All sorrows are less with bread.

– Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra

Happy New Year, everyone!

I’m so sorry that this post is late! I had wanted to get it out in time for New Year’s Eve but I’ve been exhausted since Sunday and all I’ve done is work and sleep. Even on New Year’s Eve, I managed to only stay up until 11:15 before passing out. All the festivities combined with STILL being sick (5 weeks and counting!), my body gave in and cried for sleep.

However, it IS a New Year! Wow, 2014 was great and weird and wonderful. 2015 seems to promise as many adventures as 2014 did: the end of somethings as well as a lot of new beginnings. For one, come June I’ll have access to a proper kitchen again! Thanks, Mam! I haven’t quite decided all my resolutions, I’ve been too tired and too busy but I’ll sit down next week and write them out. How about you? Did you make any resolutions yet? Regardless of what your resolutions are, I wish you all a lovely 2015 and thank you from the bottom of my heart for reading and following this blog in 2014. A special thank you to all my friends and family who have been subjected to my cooking and/or who have made some of the recipes. Thank you so much for your support and encouragement!

Anyway, this recipe is really easy. It’s incredibly simple and incredibly flavourful. You just need six ingredients all of which are fairly easy to come by—even here in Korea. Even better, you don’t really need any actual quantities. Add as much or as little of each ingredient as you want.

This recipe was inspired by two dishes from home. Traditionally, at celebrations like Christenings and First Holy Communions, people will serve smoked salmon on brown bread or soda bread. This was the first inspiration. The second inspiration came from one of the appetisers served at my sister’s wedding—a pesto toastie topped with black pudding. I combined elements from these two appetisers and added my own twist. This is the result. I served this on my birthday when I had a small dinner with some friends and it was big hit with them.  Next time I have a group of friends over, I am definitely making this!

Salmon and Pesto Toasties

Ingredients

• baguette (or two or three), sliced into rounds (minus the ends)
• olive oil, for drizzling
• green pesto
• cheddar cheese, grated
• apple, quartered and sliced thinly
• smoked salmon, cut into thin slices, around the same width as the apple slices. (I used around 80g of smoked salmon between two baguettes)

Method

• Preheat oven to 175°C.
• Put the baguette rounds on a baking sheet and drizzle olive oil over the top of each round. Place in the oven for few minutes until very lightly toasted and the oil has melted into the baguette.
• Remove from the oven and spread some pesto (around half a teaspoon) on the top of each round and then sprinkle some cheese on top of the pesto.
• Put back into the oven for around 5 minutes or until the cheese is melted.
• Remove from oven and top with a slice of apple on each round and top the apple with the salmon.
• Serve immediately.

Tips

Vegetarian: Leave off the salmon. One of the friends I served it to was vegetarian and she said it was still good without the salmon.