serves 6 to 8
This recipe comes from Ina Garten’s Barefoot Contessa FOOLPROOF.
Ingredients
- 6 ounces good feta, crumbled
- 2 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
- ⅔ cup good olive oil, divided – ⅓ cup for feta, ⅓ cup for tomatoes
- 2 TBL freshly squeezed lemon juice
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 2 TBL minced shallots (2 shallots)
- 2 teaspoons minced garlic (2 cloves)
- 2 TBL good red wine vinegar
- 2 pounds ripe heirloom or cherry tomatoes, ½-inch-diced
- 3 TBL julienned fresh basil leaves, plus extra for serving
- 20 to 25 (½-inch-thick) diagonal baguette slices, toasted (place the bread slices on sheet pan, brush with olive oil, and bake at 425 for 6 to 8 minutes, until lightly browned)
- 2 TBL toasted pine nuts (toast pine nuts in a dry sauté pan over low heat for 5 to 10 minutes)
Instructions
- For the whipped feta, place the feta and cream cheese in the bowl of a food processor fitted with the steel blade
- Pulse until the cheeses are mixed
- Add ⅓ cup of the olive oil, the lemon juice, ½ teaspoon salt, and ¼ teaspoon pepper and process until smooth ← I thought this was too salty, I’d cut the salt in half and then taste to see if it needs more
- For the tomatoes, up to an hour before you’re serving, combine the shallots, garlic, and vinegar in a medium bowl
- Set aside for 5 minutes
- Whisk the remaining ⅓ cup of olive oil, 1 teaspoon salt and ½ teaspoon of pepper
- Add the tomatoes, stir gently, and set aside for 10 minutes
- Stir in the basil and taste for seasonings
- To assemble the crostini, spread each slice of bread with a generous amount of whipped feta
- With a slotted spoon, place the tomatoes on top
- Put the crostini on plates and scatter with the pine nuts
- Sprinkle with extra basil and serve