Edamame Bruschetta

An easy and healthy appetizer to add to your bruschetta repertoire is this Edamame Bruschetta which you’ll fall head over heels in love with at first bite. Don’t be intimidated by the number of steps here- this is a super easy recipe that is nearly impossible to foul up. Antioxidant and protein rich edamame makes for an amazing tapenade to go on the bruschetta. You can make this ahead of time and store it for a couple of days. These beautifully vibrant colored finger foods will be the hit of any party.

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups edamame beans (frozen or fresh is fine)

3 cloves garlic

1 heaping teaspoon fresh thyme

1 very small handful of parsley (roughly 3 tablespoons)

1/2 teaspoon salt

Freshly ground pepper

4 tablespoons olive oil + for drizzling

10-12 slices Italian Rustic Bread Loaf (substitute with French bread or Ciabatta)

Thyme or rosemary for garnish

Method

Bring a small pot of water to a vigorous boil on high heat. Add the whole garlic cloves and boil for just about 1 minute.

Add the edamame beans and boil for just another 1 minute. (If you’re using frozen edamame beans, you’ll notice the water stop boiling due to temperature drop. Don’t worry; we just want to blanche the beans. If you’re using room temp or fresh beans, boil for 30 seconds instead of a whole minute). Drain into a food processor or blender.

Toss in the thyme, parsley, salt, pepper and olive oil, and process or blend until smooth with just little chunks remaining. The resulting tapenade should be smooth enough to spread on a toasted piece of bread but somewhat crumbly do to the natural texture of edamame beans.

Place the edamame tapenade into a serving bowl and set aside.

Lightly drizzle the bread slices with olive oil and place on a flat pan on medium high heat for about 2 to 3 minutes on each side. You’ll have to do this in batches. Alternatively, you can simply place the bread slices on a baking sheet and bake in the oven at 400 degrees for about 10 minutes or until just lightly golden brown.

Arrange the bread slices on a platter and spoon the edamame tapenade on each slice, smearing lightly. You can garnish each slice with a light sprinkling of thyme or rosemary. In these pictures, I used a bit of thyme for garnish as well as these delicious ‘olive oil bubbles infused with rosemary’ from Caviaroli. Serve immediately.