March 18, 2020
A few weeks ago, our dinner group decided that the theme of our dinner would be dishes from my blog. For complete disclosure, I recused myself from that decision.
Dating back to the beginning of our group, Santa Fe Ate, the name being both a play on what we do and how many we are [though recently we’ve been six due to a move out of state], Becky Gould has bid on appetizers. There is the occasional exception but one can count on Becky to sate our hunger at the beginning of an evening with some artfully created appetizers.
Becky went through every one of my blog posts and came to the conclusion that I had not posted very many recipes for appetizers.
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My review confirmed the same.
This post is the beginning of trying to rectify that situation.
Crostini are a favorite appetizer in our house. The formula is infinitely adaptable. It goes something like this:
- Toast bread, preferably a rustic Italian-style loaf or a baguette.
- Drizzle with good extra-virgin olive oil.
- Rub with the cut side of a clove of garlic.
- Add a topping of your choice.
Often, I stop at step three. Toasted bread rubbed with garlic and extra-virgin olive oil is good without any embellishment.
If I’m not making many crostini, I’ll toast the bread in my 1967 General Electric Toast-R-Oven using the aluminum tray and the “top brown only” setting, flipping the bread once to toast both sides. [Yes! I really do use a 53-year-old toaster oven.]
When making crostini for a crowd, I use the broiler and follow the same process of flipping the bread.
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Choose toppings to suit your whim and the season. Chopped fresh in-season tomatoes with a hint of basil is a classic topping as is coarsely mashed cooked cannellini beans with an extra drizzle of extra-virgin olive oil.
Just last week I made crostini topped with goat cheese and spicy eggplant preserved in extra-virgin olive oil (melanzane piccante sott’olio) that I had made a few days earlier.
This particular combination of beans and arugula, zipped up with lemon, is very refreshing and a reminder that spring is not far away.
| Prep Time | 20 minutes |
| Cook Time | 10 minutes |
| Passive Time | 6 hours |
| Servings |
persons
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- 1 cup shelled fava beans or edamame
- 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil plus more for final assembly
- 1 ounce baby arugula divided
- 12-16 mint leaves if available
- 3 tablespoons grated Pecorino Romano cheese
- 1/2 teaspoon freshly grated lemon zest
- 1 1/2 teaspoons lemon juice
- salt to taste
- black pepper freshly ground, to taste
- 1 clove garlic
- 1 baguette
Ingredients
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- Cook fava beans or edamame till tender, approximately 3-4 minutes. Drain and shock in ice water.
- If using fava beans, peel them.
- Coarsely chop the cooked beans in a small food processor.
- Remove half the beans and reserve.
- Coarsely chop 1/2 ounce of arugula by hand. Reserve.
- To the beans in the food processor, add 1/4 cup of olive oil, the remaining 1/2 ounce of arugula, mint leaves (if using), Pecorino Romano cheese, lemon zest, and lemon juice.
- Process until almost smooth.
- Combine puree with the coarsely chopped beans and arugula and mix by hand.
- Adjust salt, pepper, and lemon juice. Refrigerate several hours, or overnight, to allow flavors to blend.
- Return to room temperature before using.
- To serve, toast slices of baguette. Drizzle one side of the toasted bread with extra-virgin olive oil. Rub the bread with the cut side of a garlic clove, distributing the oil.
- Top each slice of bread with some of the bean mixture.
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