This is by far Fabulous! It's truly a mouth orgasm! All seems right with the world after eating these!
Ok, enough talk! Let's get cooking!!
There are three parts to this recipe (taken from Fine Cooking Magazine)
1) the relish
2) the cheese spread
3) making the crostini
First, the list of ingredients:
1 cup fresh sweet cherries (about 5 1/2 oz) pitted and finely chopped
1/2 cup finely diced jicama
1 medium scallion (white and green parts), very thinly sliced
1 tsp. chopped fresh mint
1/2 tsp. red wine vinegar
Pinch of cayenne; more to taste
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 1/2 oz. (1/3 cup) soft fresh goat cheese
2 1/2 oz. (1/3 cup) ricotta cheese
18 1/2-inch-thick baguette slices, toasted
Before we begin mixing or cutting, turn the oven on to 350 degrees. You want the oven good and hot to make the crostini.
First, let's make the relish:
In my small bowl, I put in my finely chopped up scallion
Then, I added in the finely chopped teaspoon of mint. You really do have to be careful and not add too much as mint has such a strong flavor.
Next for the Jicama! I have never tasted this before tonight. It doesn't have a real strong taste and alone, I could take it or leave it. In this? WOW. It has a very thick skin that I found easier to cut off with a knife rather than use a peeler.
Once it's peeled, chop it up in little pieces!
Add it to your bowl!
Pit and wash the cherries. Then, chop them up as fine as you can!
Add the cherries to the bowl.
Then, add the red wine vinegar, some salt and pepper and a touch of something hot. The recipe calls for cayenne, but I prefer to use Chile De Arbol. Just a pinch or two. You don't want it really spicy. Stir everything up.
Set the bowl aside. Now, let's make the crostini!
Cut your baguette into 1/2 or 1 inch pieces. I did inch pieces and found that the relish only lasted for the 12 pieces I made. Place them on a cooking sheet.
You will want to use some extra virgin olive oil to baste the pieces with to give them a super yummy taste with a lovely brown color. Pour some olive oil into a little dish and baste away!
Here is a picture after all the pieces have been given a dose of extra virgin olive oil.
Place in the oven for about 5 minutes. Then, rotate the pan 180 degrees and continue to cook for another 5 minutes. This ensures that all pieces are cooking evenly just in case your oven has hotter areas. And voila! Beautiful crisp Crostini!
While the crostini is baking, you can make the cheese spread!
Simply add the two cheese together and mush together with a spoon until it seems like it's been mushed up enough.
Once the Crostini has cooled enough to touch it, spread the cheese on. Because goat cheese has such a strong flavor, you don't need to go crazy on the spreading because it will overpower the relish. After cheese has been applied, use a spoon and place a good amount of relish on top!
I absolutely loved this recipe! I wouldn't change one thing about - this was perfection!
Enjoy lovely fans!
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