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Don’t we have that saying, “There is always room for dessert”? It holds true in the case of most sweet-meat lovers. There is a special place that desserts hold in our hearts. We might not be able to finish the food on our plate but when it comes to dessert, our mind starts ticking in the direction very quickly. We keep looking for little tid-bits in the corners of the kitchen to get a sweet bite in our mouths. During her MasterChef stint, Chef Oindrila Bala was well-known for making desserts. In fact, she was even called the Dessert Queen of the show. In an interaction, she revealed how she isn’t a fan of desserts and prefers fried food instead. The Bengali chef also let us in on her whys and hows of baking desserts on the show.
In conversation with her, we fetched one of the favourite recipes that is closest to her heart. It is the strawberry crostini. For the uninitiated, the crostini refers to little crusts or little toasts in Italian. It is an Italian snack which comprises of a crusty, toasted thin slice of bread which comes with a variety of toppings. Similar to a bruschetta in appearance, the crostini comes in both sweet and savoury flavours. Did you know that the lip-smacking dish of today was actually peasant food back in the day? It was the Italian poor who resorted to bread instead of plates to eat food during the Middle Ages.
Chef Oindrila Bala brings together the sweetness of strawberries with the tartness of crostini to form a delicious strawberry crostini recipe. This recipe is easy to make and can be easily eaten as a breakfast, snack and dessert.
Strawberry Crostini - Makes 6 pieces
Ingredients
- 1 cup strawberries (cubed)
- 2 tbsp almonds
- 2 tbsp mint leaves
- 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 tsp red chilli flakes
- 50 gms of feta cheese crumbled
Method
- Gently mix the strawberries, almonds, mint leaves and feta cheese with salt, chilli flakes, balsamic vinegar and chopped almonds. Set this aside.
- Cut a multigrain baguette into slices.
- On a skillet, add 1 tbsp of olive oil and gently toast the bread on low flame till crispy.
- Alternatively, you can also choose to bake the bread in the oven after brushing with olive oil for 10-12 minutes till lightly golden.
- Top the breads with the strawberry salad.
- Serve immediately and enjoy.