Easter Holiday Appetizer: Herbed Cheese Asparagus Crostini

If you are looking for an Easter holiday appetizer, look no further. This Herbed Cheese Asparagus Crostini recipe is simple and sure to be your new Easter dinner favorite.

The yummy foundation of this holiday appetizer is Ecce Panis French Demi Baguettes. It’s a “bake at home” artisan bread that has the perfect texture and flavor to compliment the herbed cheese and asparagus. Ecce Panis is what I turn to when I want delicious bread, without making it from scratch. One of my favorite products they offer are their French Dinner Rolls, which make our soup nights extra special.

The ingredients list for Herbed Cheese Asparagus Crostini is quite short, which always makes me happy. Holiday dinners, like Easter, tend to have me in the kitchen cooking for a long time, so any part of my menu that can be simple is just what I needed. What I love the most about these Herbed Cheese Asparagus Crostini is that they are elegant and sooo good!

To make this holiday appetizer, you will need Ecce Panis French Demi Baguettes (available at Walmart – you can see my full shopping trip here), asparagus, a spreadable cheese with herbs, lemon, and olive oil.

TIP: Save on Ecce Panis for your Easter dinner by printing this coupon: Ecce Panis Gourmet Artisan Breads

Both of the Ecce Panis Baguettes are sliced into about 1/2 – 3/4″ thick slices.

The Ecce Panis bread slices are placed on a baking sheet and brushed with olive oil. They are then flipped over and the other side is also brushed with olive oil. Then, you pop them in the oven for a bit of toasting while you work on the asparagus.

The asparagus is cut into 1 1/2 – 2″ pieces.

You’ll also zest a lemon and cut the lemon in half.

The asparagus is pan roasted in some olive oil until crisp-tender and beginning to brown. At the end of the cooking, the heat is turned off and the lemon is squeezed over the asparagus (watch for those seeds!). After a quick toss of the lemon juice and the asparagus, the lemon zest is tossed in too. { note: I learned this delicious way of preparing asparagus from Kalyn’s Kitchen }

The bread is toasted in the oven until it’s just beginning to brown (5-8 minutes), and then flipped over to toast the other size (another 5 minutes or so). When nicely golden brown, they are removed from the oven and ready for topping!

A generous spread of the herbed cheese is topped on the toasted Ecce Panis Baguette slices.

Then each one is topped with several pieces of the asparagus.

They are now ready to serve…and oh so delicious! Wasn’t that easy? I love it when an appetizer for Easter dinner, or any holiday dinner, doesn’t keep me in the kitchen forever.

Print the recipe below or click to add Herbed Cheese Asparagus Crostini to your ZipList recipe box:

Herbed Cheese Asparagus Crostini

If you are looking for an Easter holiday appetizer, look no further. This Herbed Cheese Asparagus Crostini recipe is simple and sure to be your new Easter dinner favorite.

• Author: Brandie Valenzuela
• Category: Appetizer
• Cuisine: American

Scale 1x2x3x

Ingredients

• 1 oz package Ecce Panis French Demi Baguettes (12)
• 1 pound asparagus spears
• 1 oz package herb cheese spread (6.5)
• 1 lemon
• 2 –3 tablespoons olive oil (plus additional for brushing on bread)

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Slice the Ecce Panis Baguettes into 1/2 – 3/4″ thick slices. Place bread slices on a baking sheet and brush tops with olive oil. Flip slices over and brush the other side with olive oil. Place in oven until bottom of slices are beginning to brown, about 5-8 minutes. Flipped over slices to toast the other side (another 5 minutes or so). When nicely golden brown, remove from the oven.
2. Cut asparagus 1 1/2 – 2? pieces, discarding thick ends. Zest the lemon and cut the lemon in half, discarding seeds from each half.
3. Heat about 2-3 tablespoons of olive oil in large frying pan. Add asparagus pieces and cook, moving somewhat frequently, until crisp-tender and beginning to brown. At the end of the cooking, turn off the heat, squeeze both halves of lemon over the asparagus and toss together.Sprinkle asparagus with lemon zest; toss together.
4. Top toasted slices with a generous spread of the herb cheese spread and then several pieces of asparagus. Serve immediately.

Keywords: 5 ingredients, easter recipe,

What Easter holiday appetizers do you serve for Easter dinner?

Disclosure: I am a member of the Collective Bias®  Social Fabric® Community.  This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias®  and Ecce Panis #EccePanis #cbias #SocialFabric