Summer Toast
Good bread slathered with a veggie-packed garlic yogurt and finished with a few high impact toppings. If you keep the yogurt on hand, it’s an excellent five minute lunch.
I call this summer toast. It's the result of a couple things in my life colliding into a really good lunch option. Here’s what we’re looking at. Slices of homemade sourdough bread rubbed with olive oil are broiled until golden and toasted. Each slice is smeared with Greek yogurt that has been absolutely loaded with grated zucchini and carrots, toasted walnuts, smashed garlic, and herbs. Tons of good stuff. The finishing touch comes from a scan of my late-summer refrigerator which always has roasted cherry tomatoes, olives, and basil. It’s the perfect easy lunch.
The Inspiration: Summer Toast
There have been some amazing cookbook releases this year and I’ve been cooking regularly from a short stack of them. One of my absolute favorites has been Sebze: Vegetarian Recipes from My Turkish Kitchen by Ozlem Warren. I checked it out from the library, then immediately bought my own copy. There’s a yogurt-based meze she shares on page 102, where she loads yogurt with sautéed vegetables, herbs and nuts. It is fantastic, no notes. But as the temperature kept climbing here in LA, I started doing a version of it with raw, shredded zucchini and carrots (or whatever else I need to use up). 
I make it on the weekend, and use it smeared on, in, and under all sorts of things all week. It dovetails with my baking a couple loaves of sourdough each week (even when it’s hot omg) for the A+ combo you see here. For the sourdough geeks, the bread pictured is 20% whole wheat flour, 30% high-extraction flour, 50% bread flour with wild rice, toasted walnuts, and lots of lemon zest folded in.
Pro-tip
The one piece of advice I have here is to use a box grater, or something similar. Skip the microplanes for grating the zucchini and carrots. Old school for the win here because you end up with hearty, well defined flecks of vegetables. I have a flat, wooden Japanese grater that is a dream to use, so keep your eyes peeled for one of those. 
An Alternative to Avocado Toast
As much as I love avocado toast, this is a nice, substantial alternative. For the vegans out there, use a dairy-free yogurt. Or, for a brunch, you could set up a toast bar with this and avocado, and a few other spreads and compound butters.
More Summer Recipes
- Spicy Summer Miso Soup
- Summer Drink Ideas
- Summer Fruit Salad
- Summer Berry Crisp
- Melon Salad
- Bruschetta
- All summer recipes
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Summer Toast
The better the bread, the better the final result here! Also I sometimes like to give the yogurt a bit of kick with about half a finely chopped serrano chile. My favorite toppings include roasted cherry tomatoes, torn olives, herbs, olive oil drizzle, and sometimes a hard boiled egg (sliced), but you can keep it simple and just finish with chopped chives.
- Slices of good sourdough bread
- Extra virgin olive oil
- 3 medium zucchini, trimmed and grated
- 1 teaspoon fine grain sea salt
- 1 medium carrot, trimmed and grated
- 3 medium garlic cloves, peeled, smashed and chopped
- 1/2 cup toasted walnuts, chopped
- 2 tablespoons pickle (chopped) or relish, (optional)
- Small handful of herbs (dill, basil, chives, or mix), chopped
- 1 cup Greek yogurt
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, plus more for drizzling
- roasted cherry tomatoes
- olives
- hard boiled egg sliced
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Rub slices of bread with splash of olive, place on a baking sheet and broil (or use a toaster oven) until golden.
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Place the grated zucchini in a mesh strainer, sprinkle with the salt, and toss well. Allow to sit for ten minutes or so. Press as much liquid from the zucchini as possible. Wrap in a clean dishcloth or sturdy paper towels and squeeze out any extra juice. Place the zucchini in a medium bowl along with the grated carrot, garlic, walnuts, pickle, and herbs. Give a quick stir and then fold in the yogurt and olive oil. Stir until uniform, taste, and season with more salt if you like.
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For each serving slather a slice of toast with the yogurt mixture. Top with roasted cherry tomatoes, torn olives, chopped herbs and a drizzle of olive oil.
Serves 6.
Related Recipes
Spicy Summer Miso Soup
A show-stopper miso soup made with a spicy broth punched up with garlic, ginger and chile paste. To that you add cubed potatoes, chopped cabbage and summer produce like cherry tomatoes, basil, and corn.
Summer Berry Crisp
A favorite summer berry crisp - ripe berries cook into a thick, jammy, wine-spiked fruit sludge beneath a crispy, oat-flecked top.
Summer Drink Ideas
A quenching round-up of summer drink ideas that will keep you hydrated and full of good ingredients while enjoying the sunshine.
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Comments
Heidi could you share a source for your Japanese grater?
I also had to check out the cookbook you sourced for inspiration by Ozlem – the cooked version of this looks fantastic for the cooler month!
Hi Maya, I bought mine at a local Japanese kitchen store (not online). I don’t see the exact one anywhere online, actually, it is like this one. Only, mine is longer, wider, with larger holes. I’ve seen them at a number of store that focus on Japanese culinary. I see a lot of good wooden tools on Etsy, so keep an eye out there.
Heidi, these are all luscious recipes, and are pricy in restaurants. Thank you.
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