with gluten-free bread.

Cost: Just $1.81 a serving using organic ingredients.

1 vine-ripened tomato, enough to generously cover the toast
1 slice bread, such as my Good Bread-Machine Bread or my Good Whisk Bread
1 1/2 tablespoons tahini
salt and pepper to taste

1. Toast bread.
2. While bread toasts, slice tomato. Refrigerate any extra to use for tomorrow’s toast or other recipes.
3. When bread is toasted, cut it in half. Spread toast generously but not thickly with tahini. It’s stronger in flavor and softer than peanut butter, so a little goes a long way. Lightly salt tahini, top with tomato, and lightly salt tomato. Finish with a few grinds of pepper if desired.
4. Eat at once while the toast is hot and crispy, but fine for 20 or 30 minutes if you are serving for a brunch or as appetizers.

Recipe Notes

• Tahini is the spread made from ground sesame seeds that makes hummus so yummy.
• Tomato Tahini Toast makes a great appetizer. Just cut toast into smaller pieces and top with halved cherry tomatoes or smaller pieces or regular tomatoes.
• Layer on baby spinach leaves, basil ribbons, or thin slices of avocado if you want to get fancy.
• Leftovers don’t keep well on their own, but work fine in Heat-Wave Gazpacho.

Nutritional information for Tomato Tahini Toast (1 serving or 1 whole recipe):

Calories: 358 (Note: I usually take a tablespoon or two of sesame oil out of a fresh tahini jar before stirring it to save for cooking, so actually calories and fat content will be a little lower.)

Protein 12 grams (24% daily value), total fat: 13 grams (21%), cholesterol 0 grams, total carbohydrates 52 grams (17%), dietary fiber 8 grams (31%)

Calcium 139 mg (14%), iron 7 mg (14%), potassium 770  mg (22%), zinc 4 mg (28%), Vitamin C 23 (38%), Vitamin A 752 IU (15%), Vitamin B6 0.2 mg (12%), Thiamin B1 1.0 mg (69%), Riboflavin B2 .5 (32%), Folacin 143 mcg (36%)