INGREDIENTS
scant 2 cups fresh ricotta
zest of 2 lemons
¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for drizzling
salt
freshly ground black pepper
4 long, even slices peasant bread
2 large, perfectly ripe avocados – at room temperature
8 red pearl onions, thinly sliced into rounds
1 dry punnet of mixed-colour grape tomatoes, rinsed and cut in half horizontally
4 teaspoons toasted sesame seeds
skin of 1 preserved lemon, flesh and pith removed, finely diced
½ teaspoon toasted poppy seeds
Maldon sea salt

TO MAKE

Mix ricotta with lemon zest, ½ cup extra-virgin olive oil, salt, and pepper and set aside.

Arrange slices of bread on the cutting board and divide the ricotta mixture evenly among the four slices. Spread into a generous even layer.

Split the avocados, remove the pits, and slice each half into even slices without cutting all the way through the leathery skin. Then, with a soup spoon or a flexible rubber spatula, release the flesh and arrange the slices neatly and evenly among the bread.

Artfully and attractively arrange the tomatoes by nesting them into the soft avocado. Then neatly arrange the red onion slices over the tomatoes.

Garnish each sandwich with sesame seeds, preserved lemon zest, and, finally, the poppy seeds.

Transfer the sandwiches to plates and then drizzle with the extra-virgin olive oil.

Sprinkle few grains of Maldon sea salt.

Serves four.

Recipe and images from Prune by Gabrielle Hamilton. Published by Hardie Grant Books.