Navy Bean Crostini
With Garlic and Roasted Green Chile
Pea and Mint Crostini
Topped with Prosciutto
Pea and Mint Crostini
Topped with Diced Pear
Navy Bean Crostini Recipe
Cook pre-soaked Navy Beans in water with three or four smashed garlic cloves, a bay leaf and salt, until tender. Drain off any water and cool.
These roasted chiles came as a gift from my dear friend Peggy from Denver, where they roast chiles on the street corners in the Fall. I can just imagine the aromas! Peel, seed and stem the roasted chiles, then they are ready to add to the food processor.
Whip 1/2 c. whipping cream to stiff peaks in a food processor. Leave the whipped cream in the processor, change the blade from a whipping blade to a chopping blade, then add beans and garlic cloves (sans bay leaf) and roasted chiles. Puree then salt to taste. Navy beans, garlic, and roasted green chiles made an extraordinarily flavorful spread!
Toast (or grill) sliced baguette. Slice a garlic clove in half. Rub each slice of toasted baguette with a couple swipes of the raw garlic clove, then brush the toast with olive oil. Rubbing the toast with raw garlic gives it a real burst of flavor. Top with the spread. A little herb garnish is nice too.
I am submitting this Navy Bean Crostini to the My Legume Love Affair Event 17th Edition hosted by Sra of When My Soup Came Alive blog. This is a wonderful event that showcases legumes, started by Susan, The Well-Seasoned Cook in January 2008 and still going strong!
It was my pleasure to host the 11th Edition last May, the round-up can be found here. If you love beans, there is no better place to go than My Legume Love Affair for great recipes and inspiration.
Pea and Mint Crostini Recipe
The pea and mint crostini idea comes from Giada De Laurentis. Cook a bag of frozen peas with 1 t. red pepper flakes in water until tender. Drain and cool. Whip 1/2 c. whipping cream to stiff peaks in a food processor, change the blade, add the pea mixture with 1/4 c. fresh mint. Puree until smooth, salt to taste. Giada topped hers with diced prosciutto. We also topped some with diced pears tossed with pear balsamic vinegar. The color of the pea mixture is fabulous!
Shrimp with Blue Cheese Polenta, Chile Oil
Cook polenta, add crumbled blue cheese at the end of cooking. Salt and pepper to taste. Spread polenta mixture in a shallow dish. Chill, then cut out rounds with a cookie cutter.
Sauté peeled deveined shrimp in a little butter and olive oil, finish with salt and pepper to taste.
Dust polenta rounds with flour, sauté in butter until slightly crispy.
Char red chiles on a grill or under a broiler. Peel and seed. Put chiles in a food processor, stream in olive oil taking care not to over blend.
The roasted red chile oil gave a nice kick to the shrimp. Homemade chile oil was worth the effort. For extra cheesy bites, place a small slice of blue cheese on the polenta, then top with the shrimp and chile oil.
Date Wrapped Bacon Bundles
Two ingredients, lots of flavor! Roll bacon around a pitted date, secure with a toothpick and bake at 375° turning once, until the bacon is crispy. These were a big hit!
Sunken City Supper Club Appetizers
For our Sunken City Supper Club event a few weeks ago (posted here and here) we wanted to serve a nice variety of not-too-complicated appetizers as our guests arrived. We wanted a range of flavors, colors and textures. The Dates Wrapped in Bacon Bundles were sweet, smokey, and salty. The Crostini was colorful, crunchy and creamy. The Polenta with Shrimp was cheesy, spicy and crispy. We had vegetarian, seafood, and bacon appetizers. They were easy to pick up with the hands, we simply provided cocktail napkins, as the guests mingled before dinner. It worked.
Gail and Marlene plate the appetizers.
Barry Anthony of The Swing Of Things band getting ready to play at the Sunken City Supper Club.
Until the next get-together of the Sunken City Supper Club, I leave you with another one of the band’s light-hearted and breezy performances:
The Swing of Things performing Nat King Cole’s first hit record recorded in 1944, Straighten Up and Fly Right.
all very enticing and appeasing appetizers-love it.
I love appetizers. They're so fun to make and it means I can eat more than one. Maybe two.
I've been wanting to put together a little appetizer party with my close friends. It sounds like a fun idea to do.
They all look and sound spectacular. If I had a social life, I would sooo use these as an appetizer.
This all looks stunning! Love apps and would happily eat a grand selection of them instead of a proper dinner!
Thanks Lori for all the lovely ideas. With the holidays around the corner, I will be making every single one of them!!!
What a great group of nibbles. Loved Pam's comment about "If I had a social life…" too funny.
Yummie, all of them look so appetizing 🙂 I
ll try the dates wrapped in bacon.
We have been posting appetizers or 'small bites' every sunday. I'll need to check out those legumes for a recipe!
All those appetizers look fantastic!
So many great ideas for appetizers! I would have a hard time choosing. The combination of flavors is wonderful.
I think my favorite would be the shrimp with the chili oil, of course! 🙂 Lovely spread!
LL,
You know I am the crostini queen, and have a whole chapter devoted to crostini…..in the spring I make pea puree w/ mint and prosciutto too. I love it.
We just got in from a Northern Italian restaurant where I had chicken liver crostini w/ pancetta, it is the Jew/Italian in me. Perfect combination!
xxoo
Anything with garlic I go for! especially on top of a crostini!
Perfect party platters, LL. I especially love the pea, pear and mint crostini.
Thanks for so enthusiastically enjoying MLLA since back in the day!
I arrived on your blog to read about the crostini–I ended up reading a whole lot more, including the post about your super club event. —What a great idea–a lot of work, but memorable, and enjoyable for everyone who attended.
Fantastic menu~music
yum, yum, yum, yum… need i say more? looks really delicious.
paz
It has been 7 months ( i spent them in Africa, NJ, and Italy ) i come back and find great recognition and accolades…very well deserved. Your Crostini…very vivacious, colourfull. Your pics… highly textured. Just YUMMY,
Sal
Yummy! They all look delicious! I'm especially curious to know what the mint pea and pear crostini tastes like, Will have to make some 😉
You're just fabulous!!
They all look really good! I love both garlic and chillies, and would love to try this spread.