Cuter than a salad, but just as nutrient-dense, this chickpea and winter greens pesto toast is right up our alley. Vegan chef and recipe developer, Lauren Kretzer, created this deliciously simple way to load up on dark, leafy greens.
The simple seasonal recipe is packed with gut-friendly ingredients like probiotic-rich miso, B-12-loaded nutritional yeast and a slew of nutritious winter greens. Bookmark this belly-friendly recipe for your next hostessing endeavor…
Smashed Chickpea + Winter Greens Pesto Toast
Serves 8-10
Ingredients:
Winter Greens Pesto: (makes 1 ½ cups pesto)
1 cup toasted walnuts
4 cloves garlic
½ cup extra virgin olive oil
2 Tbsp + 1 tsp apple cider vinegar
2 Tbsp white miso
2 cups chopped Swiss chard, tightly packed (stems removed)
2 cups chopped kale, tightly packed (stems removed)
2 cups chopped beet greens, tightly packed (stems removed)
1 tsp salt
1/8 tsp ground black pepper
Crostini:
1 (15.5 oz) can chickpeas, rinsed and drained
2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
2 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
1 tsp nutritional yeast
½ tsp salt
¼ tsp coarse ground black pepper
1/8 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
1 baguette, cut into ¾” slices
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
In the bowl of a food processor fitted with an S blade, place walnuts and garlic and pulse several times until roughly chopped. Add olive oil, apple cider vinegar, miso, Swiss chard, kale, beet greens, salt and black pepper and process until smooth. Transfer pesto to a medium sized bowl and set aside.
In a medium sized bowl, add chickpeas, olive oil and lemon juice and mash with a potato masher or fork until mostly smooth, but with some texture remaining (you don’t want it to be as smooth as hummus). Fold in nutritional yeast, salt, black pepper and red pepper flakes and mix with a fork until combined.
Place baguette slices onto a cookie sheet in an even layer – there should be no overlapping pieces. Place in oven and bake for 10 minutes, flipping midway, or until slightly crisp and golden. Remove from oven and let cool slightly.
When ready to serve, spread the crostini with smashed chickpeas and top each with a small spoonful of winter greens pesto. Serve immediately.
Storage tip: Smashed chickpeas will keep in an airtight container for up to one week in the refrigerator. Winter greens pesto will keep in an airtight container for up to one week in the refrigerator and up to six months in the freezer.
