A Crostini Before Supper

Last fall, Mariko and I took a cooking class one night after work. As the instructor made introductions and described what we would be making, her hands were casually moving, slicing simple Granny Smith apples and red onions. It was past 7pm, and I was completely ready for food, so my eyes rarely left her smooth motions. I wasn’t going to let this hope out of my sight. But onions and apples? Somehow, I thought they must be for different dishes.

She tossed the onions in a skillet with a bit of salt, twirled in some olive oil, and began to melt them. A baguette appeared, was cut and toasted. When the onions had just started to go soft, the apple was added. And three minutes later, the mixture was dalloped on the toast, magically transformed into crostini.

I’d been meaning to duplicate this simple, elegant appetizer for months, and recently had both a red onion and a green apple hanging out in the fruit bowl. As for the baguette, well, leftover hamburger buns work, too. (They just don’t look as pretty!)

That’s it. Not even a recipe. But the combination is o so tres Italian, and I want to try it with all sorts of accoutrements, like goat cheese or balsamic vinegar.