Vegan MoFo Day 9: Pesto Crostinis

So, after being completely discouraged by pesto, I finally had a great success! I only made pesto one other time. It was some crazy internet recipe that called for nutritional yeast and spinach and all sorts of crazy nonsense. That was the first time I ever tried pesto, too, which made me think I just didn't like pesto. I've now realized what everyone else already has-- pesto rules! This time, I just did bare bones pesto, and it was perfection! [[Thanks for the encouragement]]

This is a really pretty way to serve pesto-- a slightly thicker pesto, spread on a crispy bread with olives. You can make your own baguette [[I hear it's pretty easy]], or kroger sells some multi-grain ones like this.

Here's what I did: I bought some fresh basil leaves, pine nuts, garlic, and a mini baguette. For the pesto, I blended garlic, salt, and pepper with equal parts basil and pine nuts while slowly adding extra virgin olive oil in a blender, pulsing. I refridgerated it for an hour. For the crostini, I sliced the baguette and put them under a high broiled for about a minute [[watching them]], and then flipped them over for another minute. They should be cripy, not burnt, but almost stale feeling. Then, I spread the pesto on the crostinis and topped them with sliced kalamata olives.