Hi everyone, my name is Ali Alcalini. This is diet.com video. Today I am down at Martha’s Vineyard catering a dinner party for some friends. And, they have asked me to keep it really healthy tonight. So to start off I am going to be baking a Tuscan Bean Crostini. It is a recipe that I actually picked up when I was staying in Tuscany for the summer.
(Music playing)
We are going to start with garlic, rosemary and Tuscan White Beans. Actually, get them out of the can it is a lot easier. Just make sure you drain them and rinse them off first. So, we are going to start of by mincing our garlic. I like to smash it, it is easier to peel. And, you want to mince the garlic really fine because it is actually going to go into this paste that we are going to make out of it. And, if you do not mince it up carefully, you are going to end up with like big hunks of garlic.
So, we have our minced garlic and then next, we are going to be adding fresh rosemary. Make sure you use fresh rosemary. The dried rosemary, kind of tastes a little stale and especially since there are only three ingredients in this entire appetizer. You really want to make the ingredients as the best that they can be. I am going to use about two branches of rosemary, and the branch of rosemary looks like this.
All right, so we are using extra virgin olive oil today because we are only using a little bit, but because we are only using a little bit of oil, you want it to be really high quality. So this is extra virgin. And, I am just going to use about three tablespoons in boiling pan. So, this is over medium heat, you warm it pretty well because you do not want to burn the garlic or the rosemary. I am going to put a garlic and fresh rosemary in the pan.
And so, when we put the oil over low heat, basically, gain a flavor of the garlic and the rosemary all throughout the oil. Because then this oil is going to mix in with our beans, and then flavor the entire dish. Crostini are a little bit different than Bruschetta. Bruschetta is kind of thick toast, where as the Crostini is like a lot thinner and crispier, which is good for, if you are watching your weight. I am cutting them very thin on a diagonal, and just lay them out on my baking sheet. So, right now, our garlic and our rosemary is lately cooking over low heat in our oil. And this is when you want to add the beans so, half of this. What you are going to do is just with a fork, as the beans heat up, they are going to like cook down and we are just going to slowly mash them into kind of like a loose little paste.
And, the white beans are good for you in Tuscany in Florence. In most restaurants just beans sautéed with fresh herbs, that is one of the most popular side dishes. I am just going to add a few grinds of fresh white pepper, and a little bit of salt. So, you can smell this now because the garlic and the rosemary have really mixed in with the oil. And, now you see it, it is getting a little dry and a little bit difficult to work with. You just add a few drops of chicken broth, instead of adding more oil, you can just substitute.
My sister, like is a texture person and kind of freaks out whenever those chunks or anything so, she likes it when I actually put this on the food processor, and kind of whip it up really smooth. I like to leave a chunky wide, dirty, another pan when you like to use a fork on the stove. Whatever consistency you like you can just take it off the heat. And, the beans are already cooked. They are out of the can. So, everything is cooked right now. So you do not have to worry about it. And this actually great to consider room temperature so you can make it before your party and then it is ready to go.
I actually make this Crostini when I am doing my dinner parties, because I do not have that much money, so Daisy, will all then have preserves and the can of beans, which goes for like 75¢, and a stalk of rosemary, which is a couple of dollars. And there you go.
[Music Playing]
Transcription by:
Scribe4you Transcription Services