Croustades with white bean and basil
55 min
An amuse-bouche of crusty French bread rounds, toasted and spread with a lovely bean, garlic and basil puree.
1 person made this
Ingredients
Serves: 4
- 1 small French stick or baton
- 1 clove garlic
- glug olive oil
- 1 tin flageolets, butter beans or haricot
- 60ml chicken stock
- salt and pepper
- 1 handful basil leaves, torn
- Cayenne pepper
Method
Prep:5min ›
Cook:20min ›
Extra time:30min chilling ›
Ready in:55min
- Preheat the oven to 180 C / Gas 4.
- Thinly slice 4 rounds of bread. Rub each piece with the garlic then set the garlic aside. Drizzle a small amount of oil on each slice bread and bake in the oven until they begin to toast slightly, about 5 minutes. Remove from the oven and cool.
- Crush the garlic clove and discard half. In a saucepan, add a little oil and pan fry the garlic over low heat for a minute. Add the beans and stock. Bring almost to the boil and simmer for about 20 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
- Remove from the heat. Blend until smooth then stir in the basil. Cover and chill. When ready to serve, spread some of the puree on top of each round and lightly dust with Cayenne pepper.
Use for leftovers
Any leftover puree is nice with natural yoghurt stirred in and served as a dip.
Serving suggestion
'Amuse-bouche' derives from the French, meaning 'mouth amuser.' Here is a suite of 4 mini starters intended to be served on one plate per person, consisting of Chilled pea and mint soup, Croustades with white bean and basil, Coconut prawns with curried mango dip, and Cucumber pots stuffed with date cream cheese with a Parma ham quill. An elegant and alternative start to the evening and all relatively simple to prepare.
