I had the back end of a baguette left over from Tuesday’s dinner. I could have frozen it, along with all the other baguette bits I have on ice, but then I remembered I had just made cauliflower soup — and wouldn’t that be perfect with some cheese crostini?
RECIPE: Cheese Crostini
You can make as many or few crostini as you like at one time — it might depend on, simply, how much baguette you have left. Count on about 2-3 crostini per person if serving these as a side for soup or salad. As well, the amount of olive oil and cheese will vary depending on your baguette yield. Still, this simple recipe is all about eyeballing it.
Ingredients
Day-old baguette
Olive oil
Salt
Grated cheese (your choice)
Crostini are great for so many reasons. One is that you feel virtuous using up all your leftovers as a thrifty, waste-conscious human. Another is that you get to melt cheese on something! The kids can pick the cheese, help you grate it and watch through the window of the oven as it melts. Cauliflower soup will never sound so good again.
Preheat your oven to 350°F. Slice up the baguette into slim pieces (about 1 cm) so they crisp well in the oven.
Lay the baguette pieces on a cookie sheet, drizzle with olive oil and a bit of salt. Put them in the oven for about 10 minutes, or until they crisp up with just a bit of softness on the interior.
Now add your grated cheese. Cheddar, Parmesan, Gruyère — whatever you have. Not too much, as you don’t want it running all over your cookie sheet. (You can also throw a piece of parchment under these when they first go in the oven.)
Turn up the oven to 475°. Put in the cheesy crostini until the cheese has melted and bubbles (only about 2 or 3 minutes — keep an eye on them so they don’t bur). Pull out, cool slightly and then dig in: they will be crisp, warm and savoury. Don’t forget to serve the soup!
RECIPE: Cheese Crostini
You can make as many or few crostini as you like at one time — it might depend on, simply, how much baguette you have left. Count on about 2-3 crostini per person if serving these as a side for soup or salad. As well, the amount of olive oil and cheese will vary depending on your baguette yield.
Ingredients
Day-old baguette
Olive oil
Salt
Grated cheese (your choice)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F.
- Slice the baguette into 1 cm thin pieces and lay on a parchment-lined cookie sheet.
- Drizzle the bread with olive oil and a bit of salt.
- Bake in the oven for about 10 minutes, or until crisp and slightly soft in the centre.
- Raise oven temperature to 475°F.
- Spread grated cheese on each crostini. Don’t overload them or they will ooze onto the cookie sheet and lose a bit of crispness.
- Place in the oven for 2-3 minutes, or until the cheese has melted and is bubbling.
- Cool slightly and serve right away.
Sue Riedl is a Toronto-based food writer with a passion for cheese who writes a column called The Spread for The Globe and Mail. She loves to push stinky cheese on her 3-year-old.
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by Sue Riedl