Avocado Toast with Chorizo & Cotija | Brunch Recipes

We’ve unofficially entered summer which means busy weekend full of parties, celebrations and family gatherings. While it’s nice to spend quality time with the people we care about most, it can be exhausting and a little frustrating to give up our routines. My weekends (that are free) consist of slow Saturday mornings watching Food Network shows while sipping my coffee and eating something like an Egg Sandwich. Sundays, I love to get up a little earlier and hit the farmers market before the crowds descend before coming home to a nice big brunch. I typically have a list of to-dos each weekend or goals of things I’d like to accomplish by Sunday night. I’ll also plan lunch or dinner dates with friends. Like many of you, I'm sure, that free time is filling up rather fast. This is the second weekend in a row we have a birthday party and it’s only the start. One thing I won’t do is sacrifice my weekend breakfast and brunch. When it seems like that is about to happen, quick recipes like this Avocado Toast are a must.

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If you also have lots of birthday and graduation parties in sight, there’s not always time for a pancake feast on weekend mornings. We don’t have to sacrifice our routine brunch, we just need to speed it up a bit. Omelets and pancakes are things that can take a few extra minutes to prepare and that’s not considering the bacon, sausage, hash browns, or any other sides you typically include as well. This recipe for Avocado Toast gives you all the elements of a savory brunch dish without the time commitment. In fact, you can even prep the chorizo in advance and heat it up when you’re ready to serve. That will cut time down even more!

Avocado toast is one of those things that has been trending for a while and even became a little tired for a bit. I have actually never had avocado toast before making this recipe. It’s not that I have anything against it, it just never happened for me. I love the concept though because it’s essentially a blank canvas for any ingredient you can think of. I want to keep it traditional for my first experiment and in doing so, also kept it simple and minimal. Chorizo is one of my favorite ingredients for brunch dishes and nothing pairs with the bold flavor like cotija cheese. Cotija has a more mild flavor but a saltiness to it. It’s one of my favorite Mexican cheeses...that and Chihuahua. The biggest reason, besides the flavor, that Cotija cheese works so well for this dish is because it crumbles beautifully. It makes the toast pretty to look at and adds nice bites of salty, cheesiness. That’s an effect that you can’t get with grated or shredded cheese.

What do your weekend routines look like? Do you have a lot of summer parties coming up?

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Avocado Toast with Chorizo & Cotija
Ingredients:
¼ lb. ground Chorizo
2 slices Artisan Bread, toasted
1 Avocado, mashed
4 oz. Cotija Cheese, crumbled

Directions:
1 - In a medium skillet, cook the chorizo over medium high heat until browned and cooked through. Set aside on a paper towel lined plate to drain excess grease.

2 - Spread half of the mashed avocado onto each slice of toast. Spoon half of the chorizo on top of the avocado and top with the cotija cheese. Serve.