Rosemary-Spiked Cannellini Crostini

I became an expert at making this dish during my first years in Rome when my pocketbook was always empty and my eagerness to experiment with Italian ingredients was always full. I shared an apartment with a rotating assortment of mostly French foreigners (who came and went as they fell in and out of love) and with a miraculous little pressure cooker. With that pressure cooker, I made the cannellini, starting with dried beans that I soaked overnight.

Naturally, using dried beans and cooking them for hours is optional, but I’ve found that using a good can or–even better–a glass jar of store-bought cannellini is still quite good, much quicker, and far easier. Once it’s atop a piece of good, crusty, toasted, garlic-rubbed ciabatta bread and doused with some fruity extra-virgin olive oil, your guests will never know you didn’t slave away in the kitchen.

I usually serve this dish as an appetizer. But, without the bread, the rosemary cannellini also makes a wonderful side for a grilled steak and green salad.

Click here for recipe

Click here for how to turn it into soup

Click here for how to prep the bread