Thursday, June 13, 2013

Grilled Apricot Crostini | Friday Night Bites



I am hopelessly in love with summer fruit.  Raspberries, blueberries, plums, nectarines, peaches and apricots all just signify that summer is here.  They are fresh, flavorful, ripe and bursting with brilliant fruit flavor.  What tends to go hand in hand with summer is grilling.

If you have not grilled bread, I highly suggest it.  It adds such a depth of flavor to the bread and what you decide to place on top of it.  Many times I will grill bread and top with thinly sliced avocados and drizzle with a bit of reduced balsamic vinegar and a touch of fleur de sel.  The combination is out of this world.  Trust me.  By the way, with a great glass of sauvignon blanc or even a smoky cabernet, you will be in appetizer heaven.

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This avocado crostini got me thinking, what other combination would sit well on a grilled baguette slice.  Ah ha …… the ripe summer fruit would be stunning and even better, I thought to grill it.  Next would be to add a bit of cheese.  Could have used brie or camembert but that would be too expected.  I am fascinated with burrata, so that was the ticket.  It was only natural to add some reduced balsamic and a touch of thinly sliced basil.  After tasting, I determined that a sprinkle of sea salt made this heavenly bite complete. 


So simple, yet so delicious and so perfect for my Friday Night Bite, the only thing was to pair it with the ideal adult beverage.  The perfect pairing was a chilled glass of prosecco.  The crisp effervescence of this dry Italian sparkling wine was a stunning pairing with the smoky bread and sweet reduced balsamic and earthy basil. 

You could certainly substitute the apricots for peaches or nectarines or even grapes.  The recipe is a bit loose but I will give you as much information as possible to recreate these beauties.  Cheers to summer!  (Okay almost summer officially, but whose checking.  Smile)


Grilled Apricot Crostini

Makes 12

Baguette, cut into ½ inch slices
Olive Oil
6 Fresh apricots
Burrata
½ Cup Basil, thinly sliced
½ Cup Balsamic Vinegar
Sea Salt

Brush each slice of sliced baguette lightly with olive oil.  Heat an indoor or outdoor grill.  Place the slices of bread onto the grill and continue to flip until you achieve a golden brown color.  Lower the heat to medium to prevent burning and watch carefully.  Remove and let cool.

Cut each apricot in half and remove the seed.  Brush lightly with olive oil.  Place onto the grill with the cut side up and let cook until grill marks appear.  Remove and let cool.  Cut each half into thirds.  Cut basil into thin strands (chiffonade).

In a small sauté pan, add the balsamic vinegar and cook on medium to medium high until it turns to a syrup consistency.  Be careful to watch since it can quickly burn.  Remove and let cool.  If it becomes too thick, add a touch of balsamic to thin.


To assemble, remove the burrata from the water and pat dry with a paper towel and place into a bowl.    Spread about a tablespoon of burrata on each grilled crostini.  Next, sprinkle with a bit of the sea salt and top with a half of the grilled apricot that was cut into thirds and drizzle with the reduced balsamic and top with the basil.  Enjoy!




13 comments:

  1. Looks (and sounds!) as though I need to start grilling some bread this summer! I think I'd want this crostiti for dinner and dessert! :)

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  2. Grilled apricots sound amazing and nice choice with the burrata - I could live off of these all summer!

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  3. Those are just some amazing looking crostini's, fantastic recipe! Feel free to stop by my link party and share your fantastic recipes :)

    Happy Blogging!
    Happy Valley Chow

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  4. Amazing! Corstini is my favorite! I never would've thought to top them off with grilled apricot - it's genius!

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  5. Delicious, Lisa! Perfect little bite to celebrate summer!

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  6. I would just call this dinner and have a whole plateful! Love the colors and textures and everything!

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  7. That looks totally divine! Love the idea of grilled apricots and balsamic, YUM!
    Janie x

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  8. I love grilled fruit! Gosh, I can imagine how good this must be. The reduced balsamic just brings everything together and yes on the prosecco!

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  9. Grilled apricots are just the thing for these fantastic appetizers! I was eyeballing the mounds of apricots at the farmer's market yesterday..thinking about jam, pie or ??? I like the simplicity of these apps-great way to enjoy fresh apricots and their all too short season ;-)

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  10. I love grilled fruits, the sugars that come out make them so tasty. I haven't tried balsamic vinegar on my fruit before so I need to try this out.

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  11. I'm with you on the summer fruit. I simply can't get enough! Grilling it is something I started doing last year and again, I love it. Haven't paired it with the bread and balsamic though, but I'm going to now. LOVE!!

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  12. I can almost taste these, the apricots with the balsamic and crusty grilled bread just sound heavenly!

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  13. Haha "hopelessly in love with summer fruit" - I feel the same way. If I don't have to cook for family, I'd rather eat fruits all day long skipping all the meals. :D I mean, we have to take advantage of fresh summer fruits. I'm a bit worried about missing all the summer fruits this year as I travel. Fruits are expensive in Japan and I will miss blueberries most, and all the juicy peaches and mangoes... sigh. I still have apricots in the fridge I need to finish soon. I recently discovered Burrata! Good idea to eat with grilled apricot. Can't wait to try this combination!

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