Crostini Three Ways

I made these for a party I went to recently.  They are all very delicious and easy to make.  The only negative is that you will have to spend some time right before serving to assemble the crostini’s.  I found the first version last year when I was scouring the interwebs for a lemon pasta dish.  I never found a perfect lemon pasta dish but did find this easy, delicious roasted tomato and lemon ricotta crostini.  I don’t know where specifically I found it so will link to one version on the web at the end and show my modified version below:

Roasted Tomatoes and Lemon Ricotta Crostini

1 lemon zested
1 small tub ricotta cheese
1 small carton grape or cherry tomatoes
Olive oil
Salt

Preheat oven to 425.

Rinse tomatoes and put in roasting pan.  Coat with olive oil and give a sprinkle of salt.  Roast for about 10-15 minutes until the burst from their skins. If you are feeling ambitious you can slice in half after rinsing; which will cut down on cooking time but increase prep work. 

Combine tub of ricotta and lemon zest.  If you do not have a zester you can use a microplane or fine toothed grater.  If you don’t have those you can use a regular peeler but be careful too only get the zest and none of the bitter pith.  I usually use a microplane but was making this at my Mom’s and she had an actual zester.  Fancy, I was momentarily inspired to make a martini with a twist. 

Add a squeeze of lemon to the ricotta mixture.  I like mine very lemony so gave half a lemon a good strong squeeze.  I also used most of the zest from the whole lemon.    

Prep the crostini

Each slice gets a smear of lemon ricotta, then top with a few roasted tomatoes.  If you can, make a tiny cavity in the ricotta to hold the juices from the roasted tomatoes.

Feta & Honey Crostini

I stumbled across Food52’s recipe for feta and honey and thought it would be good in crostini form.  In the past I have made a blue cheese and honey crostini but I have a hard time finding a mild but still flavorful blue cheese.  The warmed feta and honey combination sounded amazing so I bookmarked this one too.    

The first time I made this I made it in dip form as instructed.  I then decided to make it in crostini form when I wanted a third version.  Here’s what I did:

8 oz Greek feta, patted dry and cut into slices

2 Tbls honey

Put a couple pieces of feta on the premade crostini and bake for about 5 minutes in a 350 degree oven. 

Remove crostini and turn oven up to broil

While the oven heats up:

Warm honey in microwave for about 30 seconds or until it is spreadable

Spread on top of cheese

Put back in oven and broil until the honey and feta get a little color.  I had to whisk mine out as my pre-made crostini was getting too much color, ie burning.

Next time I will only cook my crostini on one side.  Then I will use the uncooked side to top with feta and honey mixture and hopefully avoid any burned bits on the final dish.

Even with some burned pieces and without the thyme and olive oil the warmed feta and honey combination was delicious: sweet and salty and warm it received lots of raves at the party.  I’ll definitely try it again.

I picked up the next recipe from Dinner a Love Story.  I bookmarked the Minty Pea Dip and was inspired to make it in crostini form for a baby shower I attended last year.  For this recipe I followed instructions exactly (ok, I tried to make it with still frozen peas and then had to leave the mix in the food processor for about 20 minutes while they thawed out). 

Once the dip is assembled simply spread a few tablespoons on a pre made crostini.   You can grate some fresh parmesan on top or serve as is.

Making crostini:

2 baguettes

Olive oil

Heat oven to broil

Slice the baguettes thinly (it helps if they are a couple of days old but fresh will work too)

Place slices on baking sheet and brush with olive oil
Put in broiler for 1-2 minutes to toast
Remove from broiler and flip crostinis
Back under the broiler to toast the other side

I find it easiest to use two baking sheets so you can be flipping one batch while the other is browning.  But be aware, they cook very quickly.

Here are the links:

Minty Pea dip

Feta & Honey

Lemon Ricotta with Roasted Tomatoes