The 5-Ingredient Appetizer I'm Making All Summer Long

When the weather was beautiful this past spring, my friends and I traded in our favorite local bars and gastro pubs on Friday nights to hang on back porches and patios. We’d make cocktails, open a bottle of wine, and snack on appetizers such as guacamole, hot spinach artichoke dip, and even a makeshift egg salad dip I accidentally created because I was doing too many things. I mixed up the yolks and the whites, realizing too late that I had put the whites in the mixer, and added some Dijon, garden-fresh chopped chives, and a touch of hot sauce. The dip was a surprise hit.

I already know what I’m taking to our next Friday night get-together: a 5-ingredient crostini that @erin_funfoodie recently posted on her Instagram account. Featuring blueberries, goat cheese, and fresh basil, it just screams summer, and as Erin commented, “It could seriously be dessert.” Even better—it takes just about 15 minutes to make.

Blueberry Goat Cheese and Basil Crostini Recipe

Erin bought all of the ingredients at Trader Joe’s, but that’s not the only place you can find them. ShopRite and Wegmans sell blueberry vanilla goat cheese under their respective store brand, and several others produce it, too. The other ingredients should be easy to find at any well-stocked grocery store.

If you’re familiar with how to make crostini, you may not even need directions for these treats, but if you do, this is how to make them. You'll need the following ingredients, plus salt and pepper.

Ingredients

• Baguette, cut into 1/2-inch thick slices
• Garlic-flavored olive oil
• Blueberry vanilla chèvre (aka goat cheese) 
• Balsamic glaze (You can make balsamic glaze with balsamic vinegar and brown sugar.)
• Fresh basil, thinly sliced
  

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C). Place baguette slices on a baking sheet.
2. Drizzle baguette slices with the oil. Season with salt and black pepper.
3. Toast baguette slices in the preheated oven until lightly golden and crispy, 7 to 8 minutes. Remove from the oven.
4. Spread goat cheese on each slice, drizzle with balsamic glaze, and sprinkle with basil. 

It’s as simple as that to make these super flavorful, easy-to-eat five-ingredient crostini.  While this is excellent as is, I may also use New Jersey’s blueberry bounty to make some pickled blueberries and swap in regular goat cheese to balance them out. Also, since there’s red wine vinegar in the pickled blueberries, the balsamic glaze may not be necessary, but I’ll enjoy experimenting and finding out if that’s accurate.