Wednesday, September 14, 2011

Bruschetta/Crostini with strawberry and serrano pepper salsa

A different version of bruschetta and it is called crostini with strawberry and serrano pepper salsa. i got this recipe from treehugger and it's fabulous that i have to share the recipe here...

1 large carton of organic strawberries
2 large organic tomatoes
1 serrano pepper (more if you like it hot)
1/8 cup cilantro, chopped
1/8 cup basil, chopped
5 mint leaves, finely chopped
1 tablespoon of honey
1 teaspoon of sugar
1 tablespoon of lime juice
Splash of balsamic vinegar

1. Remove the stems from the strawberries and dice them.
2. Depending on how hot you like your salsa, half the serrano pepper and remove the seeds. I like mine hot so I leave them all in.
3. Using the same knife, make "C" cuts to the tomato. The key here is to cut off the flesh and to avoid the seed membrane.
4. Dice the tomato slices. The remaining tomato ball is perfect for soup stock!
5. In a large bowl, add the diced strawberries, diced tomatoes, cilantro, basil, serrano pepper, honey, sugar. Stir just enough to mix.  






You could very well serve this salsa up on tortilla chips but the recipe suggested some crostini with honey. But both work very well. Shall try tortilla chips another day.


6. Slice up a loaf of French bread so that the slices are about 1/8 inch thick.
7. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and place the pieces of bread so that they are spaced out evenly.
8. Warm a cup of honey up in a small sauce pan. The honey just has to be warm enough to easily baste the bread with. By the way, warm honey on french bread is just divine.
9. Bake the crostini for about 15 minutes at about 160 celcius or 325F. You want the bread to crisp ever so lightly.
10. Place the salsa on the crostini and serve.

Voila...


p/s btw i made do with normal tomatoes and strawberries and i can't find serrano pepper here, so i use local hot pepper instead. whatever works i guess, they still turn out yumms...

** All pics courtesy of treehugger