These crostini are more a broad concept than a precise recipe. You can ring the changes each time you make them – instead of the Italian Gorgonzola try some milder Irish blue cheeses, experiment with different kinds of honey, or even substitute the olive oil for walnut or truffle oil.

Recipe for crostini and gorgonzola and honey

Serves about 4

Ingredients

• 1 small baguette or a loaf of ciabatta
• 8 tbsp (about) olive oil, plus a bit more for oiling the tray.
• 8 oz/250g gorgonzola
• 3 tbsp honey – manuka, or chestnut, truffle, or even better Sardinian bitter honey (miele di corbezzolo) made from the blossoms of the strawberry tree, uk suppliers. If the honey is a bit solid warm it until it becomes softer (but not completely liquid)

Method

1. Pre-heat the oven to 210°C.
2. Cut the bread to just under half an inch (1 cm) thick.
3. Oil a baking tray. Place the pieces of bread on the tin, and pour half the olive oil evenly over them – if you are pouring from a large bottle use an olive oil spout. Turn the bread, and do the same with the remaining oil.
4. Bake for about five minutes, watching carefully. As soon as they start to turn golden, take them out, turn them over, and return to the oven for another minute or two – until that side has just turned golden. At this stage you can leave them to cool and keep them in a tuppa if you need to.
5. When you are ready to serve, top each crostini with a teaspoonful or so of gorgonzola, and then drizzle the honey evenly over them all. If you want to, you can return the crostini to the oven briefly to get the cheese to just begin to melt – hard to eat elegantly, but very luscious!