Minted Pea and Prosciutto Crostini

Everyday Food (April 2011)

Just a couple weeks ago we said that crostini and other party snacks can "get a little tiresome."

Let's retract that statement, shall we?

Because these Minted Pea and Prosciutto Crostini are anything but tiresome. They're fresh, filling -- and easy, to boot.

We plucked this crostini recipe out of a smart little Everyday Food feature on how to use up leftover bread. The magazine piece is great, with recipes for a strata made with a day-old baguette, cornish hens stuffed with bagels, and four excellent ideas for crostini.

(As an aside, when we find ourselves with leftover bread, we often drop it in a resealable plastic bag and store it away in the freezer for a month or two. It's handy when we need to make fresh bread crumbs for a recipe.)

In addition to this crostini featuring minted peas and prosciutto, there are three other excellent looking crostini:  Roasted Tomato and Ricotta, one topped with an Olive Relish, and a sweet/savory take featuring Pear, Walnut and Ricotta. 

We were initially tempted to make all four, but we feared that would be crostini overload. We settled on the Pea and Prosciutto. It wasn't a hard sell -- we'd happily eat peas with every meal, and we only had to buy a baguette and prosciutto in order to make these. (We had lemons in the fridge and mint growing outside.)

This is one seriously tasty crostini. The sweet peas are brightened by the addition of lemon zest and mint. On top of crusty toast, they're a great counterbalance to the saltiness of the prosciutto. The minted peas are so good, in fact, that we think those of who you don't eat meat will love this crostini sans prosciutto.

So we take it back, crostini. You're not tiresome or dull. Sometimes you really hit the spot.

 

 

Minted Pea and Prosciutto Crostini
Everyday Food (April 2011)
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(This photo: Everyday Food)

    * Yield Serves 4

Ingredients

    * 2 cups fresh or frozen peas
    * 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
    * 3 tablespoons chopped fresh mint
    * 1 tablespoon finely grated lemon zest
    * Coarse salt and ground pepper
    * 1/4 pound thinly sliced prosciutto

Directions

Cook peas in boiling salted water until tender, then drain. In a medium bowl, lightly mash peas with the back of a fork. Add olive oil, mint, and lemon zest. Season with salt and pepper and stir to combine. To serve, divide prosciutto among crostini and top with pea mixture.