Crostinis Are Back, Baby

And they're as flexible as ever

The Capsule Pantry in one sentence: Save money, time, and food waste by adopting a Capsule Pantry approach — a small number of ingredients that form the basis of thousands of different, highly flexible recipes.

Aaaah the crostini — or as I like to call them, tiny slices of toasted potential.

I was stuck for lunch this week. We were about to leave our Airbnb thus, as always happens at the end of our monthly rentals, I was determined to use up everything in the pantry but only had some random bits left in the fridge.

I turned to crostinis for the answer.

Crostinis are in their essence topped slices of toasted bread. In true Italian fashion, they are thrifty — a way to use up leftover bread and whatever vegetables, cheese, fish or meat happens to be in the house.

Which means they are a super flexible, easy way to knock up lunch in less than 10 minutes.

My go-to crostini is a fresh cheese, green veg, lemon zest and olive oil combo. I’ve always got some cheese in the fridge and at this time of year, an abundance of fresh green vegetables.

But the world is your oyster here — there are thousands of potential crostini combinations. To make them successful, all you need to do is follow a few basic rules:

What you want here is a balance of crunch, acid, the star of the show and aromatics.

The crunch is easy — it comes from the toasted bread. But you could also consider whacking on a few crushed nuts on top if you want extra texture.

If you’re using a cheese base, you’ve got an instant hit of lactic acid there. I had what the Croatians call “cow feta” in the fridge which is kind of like ricotta. The best options for the cheese element include anything spreadable:

• Feta

• Ricotta

• Queso fresco

• Soft goats cheese

• Mozzarella

If you don’t want to use cheese or you don’t think it would work with your other toppings, you could look at other acidic elements including:

• Tomatoes

• A squeeze of lemon juice

• Lemon zest

• Balsamic vinegar

Then you have the star of the show. For me, that was early season of broad beans that I blanched and double-podded. You could also think about:

• Cured meat like salami, prosciutto, or Jamón

• Green vegetables like spinach, chard, peas (frozen is totally fine)

• Chopped in-season tomatoes

• Figs

• Grilled peaches

• Avocado

• Eggs (there ain’t nothing wrong with egg-mayo on a crostini)

• Anchovies or other canned fish

Then there are the aromatics. These are the little frilly bits that elevate the crostini to the next level. They could include:

• Extra Virgin Olive Oil (a non-negotiable)

• Grated lemon or orange zest

• Chopped olives

• Fresh herbs like basil, parsley, mint or oregano

• Fresh chopped chillies

• Hot sauce

I’ve included my favourite combinations in the variations section below.

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Homemade crostinis with fresh cheese, broad beans, lemon zest and EVOO

Watch me make this dish on TikTok

Serves 4 for lunch alongside a salad

For the crostinis

Key: Bold = Capsule Pantry ingredients