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Crostini Salad Bites with Arugula and Olive Tapenade

Whenever I am asked to bring snacks to a party, I love experimenting with delicious items that are hybrids between beautiful salad ideas and smaller, bite-sized appetizers that people can eat without needing a plate.
The tapenade component of this recipe includes salted anchovy fillets, which you can choose to omit if you are sensitive to anchovies. But maybe try adding at least one little anchovy to see how the tapenade comes out--It’s really good, and makes for a great prepared item to have at the ready in your fridge when you bake a fresh loaf of bread later on in the week.
The following recipe makes approximately 10 bite-sized arugula and tapenade crostini. Note that olive oil is used in the tapenade, on the crostini, and to dress the Arugula and tomato salad that goes on top of the tapenade.

Ingredients

For the Tapenade:

  • ½ cup pitted black olives of your preference
  • 4 anchovy fillets
  • 1 tsp capers (rinsed and drained)
  • 2 cloves garlic (peeled and roughly chopped)
  • 1 tsp Dijon mustard
  • Zest of 1 lemon
  • Juice of 1 lemon
  • 2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
  • Kosher salt and freshly-ground black pepper (to taste)

For the Remaining Salad Components:

  • 1 loaf of baguette bread (cut on a bias into 10 crostini)
  • 2 Tbsp olive oil (to add to the crostini before baking)
  • ¼ tsp Maldon flaky salt
  • 2 cups fresh Arugula
  • 2 Roma tomatoes (diced and salted)
  • 1 Tbsp sherry vinegar
  • 2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil (for dressing the Arugula)
  • 2 Tbsp fresh chives (finely-sliced, as garnish)

Instructions 

  • Preheat your oven to 375F.
  • Add the pitted black olives, anchovies, capers, garlic, Dijon mustard, lemon zest, lemon juice, and extra virgin olive oil to the bowl of a food processor.
  • Pulse in quick bursts in the food processor until you have arrived at a mostly-uniform consistency, or about 8 pulses.
  • *The tapenade can still have some small pieces of olives in it.
  • Taste the tapenade mixture, and season with Kosher salt and freshly-ground black pepper.
  • When you are satisfied with the tapenade, set aside for later while you prepare your crostini and remaining salad components.
  • Cut your loaf of baguette bread on a bias into 10 crostini that are each roughly ¼-inch thick.
  • Drizzle the crostini lightly with some olive oil, add some Maldon finishing salt, and bake in the oven at 375 for about 12 minutes, or until the crostini are crispy but not too hard.
  • *You want the crostini to have a very light golden color.
  • Remove the crostini from the oven, and arrange them on a large serving platter.
  • Spread the crostini with a thin layer of the olive tapenade spread that you prepared earlier.
  • Drain the diced and salted Roma tomatoes.
  • Combine the tomatoes in a large bowl with the fresh Arugula, sherry vinegar, and a pinch of Kosher salt and freshly-ground black pepper.
  • Add extra virgin olive oil, and toss to coat the Arugula leaves and tomatoes evenly with a light layer of the dressing.
  • Place the dressed arugula and tomato salad on top of the crostini with tapenade.
  • Garnish with a bit of the finely-sliced chives.

Notes

You should toast the crostini and assemble these mini salads right before serving.