Let me take a minute to correct myself, this is actually an appetizer or party snack. On Friday nights my wife(Ellen) and I go to our friend's house for a get together; that's code for we go to our friend's house for a bible study and fellowship. We usually have a bible study that lasts an hour and then we hang out for a couple of hours. When we first started our diets the question came up about how are we going to deal with sitting around a table full of snacks that we shouldn't be eating. Another thing that I considered (although it wasn't necessary) is that two members of our group are chefs and I felt that if I was going to take the time to make diet snacks I should step up my game.
The solution was that I found some recipes for snacks that were not only delicious but that also fit into our diets. I stumbled across the recipe for Beef Crostini and based on the picture and description I thought I'd try it as a party snack.
Beef Crostini is a wonderful finger food, the combination of roast beef and horseradish works together and compliments each other well. Pairing roast beef with something spicy (spicy mustard, horseradish) gives it more depth and brings out more of the flavor. This recipe is very easy and has very few ingredients, the trick is to do the assembly like a production line. Get everything together and ready to assemble, put the roast beef on the bread, put the arugula on the roast beef, and put the horseradish mixture on top. If you assemble them one at a time it will take three times longer than necessary. The two ingredients that need some consideration are the roast beef and the arugula. The couple of times that I've made this I used the kind of pre-sliced roast beef that can be found with the sandwich meats. There are many new pre-packaged "carving board" meats in the stores, I suggest that you spend a few extra minutes to look around your meat department and try a couple different varieties. Arugula as we discussed a few weeks ago can be found in the bagged, ready-to -eat salad section. I put three pieces of arugula on each crostini. This recipe can easily be doubled.
So let's take a look at today's recipe.
Beef Crostini
Prep time 12 min. Cook time 10 min. Serves 8
Ingredients
3 sprays olive oil cooking spray
6 oz. french bread, about an 8-inch long thin loaf, cut into 16 slices
1/3 cup reduced-fat sour cream
3 Tbs. uncooked red onion, diced
1 Tbs. store-bought horseradish
1/4 tsp black pepper (plus extra for garnish)
2 cups arugula, baby leaves
8 oz. deli-style roast beef slices, thickly cut into 16 pieces
Instructions
Preheat oven to 325f. Coat a cookie sheet with cooking spray.
Place bread on prepared cookie sheet and lightly coat with cooking spray. Bake until lightly browned and crisp, about 10 minutes; let cool.
In a small bowl, combine sour cream, onion, horseradish and pepper.
To assemble crostini, top each piece of toasted bread with beef, a few arugula leaves, 1 tsp horseradish mixture, and garnish with a grind of black pepper.
This recipe yields 2 crostini per serving.
This is an easy and delicious recipe that is great as an appetizer or party snack. The next time you are planning a get together, or bible study, consider making Beef Crostini. As always, if you try this recipe please come back here and leave a comment and let me know how it worked out.
Next week- Stuffed Grape Leaves or Life in a World Without Restaurants Part II.
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