whipped rosemary feta with toasted garlicky pine nuts and hot honey.
INGREDIENTS
1 baguette, sliced into 1/2-inch slices
6 ounces crumbled feta cheese
1/4 cup Greek yogurt
2 tablespoons milk or water
4 cloves garlic, divided
2 rosemary sprigs, stems removed (about 2 tablespoons)
Juice from 1/2 lemon
Salt and pepper, to taste
4 tablespoons olive oil, plus more for frying
1/4 cup pine nuts
2 tablespoons hot honey
RECIPE
Generously coat the bottom of a skillet with olive oil and warm over medium heat until shimmering. Add the sliced baguette pieces and fry, adding oil as needed, until both sides are crispy golden brown. Remove from the skillet and set aside.
To whip the feta, add the feta, yogurt, milk, 2 cloves garlic, rosemary sprigs, and lemon juice to a blender. Blend until almost completely smooth (some small lumps will remain), about 30 seconds.
Transfer feta to a bowl and season to taste with salt and pepper.
Return the skillet to medium heat and add 4 tablespoons olive oil. Once hot, add the pine nuts and garlic and toast until browned, about 1-2 minutes. Do not burn.
If serving as a dip, swirl the hot honey into the feta, then spoon the nuts over top. If serving as crostini, spoon feta onto toasted breads, then drizzle honey over feta and top with pine nut mixture.
Fluffy, light cheese with lots of garlic and warm crusty bread? Yeah, that doesn’t sound bad at all.
If you’ve never tried whipped feta, you’re in for a treat: blending for a few seconds transforms crumbly cheeses into fluffy, creamy dips and spreads like this one. Add herbs, garlic, and lemon, and you have this divine creamy concoction that can be used on anything from french fries to peaches.
It’s also super easy to whip up (pun intended). You just need a halfway-decent blender.
How to toast perfect crostini
There are a handful of ways to toast bread, but there are some particularly good ways I’d recommend. For the best, crunchiest, most satisfying crostini, I highly recommend doing it this way:
Heat olive oil in a non stick skillet over medium heat. Heat enough oil to coat the bottom and then some. When you place the bread in the oil, the oil should surround the bread.
Heat the oil until it’s shimmering (it will feel very hot when you hold your palm over the skillet). Try not to let it get to smoking (it can turn bitter).
Use very fresh bread — it should be squishy when you give it a squeeze. Mine was actually labelled as “French bread”, so it was softer than the typical baguette.
Add the bread, working in batches as needed. Place them flat into the oil and don’t touch them until you can see gold on the edges.
Flip the bread, add more oil if needed, and repeat on the second side.
Remove from the heat.
Doing it this way fries the bread rather than toasting it, so you have this crunchy-airy exterior and a fluffy, moist inside.
You can store the crostinis for 1-2 days before serving. I highly recommend making these fresh before serving so that the crostinis are warm and the bread is soft, but they’ll stay crunchy and fresh for about 2 days if needed — just be sure to store in an airtight container or bag.
Making this ahead
I work a lot better on my own (it has everything to do with me getting distracted), so when I have guests over I prefer to have as much prepped ahead of time as possible. Crostinis are a little hard to do this with, but not impossible.
Whip the feta: The feta can be whipped and stored for up to a week ahead of time (awesome). The only thing is that it loses some of its airiness and fluffy quality when it is chilled. Worse, it thickens a bit. If you’re just smearing it on crostinis, this won’t matter. If you’re serving as a dip and want to return some of the fluff to the feta, let it come to room temperature, then quickly blend it again or whisk it in a bowl until it becomes airy.
Toast the crostini: As I mentioned, the crostini can be toasted ahead of time and stored for a day or so. Now, I’ll warn you, this does risk the bread getting stale, so I wouldn’t push it further than a day. You can rewarm the bread in the oven for a few minutes before serving, but this will make it slightly more crunchy.
Toast the pine nuts: I’m conflicted if I should even suggest to do this part ahead of time: Not only does it make the kitchen smell amazing, but it only takes about 30 seconds and tastes much better warmed. Technically, you can make the toasted nut mixture and store it at room temp for a day, but I really think you’re better off making it fresh. To save time, you can mince the garlic ahead.
Enjoy.
Makes: 24 crostini
Prep time: 5 minutes Cook Time: 20 minutes
I usually cut my bread at an angle so the crostinis are more oblong.
whipped feta should be sauce-like with small clumps. If big chunks remain, keep blending.
What the nuts and garlic should look like toasted
you can serve them already prepared, like so, or in a bowl with the toasted crostinis
