Recipe Overview
Why you’ll love it: Beautiful green creamy pea purée is flavored with mint, chives, and lemon, spread on crisp crostini, and sprinkled with bits of pancetta. These pea crostini appetizers are unforgettable.
How long it takes: 20 minutes
Equipment you’ll need: skillet, small food processor
Servings: 24
Almost Too Pretty To Eat
Aren’t these pea crostini the most beautiful color? I had a hard time coming up with a description that accurately describes this beautiful color. This bright, vibrant green certainly isn’t what pops into your head when you hear “pea green.” It’s almost like a matcha green.
These appetizers taste as good as they look! You’ll love the subtle flavors of fresh mint, chives, and lemon zest. The salty bite of pancetta and parmesan are a perfect contrast to the naturally sweet, creamy pea spread.
And is this only a spring time recipe? Definitely not! Don’t we all need a bright pop of green on those gray winter days? I know I do! For a quick pick-me-up, I often make roasted sugar snap peas. They’re a “snap” to make and just hit the spot when you’re craving something green.
How To Make Creamy Pea Crostini
Make bread toasts. Creamy pea crostini are not at all difficult to make. Begin with toasted bread slices, called crostini. Check out how to make crostini. You can buy the toasted bread if you prefer.
Fry pancetta. Brown the pancetta until it’s crispy and put it on a paper towel-lined plate to drain.
Make the pea mixture. To thaw the frozen peas, just place them in a colander in the sink and run warm water over them for a few minutes. To make the spread, combine the thawed peas, a little heavy cream, fresh mint, and chives in a mini food processor, and purée it until it’s nice and smooth. Stir in a little lemon zest and salt to taste. Sometimes I add a grind or two of black pepper.
Assemble. Spread this mixture on the prepared crostini, top with a sprinkling of crumbled fried pancetta and parmesan, and serve immediately.
Recipe Variations
- Change up the herbs. I like the fresh mint and chive combination but you could increase/decrease the amount of herbs, or add a different herb. Tarragon would be great, as would parsley. You could substitute fresh basil for a more pesto type flavor. Scallions or green onions could be used instead of chives, but making this substitution will amp up the onion flavor a bit.
- Use fresh peas. Fresh shelled peas would be great. I wouldn’t recommend using canned peas. They just don’t have the fresh color and taste that frozen peas have.
- Switch up the garnish. Pea shoots/sprouts would be fantastic or even alfalfa sprouts, for a vegetarian pea crostini. Chopped chives or parsley are always a pretty garnish. Try bacon bits instead of pancetta, or crumbled blue cheese, gorgonzola, or feta. A sprinkle of paprika would be good, too.
- Serve it as a dip. The creamy pea spread makes a great dip for crackers or vegetables. Delicious! If you like this idea, you might want to try my herbed feta dip or my edamame dip, too.
Fry the pancetta. To get a head start on preparing these creamy pea crostini, you could fry the pancetta, and store in an airtight container up to a couple days in the refrigerator, or a month in the freezer.
Make the pancetta. The toasted bread slices (crostini) can be prepared a couple of days in advance.
Prep the pea purée. It can be made a day ahead and stored in an airtight container in the fridge. Stir well before spreading it on the crostini. I like to let it come to room temperature before serving it.
Recommended tools
- Mini Food Processor
- Mini Spatula for scraping out food processor
More Crostini Recipes
Creamy Pea Crostini with Pancetta
Ingredients
- 1 baguette (made into crostini, see note)
- 8 ounces diced pancetta (or bacon, if you prefer)
- 2 cups frozen peas, thawed
- 2 tablespoons heavy cream
- 6 large leaves fresh mint, roughly chopped
- 1 tablespoon roughly chopped chives
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon lemon zest
- 3 tablespoons shredded Parmesan cheese (for garnish)
Instructions
- Heat medium-sized frying pan over medium high heat. Fry pancetta until crispy, stirring frequently, about 6 minutes. Remove to paper towel-lined plate to drain.8 ounces diced pancetta
- Add peas, cream, mint, chives, and salt to bowl of small food processor. Process until smooth.2 cups frozen peas, thawed, 2 tablespoons heavy cream, 6 large leaves fresh mint, roughly chopped, 1 tablespoon roughly chopped chives, ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
- Scrape into small bowl and stir in lemon zest. Taste; add salt and coarsely ground black pepper, if needed.1 teaspoon lemon zest
- To assemble crostini, spread approximately 1 tablespoon pea puree on each crostini. Sprinkle on pancetta and shredded Parmesan. Serve immediately.3 tablespoons shredded Parmesan cheese
Notes
- Crostini: You can easily make your own crostini (3 ways) with a fresh baguette. This can be done ahead if you want. Crostini can also be purchased.
- Yield: The yield will depend on the size of your crostini and how thickly you spread the pea mixture on each one. I find that I usually get 18 to 24 appetizers.
- Peas: Using canned peas is not recommended. They don’t have the fresh color and taste that frozen peas have. Fresh shelled peas work great though.
- Make ahead: To get a head start, fry the pancetta a couple of days ahead of time, refrigerate up to 2 days, or freeze for up to a month. The toasted bread slices (crostini) can be prepared a couple of days in advance, cool completely and store in an airtight container. The pea purée can be made a day ahead and refrigerated. Stir well before spreading it on the crostini. I like to let it come to room temperature before serving.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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