I love getting food inspiration from places I visit.
As I was thinking about this post, and thinking what to write about, I suddenly realized how I came upon this fantastic combination on a crostini that has turned into one of my favorite foods. It was one of those food inspiration moments.
Back in 2009, Josh and I lived in Seattle. We decided to take a week-long road trip from Seattle down to different parts of California. One of the first places we visited was San Francisco. There, at a small wine bar in Nob Hill, we ordered this crostini and some potato and leek soup. The restaurant itself was small and quiet that evening. But that food has remained a vivid memory.
Taking inspiration from that delicious meal, Josh and I frequently make this for snacking. It’s so perfect if you have some leftover bread hanging around. I like to use ciabatta baguette, but a regular French baguette works great too!
- ½ baguette of ciabatta
- 4 oz. smoked salmon
- 4 oz. goat cheese (you will most likely have a bit left over)
- 2-3 tbsp olive oil
- black pepper (if desired)
- Remove the goat cheese from the fridge to start warming.
- Preheat your broiler.
- Cut the baguette into slices about ¾ inch thick.
- Spread onto a cooking sheet.
- With a pastry brush, brush olive oil onto the face-up side of the toast. Make sure to get the edges, as this will prevent over-charring of the edge.
- Place under the broiler, and watch carefully. Different broilers will cook more quickly. Remove from the broiler when the toast is crisp and dark brown, but not burnt.
- Immediately spread a little of the goat cheese onto each slice. (The goat cheese will warm up from the hot crostini, and will be easier to spread.) Once you have put goat cheese on all the crostini, go back and spread the goat cheese onto the entire slice.
- Cut or tear the smoked salmon into pieces that will top the crostini. Place a small piece on top of each slice of crostini.
- Plate, and then add a sprinkling of fresh black pepper to the top of each crostini, if desired.
- Serve alone as a snack, or as an appetizer before a meal.
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