Goat’s cheese toasts with garlic oil and tomato

It’s hard when driving over a bridge, to remember that it has collapsed before. I hate driving over the Westgate Bridge (as I did today) and hold my breath as I get towards the end, chanting “almost, almost, almost there!!”

It’s the same thing with a cooking debacle. With each step – the mixing, the folding, the stirring – it is impossible not to recall how this dish once failed spectacularly. I burned the chicken baked in salad dressing for dinner. Not enough to make it inedible but certainly enough to make it unenjoyable.

But the pre-dinner snack I threw together more than made up for it. Sourdough sliced and toasted. A garlic clove grated with my Accutec grater (the first thing I grated with my Accutec grater was my fingers. The second thing was some cheese. The third, my fingers again. Fourthly, some chocolate. But now I lurrrve it)). Four tablespoons of Kyneton extra virgin olive oil splashed over the garlic in a little bowl. A huge ripe organic tomato sliced. And the item in the fridge which just HAD to be used up today – a container of fresh goat’s cheese from the markets.

Simple assembly and adoration. Warm toast, covered in about a tablespoon of the oil, making sure you scoop the garlic bits up. Slather lavishly with a quarter of the cheese. Arrange a few slices of tomato. Salt, pepper and another tablespoon of the oil. Yummy.

And then we had the chicken salad. But let’s not talk about THAT.

P.S. the above is actually from my notes of dinner during summer. But it might be of interest to our northern friends. Why am I bringing this up now, in the midst of Melbourne winter? While looking for a clock on the weekend, I came across my beloved Accutec grater for sale at Matchbox and Roost for $29. This is a steal! Go to the store now, run, run!!