Today, we're gonna make a Garlic and White Bean Bruschetta with Boquerones.
What I'm trying to highlight is the versatility of the the cannellini bean
and the creamy texture of that.... With the crunchy bruschetta
and the briny flavor of a Boquerones - which is a white anchovy marinated in vinegar.
So we have our ingredients, um, in front of us. They're very simple.
These are the white anchovies....
We have piquillo peppers - you could substitute red peppers, if you like.
We have our cannellini beans, that I've cooked ahead of time.
I'll talk about my process there in a second.
We have our fresh thyme, a little bit of red pepper flakes,
fresh chopped garlic, and some fresh sage.
We're gonna finish it with a little bit of chopped parsley, season with salt and pepper along the way.
So our ingredients are simple.
In terms of the the white beans, the way I like to cook them is simmer them
for about an hour and a half with a Bouquet garni in there - which is a flavor of herbs.
So I've flavored these with a little rosemary, thyme, sage, and garlic.
So the actual beans have a base flavor in them.
And now I'm gonna support them with the flavors again.
So, what I want to do is start with cooking....
A couple tablespoons of extra-virgin olive oil.
I'm going to do this on a medium low heat, so I keep the flavor of the olive oil.
My garlic cloves, pinch of red pepper flakes....
I'm gonna cook this on medium-low heat until the garlic starts to brown a little bit, bloom the flavor.....
I don't want to go too far if it becomes dark, it will be bitter,
and I'd have to kind of start over again.
In the meantime, taking my fresh thyme and sage.
You may use dried, but if you can have access to fresh, it's much better.
And I kind of like to wait till the last moment to chop these, to add it for flavor.
We're ultimately gonna purée this in a Cuisinart or a food processor in the end,
so I'm just getting a kind of a quick rough chop here
Turn up the heat a little bit.
All right.....
I have my white beans ready, and when I add my white beans, that'll kind of stop the cooking of the garlic.
So, I want to kind of bring it to the right point....
The garlic is gonna really, uh......
Match the flavor of the beans, and kind of highlight the actual....the whole dish....So....
We're gonna come to a critical point, here, where it starts to get golden.
If I add the beans too early, it stops the cooking of the garlic too early, and then I have a *raw* flavor of garlic throughout the dish.
So I don't want to do it too early, I don't want to do it too late.
Being patient... Looks about just right.
I'm gonna season this with a touch of pepper and a touch of salt.
Add our two cups of cooked cannellini beans....
Turn it on low heat.
I will just cook this for about 10 minutes.
So while my beans cook here for about 10 minutes on Medium Low heat, you can see them slightly bubbling....
We're gonna work with making a classic bruschetta.
So, any sort of a day old country bread will work. I like to use a my French loaf.
And I'm gonna cut this at a kind of an extreme angle, so.... For presentation sake.
So, at an angle and.....
"At an angle," is like what I say, so instead of straight down, I want to turn my knife a little bit.
Okay, so I'm going to do this a couple different ways. One way, is to toast it in an oven.
So I have a 400 degree oven.
We'll do a few of these - just dry. I'm gonna pop them *dry* in the oven. High heat.
We'll toast that about five or six minutes. What I'm trying to do is get some nice color on the outside, while keeping it soft in the center.
And then when I come out of the oven, I'll be ready with my fresh garlic and my olive oil, to make the classic bruschetta.
The other way I want to do this, is to grill the bread.
So, dry grill.
If you're doing on the outside grill, medium-low heat, just enough to get some heat. We'll just mark it.
And then let's talk about the next step.
So, when the bread is done, we're going to bring it out. We're going to brush it with some extra-virgin olive oil.
And then rub it with fresh garlic. So......
When I'm working with garlic, I'll crush it open and I'm always going to check.....
....the center of the garlic, to make sure that the stem is not green.
So, if we look here at the center, my stem.....
.....is not green. If it's green, it's starting to sprout and it's bitter, so I'll remove the stem.
In this case, I don't really need to remove the stem.
So, let's take a look at the beans.....
Medium-low heat.
They're starting to smell really nicely. The flavors are in there.
They look like they've kind of absorbed the moisture. The flavor.
And both of our toasts... Let's take a look at our grilled bread.
Just want some nice marks. And as it comes off.....
I want to brush it with the olive oil.
So... *after* the fact. Some recipes will tell you to brush it with olive oil *first.* I think it kind of makes it a little too moist.
I do it *after* the fact. And use a nice olive oil. And then....
I'm just taking fresh garlic and rubbing it right on the bread. So, it's kind of grating the garlic on the bread.
Alright, so those are my grilled bruschettas. The bruschetta....
that has come out of the oven is a little different. This one's a little bit darker, but it's.... the concept is still toasty on the outside, soft in the center.
Brush a little bit of olive oil.
Rub with the fresh garlic.
Now we have two different types of bruschetta ready for our white bean spread.
Let's finish the white bean spread.
So the white beans look excellent.
They've absorbed the moisture, they smell great and I'm going to purée them.
I have on hand a little bit of extra-virgin olive oil and water to thin it out.
[Blender Sounds]
So taking a look at this..... Looks like it's gonna need a little bit of olive oil.
So I'm.... About about a tablespoon of olive oil. I'm gonna purée this again.....
Season it with a little bit of a kosher salt, fresh ground black pepper.....
[Blender Sounds]
This looks great.
I want a little bit of a rustic texture.
This is a classic Spanish dish using white beans and Boquerones - anchovies marinated in white vinegar....
And the piquillo peppers, which are very similar to red peppers. They're a little sweeter and smaller.
You can buy them in the specialty store, canned, or you could use red peppers.
So, what I'm trying to do is get all my stuff in place for assembling.
I'm gonna put about a tablespoon to two tablespoons on each piece. Generous.
And I like to top this with the Boquerones, with the skin side up.
It has a nice sheen to it.
And I'm just going with the whole piece here.
Then taking some of our piquillo peppers.
And do a little cross over it.
And this would be a simple dish you would find in any tapas bar in Spain.
The nice bruschetta the white bean spread with the garlic and the herbs,
our Boquerones and our piquillo peppers.
With this, I like to do a little drizzle of olive oil....
So after a nice drizzle of olive oil, our garlic and white bean bruschetta with Boquerones is done. Makes a great appetizer.
So, enjoy!