Recipe: Crostini with spruce needle ricotta and roasted figs

Did you know that the needles of your Christmas tree are packed with flavour and character? In Scandinavia, people have been cooking with spruce needles for decades; a valuable botanical ingredient. With Eat & drink your Christmas tree, botanical brewery Lowlander offers more than 20 delicious vegetarian recipes for eating and drinking your Christmas tree.

Ricotta, fresh fruit and honey make a great breakfast, but they also pair wonderfully with the earthy notes of spruce needles and walnuts on toasted bread.

How to make crostini with spruce needle ricotta and roasted figs

• Preheat the oven to 180 °C.
• Remove the stems from the figs and cut them crosswise about halfway into the fruit. Place the figs on a baking tray lined with baking paper. Drizzle a little honey over each fig and grill the figs for about 8 minutes, until soft.
• Drizzle the ciabatta slices with the olive oil. Heat a grill pan over medium heat and grill both sides of the ciabatta until golden brown.
• Rinse the spruce needles in a sieve with boiling water. Drain well and finely chop the needles. Then stir them into the ricotta.
• Spread the spruce needle ricotta over the ciabatta and top with the roasted figs. Garnish with extra honey and the walnuts.

Title: Eat & drink your Christmas tree
Author: Lowlander
Price: €21,-

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• Did you know this about ricotta? + what it tastes great in!
• How to make ricotta with 3 ingredients
• Recipe: Ricotta pancakes with honeycomb butter