Crostini With Tapenade and Ricotta
Some of the best things you can put in front of guests take five minutes. Crostini layered with cool ricotta, salty olive tapenade and a final thread of good oil is one of them — the creamy and the briny meeting on a crisp edge of toast. The trick, as ever with simple food, is the quality of each part.
Building the crostini
Slice a baguette or rustic loaf on the diagonal, brush the slices lightly with olive oil, and toast or grill them until crisp and just golden — you want crunch, not concrete. Let them cool a touch. Spread each with fresh ricotta, the best you can find: cool, milky and soft. Top with a modest spoon of tapenade — the Provençal paste of black olives, capers, anchovy and oil — spread thin, because it’s intense. Finish each one with a thread of good extra virgin and, if you like, a few grinds of pepper or a torn basil leaf. Serve straight away, while the toast is still crisp under its toppings.
Balance is everything
This works because of contrast: the cool, mild ricotta tempering the dark, salty punch of the tapenade, both lifted by the fruity oil. So go easy on the tapenade — a thin layer is plenty, and too much drowns the cheese. Use a tapenade made with real olives and good oil, not a greasy, over-salted jar; or make your own by pulsing pitted black olives, a few capers, an anchovy, a little garlic and olive oil to a coarse paste. The final drizzle of oil isn’t optional — it’s what ties the creamy and the briny together and carries the whole bite.
You can toast the bread and make the tapenade hours ahead, but assemble at the last minute — ricotta on warm toast too early goes soggy. Bring the ricotta to cool room temperature for the best texture, and keep a good finishing oil by the board. If the tapenade is very salty, skip extra salt entirely; the olives and anchovy have it covered.
Method from general home cooking; tapenade is a traditional Provençal preparation.