Weeknight evening with friends (Crostini with Warm Tomato Compote)

There was a time when I never would have had folks over for dinner on a work night. But one gets older, stops striving for perfection and soon finds that there’s no time like the present when good friends are involved.

Hyco Lake, North Carolina

It was in this spirit that we had two of our favorite new friends over for dinner the other night. Rusty and Debi live out at Hyco Lake and we’ve had many fun times at their home.  It was good to be able to return a little hospitality and share some good times on our turf.

I literally threw the meal together while they sat at the counter that separates the family room from the kitchen. We’d all had long days and it was good to chat and sip a glass of wine while I chopped and sautéed to my heart’s content. To get things started I tried out an appetizer I’ve been making lately – and it got rave reviews.  You probably have all the ingredients in the house – I hope you give it a try.

Crostini with Warm Tomato Compote

Serves 4

Ingredients

• 4-6 slices of crusty bread, cut half or quarters (depending on the size of the slices) and brushed with olive oil – I used a whole wheat sour dough from Box Turtle Breads, one of our local artisanal bakeries
• 1 Tbs good olive oil – I’m in to Spanish olive oil these days, very mild and tasty
• 10 cherry tomatoes sliced in half
• 1 clove garlic, thinly sliced
• 1 tsp Italian herbs, or herbs d’ Province
• Good Parmesan cheese, shaved off into pieces with a vegetable peeler (or you could use shredded cheese if you don’t have a whole block of the good stuff)
• Pinch of kosher salt
• 6 or so grinds of black pepper

Method

Over a low flame in a small to medium sized sauce pan:

• Warm the oil and the garlic for about 3 minutes
• Add the tomatoes, cut side down
• Sprinkle the salt, pepper and herbs over the mixture
• Cook for about 10 minutes, squishing down the tomatoes gently as they become soft.  You want them to become almost jam-like, but stay intact.

• While the tomatoes are cooking, heat a grill pan until it is screaming hot and grill the bread.  Dry side first, oiled side last, until you have nice grill marks. 
• Remove and pile on a platter. 
• Next to the bread, pile up the shavings of Parmesan cheese

 Time to assemble

• When the tomatoes are warm and fragrant, put them in a small bowl and serve with the bread and cheese. 
• Have your guests put a tomato half or two on the grilled bread and then top with a shard of the cheese. 

Enjoy.