I was prompted to write this post as I made some Crostini to eat with my Cheesy Spinach & Bacon, Onion Dip and Stuffed Vienna. I read somewhere that they are “simply toasted baguette slices” and yes they are simple…….SIMPLY tasty little morsels, that’s what they are!
So they are ‘simply’ sliced up fresh, French stick (baguette), drizzled with olive oil for flavour, sprinkled with cracked black pepper and sea salt and toasted in the oven or under the grill until crispy on the outside but still a bit soft in the middle. Most people make them and then add fresh toppings for appetisers, but I haven’t done that for a long time, since I did some catering years ago. I mainly make them now to enjoy with dip, but if I make any with toppings in the future I will of course post it on here 🙂
Crostini are from Italy and mean‘little toasts’….aww, cute. But even cuter I found this out….just one ‘little toast’ is called a crostino….aww, even CUTER! “Excuse me ma’am, would you like a crostino?”
INGREDIENTS
1 French stick (Baguette)
3/4 cup good-quality olive oil
1 teaspoon cracked black pepper
1/2 teaspoon salt
Optional – 1 large clove of fresh garlic
Alternatives
- You might like to replace the olive oil with avocado oil or use herb infused oil, like rosemary.
- You could use garlic salt instead of salt and pepper.
- Also, depending on what you are serving them with or putting on top, finely grating some parmesan over them after they’re turned halfway through is delish!.
- I often lightly sprinkle paprika over one side of them (my fav).
METHOD
Oven baked
First, preheat the oven to 160°C fan bake oven or 180°C conventional oven, on bake. Arrange two racks in the oven, one in the middle of the top half and one in the centre of the bottom half.
Using a sharp serrated knife slice the French stick/baguette into 1 cm (1/2 inch) slices, widthways.
Drizzle olive oil all over them and then turn them over and drizzle it all over the other side too.
Then just on one side, crack the black pepper all over and sprinkle (or crack) the salt over.
- If using paprika sprinkle it over the same side as the S & P also.
Using a ‘fan bake’ oven
Place the trays in the oven for 5 minutes and then turn them (the ones around the outside of the tray toast first so at the same time as turning them over, move the outer ones to the centre and the centre ones to the outside). Then place them back in the oven for another five minutes. Fan bake ovens bake things more evenly so you don’t need to swap the trays around half way through. 🙂
- If grating parmesan over them wait until you have turned them over after the first 5 minutes, the grate/sprinkle it all over them.
Using a conventional oven on ‘bake’
Same as fan bake oven but swap the trays around in the oven after the first five minutes as they won’t toast as evenly as the fan bake oven.
- You don’t want your crostini too crispy so that when you bite them they turn into a crumbly mess. I go for two shades darker and crispy on the outside but still a bit soft on the inside.
If you want to add garlic, peel the clove and rub some of it over one side of each toasted crostino. You’ll be surprised how garlicky they become from this, so just a quick wipe is enough….might pay to ‘taste test’ the first one!
Grilled (Broiled)
- In New Zealand we use the term grilling for cooking under or over a high heat. So if you are American I mean broiling here.
So when I grill (broil) crostini I use exactly the same method but toast them under a medium/high grill, still turning halfway through. I prefer the oven though as I can do two trays at once.
So there you go. You can eat them warm or cold depending on whether you are eating them with a cold dip or a warm dip and depending on whether you are putting cold or warm toppings on top.
Storage – Cool and store in an airtight container (out of the fridge). They will keep well for about a week and can be bought back to life by toasting them at the original temperature for 5 minutes.
If you’d like to check out my ‘dip’ recipes, there are some here….
What do you love dipping your crostini into and which toppings do you put on yours? Love some topping ideas 🙂
Leave a Reply