Roasted Pepper and Sundried Tomato Crostini

Most crostini recipes spend their effort on the toast. This one puts the work into the topping, and that is what makes it worth the small fuss. Roasting the red pepper, red onion and carrot together until they caramelise at the edges gives you a sweetness you simply do not get from raw vegetables. Chopping them finely once they have cooled means every bite has a bit of everything, and the sundried tomatoes add a chewy, concentrated tang that keeps the whole thing from tasting flat.

A quick word on the bread. A seeded multigrain half-baguette suits this well because the seeds toast up nutty and give the rounds something to hold onto. Cut them about 1cm thick. Thinner slices will shatter under a spoonful of topping, and thicker ones stay chewy in the middle. Flip them halfway, as the recipe suggests, and keep an eye on the ones at the ends of the tray, which always brown first.

Red peppers are one of the more useful vegetables to know about. They start green and ripen to red, and the red ones carry more sweetness and more vitamin C than the green. Roasting softens their skins and brings that sweetness forward, which is why this topping tastes richer than the ingredient list suggests. If you have a jar of roasted peppers in the cupboard, you can use them in a pinch, but drain them well first or the toast will go soggy.

On storage, the crostini are best within a few hours of assembly. Keep the toasts in an airtight tin once they have fully cooled, and keep the topping in a sealed container in the fridge. Spoon it on just before serving. The leftover topping is lovely stirred into warm pasta, spread on a jacket potato, or tucked into a wrap with some soft cheese.

These go well with a few other dishes on the table. A bowl of Velvety Potato and Leek Soup makes a comforting starter for a cold evening, and the crostini work as a light nibble alongside it. For a larger spread, a platter of Roasted Vegetable Pasta with Ricotta makes the table feel generous without much extra work.

Basil is the garnish I reach for, but the recipe is happy with parsley, chives or coriander if that is what you have. Tear the leaves rather than chopping them, so they release a little more aroma when they hit the warm topping. Serve these on a board with the basil still fresh and a small pile of extra leaves on the side, so people can add more as they go.