crostinis & bruchetta? oh my

My mum's birthday was this past Tuesday (the day after we got home.) We held off on celebrating until this weekend. I asked her what she wanted, and she suggested I make my strawberry bruchetta.

I shouldn't say "my" strawberry bruchetta because the recipe is from a friend of a friend. I've made it a handful of times, and each time I bring it to a party, it's the first thing that goes. It's incredibly simple, and you can easily change it up with whatever spices and ingredients you have.

Strawberry Bruchetta

Small carton of chopped strawberries
4 leaves of fresh basil
1 sprig of fresh rosemary
1 tablespoon Herbs de Provence (this is what I use, you can use any spices, this mix just happens to be my favourite. It's a French mixture of savory, fennel, basil and thyme)
1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
Goat cheese
Baguette

Pour your balsamic vinegar into a saucepan, turn to high and bring to a boil. Once the vinegar is boiling, put the heat on low and stir. It should take about 10 or so minutes for the vinegar to reduce to a slightly thick glaze.

Chop up the strawberries. The chunks shouldn't be finely chopped, but should be small enough that people won't struggle trying to eat it. Add your herbs (except for the fresh basil leaves) into the strawberries.

Pour the balsamic reduction over top and stir.

Spread the goat cheese onto your sliced baguette. I slightly toasted mine, that is entirely up to you. Top with strawberries, and top with fresh basil.

After I made the bruchetta, I was curious to try something with figs. I hunted around on pinterest for a few ideas. I noticed a lot of people pair honey with figs (duh) but I didn't want the crostini to be overly sweet (we have Kalamata figs, which are incredibly sweet). After some carousing, I came up with something that worked for my figs.

Fig and Goat Cheese Crostini

5-6 ripe, fresh figs

1 tablespoon honey

1 teaspoon Herbs de Provence 

3/4 cup goat cheese Goat cheese

Baguette

Whip goat cheese with honey (you can use any variety of honey, I used one made with my cousin's bees.) Stir in herbs de provence.

Spread on slightly toasted crostinis. Top with a thin to medium sliced fig.


Both of these appetizers were the first to disappear off the table. Enjoy!