Spring Onion Crostini: Pea Pesto Crostini with Red Spring Onions, Shaved Parmesan, and Toasted Pine Nuts

One of my favorite little wonders of early spring has to be the beautiful new produce.  I spend my winters caught up in local crops of gourds, squashes, and citrus only to come out of a (somewhat) cold winter with new culinary experiences awaiting me.  Heavy on the peas, baby zucchinis, and spicy onions, spring crops fill my April kitchen.This past Saturday, I took my friends Jessica and Victor to the Red Stick Farmers’ Market—located at 5th and Main in downtown Baton Rouge—for what I hope will become a grocery ritual for us weekly. Over-stuffed tables baring Ponchatoula strawberries and blueberries, local Muscadine Wines, fresh kale, arugula, spinach, and other leafy greens, and, of course, sage, basil, and every herb we chefs could possibly love overwhelmed my newbie friends.  (Heck, look at the state of this sentence—it has 9-10 subjects!).

Amidst the beautiful produce, sweet wines, and tasty meats sat a lovely bunch of spring red onions.  Having recently developed an appetizer for this recipe for my cookbook, I thought it made a great time to re-test the dish for you readers.  Although I rarely eat onions raw, red spring bulb onions with Italian pesto, good quality bread, Parmesan, and pine nuts was the perfect dinner (albeit with a glass of wine) after my four-mile run Monday.

Pictured: spicy spring onion bulbs bedded on pesto, hardy bread, Parmesan, and pine nuts pair nicely with a glass of wine.

Simple to make and even easier to eat, this spring-inspired crostini can be served at room temperature or warmed.  Although I like the spicy crunch of thinly sliced raw onions, the recipe turns out just as nicely when broiled to bubbly perfection.  Hot or cold, young red onions are just one of the wonders of Baton Rouge in the spring.

Spring Onion Crostini: Pea Pesto Crostini with Red Spring Onions, Shaved Parmesan, and Toasted Pine Nuts

I suggest using the Ciabatta Bread recipe from Jim Lahey’s book, but you can easily substitute any whole wheat bread such as Whole Foods’ Seeduction Bread or a warm French Baguette.  Since many gardens in Louisiana yield the sweetest of spring and summer peas, feel free to substitute your own garden’s contents instead of the suggested frozen sweet peas below.  For a regular pesto recipe, see Elise Bauer’s excellent template here.

Ingredients:

—Pesto—

*1 cup garden or sweet peas, cooked

*1 cup fresh sweet basil, chopped fine

*1/2 cup fresh Parmesan cheese, shredded (not canned Parmesan)

*1 teaspoon kosher salt, plus more to taste

*1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper, plus more for seasoning

*1/3 cup basil olive oil, such as the one from Vom Fass New Orleans, or regular olive oil

*3 cloves garlic, minced or pressed

*1/4 cup pistachios, chopped

—Crostini Toppers: Red Spring Onions, Shaved Parmesan, and Toasted Pine Nuts or Sun Dried Tomatoes—

*1 Ciabatta bread loaf, Seeduction Bread (Whole Foods), or any other baguette alternative

*baby spring red onions, sliced thinly where the red bulb meets the green stalk

*Salt and pepper, for dusting

*olive oil, for dressing

*1/4 cup pine nuts, toasted in 1 tablespoon olive oil

1.) Thaw and cook sweet peas if using the frozen variation.  If using the garden fresh variety, cook fresh peas in hot water and sit for about 5 minutes removed from heat.  Drain peas.

2.) Add peas, Parmesan, basil, garlic, salt, pepper, olive oil, and pistachios to food processor and pulse to combine until creamy.  Don’t worry about over-pulsing this mixture, as a little bit of texture from the sweet peas is always a fabulous component.

3.) Spread pesto mixture on bread choice and top with halved spring red onion bulbs and pine nuts.  Dust crostini in salt and pepper and a few drops of olive oil for each.  

Makes 12-15 crostini.

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This recipe was re-published for my “Fresh Ideas” Column for Louisiana’s state newspaper, The Advocate, on Thursday, May 10th, 2012.  You can read the reprint here.

–Helana Brigman

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