Broad Bean & Baked Ricotta Crostini
Crostini are simply "little toasts" housing delightful seasonal toppings.
In celebration of spring, I grabbed some of these beautiful sweet broad beans and peas from my local farmers market and paired them with some crumbly baked ricotta. The beans and peas are smashed raw, retaining all their amazing colour and nutrition, brightened up with fresh mint and lemon.
Each toast is rubbed with garlic, serving as the perfect base for the chunky broad bean pesto, with lashings of good extra virgin olive oil.
Ingredients 12
Baked Ricotta
200 g fresh ricotta
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
Pinch sea salt, generous
Broad Bean Pesto
100 g caciocavallo cheese, grated
400 g fresh broad bean, shelled
200 g fresh peas, shelled
1⁄2 garlic clove
6 ‒ 8 sprigs fresh mint leaves, leaves picked
1⁄2 fresh lemon, zest and juice
5 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
sea salt and cracked black pepper, to taste
Crostini
6 slices wholemeal sourdough
extra virgin olive oil, to drizzle
Pinch salt
1⁄2 garlic clove, peeled
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Method 4
To Prepare The Baked Ricotta
Preheat your oven to 200°C and line a baking dish with baking paper. Spoon out the onto the baking dish, season with a generous pinch of and drizzle over the . Bake for 30 minutes or until the ricotta is well browned and firm. Allow to cool.
To Prepare The Crostini
Cut each slice of into 3 or 4 smaller pieces, depending on your preferred serving size. Place them on a lined baking tray, drizzle with extra virgin olive oil and a pinch of . Bake at 200°C for 4–5 minutes until browned and crispy. When they come out of the oven, gently rub each piece with the peeled half . Set aside.
To Prepare The Broad Bean Pesto
Remove the from their pods (if using smaller, tender broad beans there's no need for double podding). Remove the from their pods (or thaw if using frozen). Using a mortar and pestle (or food processor, see notes), smash up the half clove of and the picked fresh . Now add your podded broad beans and peas. Pound this together well, breaking it down, but keep it nice and coarse. Grate the in and pound a little more. Finish with the , lemon zest and juice, sea salt and freshly cracked black pepper. Crumble in half of the baked ricotta, leaving the remaining half to scatter on top later. Mix it through gently with a spoon and taste, adjusting the seasonings if needed.
Assemble
Top each crostino with a spoonful of the broad bean pesto and crumble over the remaining baked ricotta. Finish with small sprigs of , a good crack of black pepper, and a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil.
Anthony Silvio's tips
Baking your ricotta is a total waste hack! It’s the perfect way to extend its shelf life if you find yourself not knowing what to do with it as it nears its expiry date.
If using smaller, tender broad beans there's no need for double podding.
If you can't find fresh peas, opt for frozen peas. You will just need to thaw them out by running under cold water and draining.
To make the raw pesto we used a mortar and pestle, giving it an authentic rustic texture, however this can also be done in a food processor by just pulsing the mixture. Just be mindful not to over-blend the mixture into a fine paste as this is not the texture we are going for.
Taste the pesto and adjust the seasonings if needed. It should be super fresh tasting, savoury enough from the cheese, and brightly acidic from the lemon so don’t hesitate to squeeze a little more in if you feel it needs it!
