Sesame And Celery Blue Cheese Toasts

In the warmer weather, we just want to snack. We start to eat vast amounts of salad and fruit, and we pick at bread, cheese and sometimes some meat. This is a Waitrose recipe for one of favourite little light lunchtime snacks. It’s also an easy option for al fresco dishes.

This might look very simple, but those lovely strong flavours of blue cheese, celery and herbs make for a very tasty lunch.

INGREDIENTS

1 white sourdough loaf sliced about 1cm thick
40g white sesame seeds
250g creamy, mild blue cheese
2 stalks celery, very thinly sliced
10g flat leaf parsley, leaves only
10g chives, finely chopped
1 lemon, juice
olive oil, for drizzling 

METHOD

Toast the slices of bread. Spread a few tablespoons of blue cheese over each piece of toast, then cut in half crossways.

Meanwhile, put the sesame seeds in a small pan over a medium heat, stirring frequently, until golden brown and smelling like popcorn (3-4 minutes). Remove from the heat and set aside. 

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Toss the celery, parsley, chives and toasted sesame seeds together in a small bowl. Add the lemon juice and season.

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Top the cheese with the celery mixture, drizzle with olive oil and serve. 

The recipe did not say to chop the parsley leaves, but I did. I prefer the parsley to be finely chopped like the chives so that they don’t dominate all the other flavours. I also very rarely buy white bread. I did the day I decided to photograph this recipe, but I normally use a Hedone dark sourdough.

• The Topic On The Table