Until recently, I viewed recipes as mere accoutrements to some other, larger story about culture or identity or memory, or any of the other words that would have fit well in the “theme” box on a high-school English exam. Since I started writing this column, I’ve come to understand recipes as little stories in and of themselves, their various components reflective of particular experiences, ideas, or circumstances of the cook. Taken together, they can form a sort of edible “Day in the Life” portrait.
For instance, I crave cherries year-round, but only buy them during the short interval in early summer (starting now!) when they are available locally at the peak of flavor and worth the high price tag they command. In this period, I am never without cherries. I eat them on my morning oatmeal, turned into compote and stirred into Greek yogurt, stewed in their own juices and served with pork chops, or paired with cheese and savored with Armagnac after dinner. This recipe sprang from that impulse.
Yet these crostini are also reflective of other inspirations. Their shape and purpose recall the little toasts topped with mussels and a pastiche of other flavors that I sampled at the M Street tapas bar Boqueria last week and the small Venetian snacks known as cicheti that I read about in a recent article in Saveur. The caramelized fennel ties back to all the tantalizing fennel-laced concoctions the author of the book I wrote about last week cooked up in Beirut: when I spotted five lonely bulbs at the farmers’ market last weekend, I couldn’t resist taking one home. The cardamom echoes the flavor of the exquisite ice cream I devoured at Rasika recently over dessert with a friend. And the cheese? I simply have too much of it and am busy finding ways to use it up before it’s too late. (Not to mention that goat cheese melds seamlessly with the sweetness of the fennel and cherries and the nuttiness of the pistachios.)
Fun fact: each serving of this recipe contains all of the food groups: grains, protein, dairy, fruits, vegetables, and the guilty pleasures at the tip of the pyramid.
Crostini with Cherries, Fennel and Pistachios
Makes 8 toasts
3 fennel bulbs
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 pint sweet or tart cherries, pitted
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
¼ cup sugar
8 baguette-sized slices of raisin bread, cut into half-inch slices and toasted until crisp on the outside
8 tablespoon mild goat cheese
Ground cardamom
¼ cup pistachios, shelled and roughly chopped
Sea salt
1. Chop the bottoms, stems and fronds off the fennel bulbs and remove any bruised or discolored portions of the outer layers. Chop each bulb in half, then slice lengthwise into thin slices. Meanwhile, heat olive oil in a large pan. Add fennel and a pinch of salt to the pan and cook over medium-low heat, stirring frequently, until fennel is very soft and golden brown, about 30 minutes.
2. Heat the pitted cherries, sugar, balsamic vinegar, and few tablespoons of water in a pan over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until sugar is dissolved and cherries are softened, about 5 to 10 minutes. Set aside to cool.
3. Spread a tablespoon of cheese onto each slice of toasted bread. Sprinkle each with a dusting of ground cardamom. Layer some of the caramelized fennel on top, then several cherries. Top the crostini with chopped pistachios and sea salt.
