Ricotta Crostini with Sautéed Nettles Recipe
By
Jill Santopietro
Fresh, buttery ricotta is delicious spread on a sliced and toasted baguette, sprinkled with salt and olive oil. For added complexity, top the cheese with earthy, nutty, bitter greens like nettles.
What to buy: Store-bought ricotta is fine to use here, or you can make your own.
This recipe was featured as part of our Recipes for Spring Ingredients photo gallery.
INGREDIENTS
- 1 baguette, sliced on the bias into 1/4-inch-thick pieces
- 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for drizzling
- Salt
- Freshly ground black pepper
- 1 cup fresh ricotta
- Sautéed Stinging Nettles, coarsely chopped
INSTRUCTIONS
- Heat the oven to 400°F and arrange a rack in the middle. Place the baguette slices on a baking sheet and bake until lightly toasted and crisp, about 8 minutes. Let cool.
- Lightly brush each baguette slice with olive oil, then sprinkle with salt and pepper.
- Spread about a 1/4-inch layer of ricotta over each slice of bread. Season with salt and pepper and top with nettles. Drizzle the crostini with olive oil and serve.
JulietteH,
Sorry for the delayed response. You can top the ricotta crostini with any sauteed green. Try Swiss chard, broccoli rabe, spinach, kale, you name it. In fact, top the ricotta crostini with anything you think is delicious: ripe tomato slices, good-quality anchovies or smoked fish, sauteed eggplant, roasted red peppers, pesto.
Jill (CHOW Kitchen)
I love the sound of this recipe, but don't know what Stinging Nettles look like. What other green leafy vegetable could you substitute and that would go nicely with the creamy ricotta spread?