Avocado Toast with Harissa and Sprouts

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Nothing elevates avocado toast quite like a spicy layer of harissa. A hot chili paste most closely linked to Tunisia, Algeria and Libya, harissa varies widely by region. Ours is made with guajillo chili, a Mexican pepper, full of flavour but not overwhelmingly spicy. If you’re pressed for time, use a store-bought harissa.

Harissa
18 dried guajillo peppers
1 cup virgin olive oil
1 head garlic, peeled and coarsely chopped
1½ teaspoons sea salt
1 tablespoon coarsely chopped preserved lemon
4 sundried tomatoes, coarsely chopped
3 teaspoons ancho chili powder
2 tablespoons dried cumin
2 teaspoons ground cayenne pepper

Avocado Toast
2 slices of your favourite bread
1 tablespoon virgin olive oil, divided
2 to 4 teaspoons harissa
1 avocado, pitted and sliced
1 to 2 teaspoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
Pinch of sea salt
½ cup sprouts of your choice

Directions
For  the harissa, using kitchen scissors, cut off the stems of the dried guajillo peppers and then snip the peppers into thin ribbons. In a small pot on  low heat, add the guajillo peppers, olive oil, garlic and salt. Lightly brown the garlic, about 6 to 8 minutes, and remove from heat. In a food processor, combine all the ingredients from the pot with the preserved lemon, sundried tomatoes, ancho chili powder, cumin and cayenne. 

Process all ingredients on  low speed, then medium and then high for 30 seconds to a minute, or until the harissa is smooth. The harissa will turn out very dark red and medium-hot. Store it in a sealed jar in the fridge. It will last for several weeks.

To prepare the avocado toast, toast your  bread to your preferred level of crispiness, either in a toaster, under the broiler or in a cast-iron pan with a bit of olive oil. Smear about 1 tablespoon harissa onto the toast.

Slice the avocado in ¼-inch-thick slices and cover the toast with avocado slices. Each slice of bread will fit about half  an avocado, depending on  the size of your bread.

Sprinkle the lemon juice on  the top of the avocado, plus a tiny pinch of salt and a small drizzle of olive oil. Finally, cover with the sprouts, about 1 heaping tablespoon per slice. Serve immediately. 

Excerpted from "The Greenhouse Cookbook: Plant Based Eating and DIY Juicing" by Emma Knight with Hana James, Deeva Green and Lee Reitelman. Photography by Elena Mari and Nathan Legiehn. Copyright © 2017 by Greenhouse Juice Company. Published by Penguin, a division of Penguin Random House Canada Limited. All rights reserved.

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