White Bean Crostini

A terrific, quick, vegan appetizer.  You can make this with any canned bean and fresh herb combination.  Get creative!  When toasting the crostini you want them a little bit charred.  The nearly-burnt edges give it tons of flavor.

• 1 baguette or other crusty bread, sliced into 1/2 inch thick slices
• 2 T. garlic infused olive oil (Buy it at the grocery store, or make your own by dropping a mashed clove of garlic into a bottle of olive oil and let it steep for a few hours.)
• sea salt
• 1 can cannellini beans, reserve two T. of liquid and drain the rest
• salt and pepper to taste
• 2 T. minced fresh parsley
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• zest of one lemon
• 2 t. fresh lemon juice
• 1/8 C. good olive oil

First make the crostini.  Heat the broiler to high heat.  Brush each slice of bread with the garlic oil and sprinkle with the sea salt. Lay the slices out on a rimmed baking sheet and broil for two minutes.  Rotate the baking sheet and broil for another two minutes.  Do not leave the kitchen!  Watch them!  They will go from having charred edges to being black as coal in a matter of seconds.  Remove them to a cooling rack.

Make the bean topping:  In a mixing bowl, combine the beans, 2 T. of the bean liquid, the parsley, garlic, lemon zest, lemon juice, and salt and pepper to taste.

Use a potato masher to mash and combine the ingredients.  Don’t overmash, you want some whole beans, and some mashed beans.  Drizzle the olive oil over the beans and stir just to combine.  Serve at room temperature.

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