People often ask me how I come up with my recipes. My biggest inspiration is the farmers market–I look for what’s in season and what looks good and build recipes around that. When I come up with an idea, I add it to a running list I have of recipes to develop. Some of the ideas never leave the list, while others end up on my blog a week or two later.
I test my recipes multiple times, both to iron out the kinks and to make sure I can duplicate the same results more than once. Occasionally after a few trials, a recipe ends up being something completely different than my original idea. I usually write down a rough outline of a recipe on a notepad before I start cooking; as I cook, I make adjustments to ingredients, cooking times, and methods. When I finally feel happy enough with something that I’m ready to post it on my blog, I type it up on my computer and I have my husband look at it to make sure each step is easy to understand and that I’m not missing anything important. (This has happened in the past! When you know in your head what to do in a recipe, sometimes you miss the fact that you’ve omitted steps in the instructions.)
Aside from the farmers market, my other big source of inspiration for recipe development is browsing through The Flavor Bible
And then sometimes I get inspiration from other dishes. That’s how I came up with this Apricot Crostini recipe. Several weeks ago, I was at a kitchen store that was serving samples of a fig, brie and arugula panini. It was delicious, so I made a mental note of it. After returning home from vacation with bags full of honey from The Savannah Bee Company, I had the idea to make that panini and add honey to it. Then I decided to substitute apricots for figs. And instead of brie, I used ricotta. Having done quite a few sandwich recipes on my blog, I thought I’d make crostini instead. Suddenly, the panini made with brie and figs became crostini topped with ricotta, apricots, and a healthy drizzle of honey.
A summery appetizer made with crusty French bread and sliced apricots. Feel free to substitute brie or farmer's cheese for the ricotta.
Ingredients
- 1 demi-baguette, cut into 1/2-inch slices
- 1/2 c. ricotta cheese (I used low-fat)
- salt and pepper to taste
- 3 small apricots, pitted and thinly sliced
- 3 tbsp. honey
- a handful of arugula (optional--it adds a nice peppery contrast to the sweetness of the apricots and honey)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place bread slices on baking sheet and top each with ricotta, salt and pepper, and apricot slices. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until crostini is nicely toasted. Drizzle with honey and top with arugula (if using).
I love how thorough you are with your recipes! I have a notebook that looks just like that .. sometimes I have a hard time figuring out what I did when I go to write down a recipe because there are so many scribbles on it! I find it’s really helpful to have someone else read your recipes too .. my sister and I always point out things in each other’s recipes that seem obvious to one but not to the other… Like she might think ‘press tofu’ is clear because she does it all the time, but for someone like me who never cooks tofu, I don’t know what that means!
I almost didn’t post that picture with the notebook because I was so embarrassed by the sloppiness and scribbles. But hey, you have to write things down quickly when you’re in the midst of cooking something!
Our process is almost the same! I love that we draw inspiration from similar sources. You test your recipes way more than I do before posting, I should get into that habit but I sometimes can’t wait to share…
The flavor bible…I’m intrigued. Might have to pick it up. I’ve definitely left out steps in recipes, I need a proof reader!
I used to never re-test my recipes, but then anytime someone would tell me they were making one of them, I’d get anxiety about how it would turn out for them. Now I pretty much know if something doesn’t turn out, it’s not my fault.
Looks yummy, I’ll definitely have to try the flavor bible! Sorry for not getting back to you earlier on the eggplants, I got super busy (moving to a new house!). If you still have them, I’m up for receiving, just let me know how to get you my address.
Good luck with the move! I know how chaotic that can be. I think we can manage the eggplant–I’m going to try making a big batch of tomato sauce with roasted eggplant in it to freeze!
You are my inspiration!
This apricot crostini looks delish. Love that cheese honey.
Yes, when I saw that honey, I just had to buy it!
You’re so organized! I’m usually a hot mess in the kitchen. That’s proly why I don’t ‘develop’ so many recipes myself. No pressure
This crostini sounds heavenly!
Oh, believe me, things get disorganized! Usually by the time I’m finished cooking, there’s not an inch of space left on the countertop.
I have such a similar process. There are recipes I’ve been working on for months and haven’t gotten “blog worthy” results yet. I love this appetizer, so fresh and beautiful.
Me too. And I’m always hesitant to scrap them altogether because it seems like so much work for nothing, so I keep plugging away at them…
I have several years of culinary experience, the way that you develop your recipes is exactly how I learned to develop recipes! I love how detailed your recipes are, each one makes me wish that I had a “scratch & sniff” screen!
That’s good to hear–I’m definitely not professionally trained and sometimes I worry I’m doing everything wrong.
Love the idea of The Flavor Bible. I’m going to have to get that!
It is awesome! I love browsing through it for ideas.
I love your blog! The recipes are such an inspiration ..I have my firt batch of overnight oatmeal ready to go!
Thank you so much
Thank you! I hope you like the overnight oatmeal!
wow, great focus and effort for each recipe. I usually go by instincts.. what i saw that say somewhere, whats in my csa basket, refrigerator, what taste pops in my head when i think of food.
I love how you work in some form of steps.
That crostini is gorgeous.
I love hearing how other bloggers develop their recipes! I really need to find a CSA to sign up for. I use the farmers market instead, but I think a CSA box might force me to try new things.
This sounds delicious! I need to start making mental notes about new dishes when I’m out.
I put them on my phone! I had a huge list of ideas after vacation–everywhere we went, I’d be typing in ideas on my iPhone.
I love crostinis. Great recipe!
I saw the picture and swore you used an oak tree leaf on your crostini. Glad I read more and saw it was arugula.
I need a flavor bible. I try and get creative and it usually ends up a mess.
I thought the same thing when I was editing the photos–ha! And I was hoping no one else would notice.
My recipe development process: look at box instructions and substitute with whatever is in my pantry. LOL!
Ha! Well, that works too.
YUM! That looks like a delicious recipe…and that looks like a great book!
Since you create your own recipes a lot, I think you’d really love The Flavor Bible!
Loved reading about your process! It’s very similar to mine. Isn’t it funny how changed around recipes get after you test them a couple times? Sometimes they’re completely different! Your crostini look delicious! They are just the kind of thing I want to eat when it’s so hot
I did one this weekend that went from veggie packets on the grill to soup!
I think that’s my favorite part of creating recipes–I love seeing how they change from where I start to where I finish.
Oh my…this sounds so good. I love your Apricot Crostini recipe…you have the most delicious ideas running around in your head. Thank you for sharing.
Thank you!
Looks like an amazing recipe, love this post, I am trying to get more creative on the development side of my recipes, I always just feel like I am rushing myself.
Rushing is no good! I used to try to do 5-6 recipes on a Sunday because I didn’t have time during the week, and they would all end up being disasters…
This was a fun post to read! I’ve had fig crostini on my mind lately, but its more of a mental image of fresh figs with some kind of cheese and honey….so it’s interesting to read how your idea for a similar recipe transformed into something a bit different! Apricots are a fruit I never seem to pick up in the summer, but this looks amazing!
I don’t buy apricots that often either–not so much because I don’t like them, but I just forget about them! But I found a beautiful little box of them at the store and I knew I had to use them for something. They were perfect! You’ll have to make that fig crostini–now I have a mental image of it too!
As someone who can barely follow a recipe it’s fascinating to learn about the development process. And I love your notebook – so glad I’m not the only one with lists out the wazoo!
I am so OCD about lists, it’s a scary thing. I make to-do lists of my to-do lists. (I really do.)
Your food is sooo beautiful!
You are thorough! I like how you test each recipe several times. I read somewhere that bloggers are less reliable when it comes to recipe testing, as opposed to the usual professional authors of cookbooks. Apricot and ricotta sounds so good! So, when do you get to sleep!
Well, aside from my natural OCD-ness, I’m starting to develop recipes for other companies, so I want to make sure they’re going to work out!