Crostini with ricotta, honey, and thyme

This was our late night treat on New Years Eve, inspired by similar crostini we had at Marlow and Sons a few years ago.

The combination of flavors and textures -- crisp bread, milky ricotta, sweet honey, herbaceous thyme -- is unusual enough to surprise, gentle enough to soothe, and magical enough to impress. I love these so much, and they are so easy to make in proportion to how delicious they are that I would eat them all the time if not for the fear that I would devastate their specialness through overexposure.

There's nothing fussy about the preparation; it's just a matter of assembling five ingredients and letting the good things happen.

ALCHEMICAL CROSTINI

Slices of crusty bread
Olive oil
Good, fresh ricotta
Honey
Plenty of fresh thyme

Toast the bread. Brush it lightly with the olive oil. Heap it with the ricotta, drizzle with honey, and scatter with thyme leaves. No skimping. You could certainly use more thyme than shown in the photo and not regret it in the slightest.

Though obviously any simple dish like this depends on the quality of what goes into it, there's only one ingredient that you really have to be careful about here: the ricotta. Do not use something like Sargento from the supermarket dairy case. Look for something "hand-dipped" from a decent cheese counter or a specialty cheese shop.

Comments

[eileen]

I totally make those crostini, except with black mission figs and pepper instead of the thyme! now I miss California, land of random fig trees. clearly, living in the north, I should try this variation.

[maryn]

chestnut honey would be beyond awesome on this.

[redfox]

Eileen: That sounds delicious, if perhaps different enough not quite to qualify as "those" same crostini? I bet the two together would make a really nice thing to serve at a party.

Maryn: You are so, so correct. Argh, hungry!

[Oliver (San Diego)]

there's something about ricotta(or any dairy) and honey. The generous amount of thyme really pays off.