Cream Cheese & Peach Butter Crostini with Grilled Asparagus
What in the world would we do without our cream cheese in the South? There would be riots. You can barely hear a recipe out of someone’s mouth that doesn’t start with, “Take a pound of cream cheese.” It’s essential to our pound and coffee cakes, is a star on the holiday buffet table with pepper jelly and how would you ever make a cheese ball without it? Oh, you don’t make cheese balls? Really?
Grilling Asparagus Rule #1: 90 degree angle to grates.
This is a super easy recipe that will take you 30 minutes tops. The only trick to grilling the asparagus is to make sure you keep them horizontal to the grates. Sadly, I can tell you from experience that if you don’t, you will be using a lemon fork to get them out. My Aunt Virginia would turn over in her grave if she knew I ran to get the sterling silver lemon fork to rescue a few stray asparagus spears.
O.K., I know your next question. Cream cheese, peach butter and asparagus? Does that really work? Oh, yes. The richness of the cheese, the sweet note of the peach butter and the slightly bitter tone of the asparagus taste really good, to use a technical culinary term. I promise you. I just ate five of them.
This is a super easy recipe that will take you 30 minutes tops. The only trick to grilling the asparagus is to make sure you keep them horizontal to the grates.
Ingredients
- 1 baguette, sliced into ¼ inch rounds
- Olive oil
- Freshly ground salt
- 1 pound pencil-thin asparagus, tough ends trimmed
- Balsamic vinegar
- Freshly ground pepper
- Plain cream cheese
- Peach butter
Instructions
- Preheat your grill to medium. Lightly brush both sides of the bread rounds with olive oil and sprinkle gently with salt. Grill the bread until it is slightly charred and beautiful. Allow to cool.
- Combine the asparagus, about a tablespoon of olive oil, a drizzle of balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper. Grill the asparagus for about 5 minutes or until it is pleasantly charred and crisp tender.
- Top each crostini with a teaspoon or so of cream cheese, ½ a teaspoon of peach butter and an asparagus spear trimmed to fit the crostini.
Notes
This recipe was created by Catherine Mayhew http://www.thesouthinmymouth.com/
(Notes: If you cannot find peach butter in your neck of the woods, peach preserves or jelly will work just as well. Also, you will have leftover grilled asparagus. I know you can deal with that.)
Lol at Aunt Virginia’s lemon fork!