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This recipe makes impressive nibbles that are easy to put together & taste great. Perfect for a New Year's Eve , or in fact any party! 

Ingredients

·         Bread – you can use ciabatta batons, bake at home baguettes or any thin baton-type bread

·         Oil (any will do but we like extra virgin olive oil)

·         Salt

For the emmental & pastrami topping

·         American style mustard

·         Emmental slices

·         Pastrami

·         Cornichons

For the hummus topping

·         Good quality shop bought hummus

·         Tinned chickpeas

·         Cumin

·         Salt & pepper

·         Carrot, grated

·         Pumpkin seeds

·         Nigella seeds

For the mozzarella & pesto topping

·         Good quality pesto – ideally fresh rather than from a jar

·         Buffalo mozzarella

·         Tinned roast red peppers

·         Fresh basil

Method

Cut your bread into slices – just less than a centimetre thick. Put on a baking tray, drizzle with oil and sprinkle with salt. We use more salt than you normal for party snacks as if your guests are drinking it’ll dull their taste buds! Bake in your oven (at around 170-180C) until crisp but not brown, turning half way through.

When they’re done and cooled start to top. With the emmental & pastrami crostini, start with a layer of mustard, then emmental, some pastrami, and finish with a cornichon.  For the hummus crostini, first beef up your shop-bought hummus by adding a little cumin and extra seasoning – you’ll need to keep tasting to check you don’t overdo it. Then add some of your whole chickpeas to give texture. Add a dollop to your toasted bread slices, top with grated carrot, pumpkin seeds and nigella seeds.

For the mozzarella & pesto crostini…top the crostini slices with a good layer of pesto, a nice blob of mozzarella, a piece of pepper and finally a couple of fresh basil leaves.

You can make the crostini ahead and ideally top them shortly before your guests arrive.