Olive oil at breakfast: six easy ways

Breakfast is the easiest place to start an olive oil habit, because it repeats daily and the dishes are simple. You do not need to learn new recipes — just swap one ingredient.

1. Toast with olive oil

Toast the bread, pour olive oil over while it is still hot, and add a pinch of salt. Hot bread absorbs the oil and releases its aroma.

This is a standard breakfast across Spain and much of the Mediterranean, often with grated tomato on top. It takes two minutes.

2. Scrambled eggs

Cook scrambled eggs in olive oil over low heat rather than in butter. Olive oil has no milk solids, so it will not scorch and leave black flecks in the pan.

3. Porridge or oats

A teaspoon stirred in once the heat is off. For savoury porridge this is ordinary in many places; for oats it is less usual but works well with a pinch of salt.

4. Hot rice

If breakfast is rice, stir a teaspoon of olive oil and a pinch of salt through it once it is cooked. The heat releases the aroma and softens the peppery edge.

5. Savoury yoghurt

Unsweetened yoghurt with olive oil poured over, a pinch of salt and black pepper. Add sliced cucumber or za'atar if you have them.

6. Avocado

Avocado mashed with olive oil, salt and a squeeze of lime, on toast. Olive oil and avocado pair well because the avocado's creaminess coats the oil's peppery note.

Grated tomato on toast

This is a slightly fuller version of plain toast, and it still takes under five minutes.

1. 1.Cut a ripe tomato in half
2. 2.Grate the cut side on a coarse grater, discarding the skin left in your hand
3. 3.Toast the bread until firm
4. 4.Spread the grated tomato over it
5. 5.Pour olive oil over and add salt

The bread needs to be firm enough to hold the tomato without going soft, so sourdough or a baguette works better than soft white bread.

If the taste is too strong in the morning

Fresh olive oil leaves a peppery catch at the back of the throat, and some people find that too much before midday. Creamy, starchy dishes — porridge, eggs, avocado, yoghurt — coat that note and soften it.

Start with those, and leave plain toast with raw oil until the taste has become familiar.

Which bottle for breakfast

Almost every dish above uses the oil raw, which means its flavour is what you notice. Use a recently opened bottle rather than one that has stood beside the stove for months.