It can be hard to find easy vegetarian appetizers that have as much texture, complexity  and spice as their meat-forward counterparts, but our marinated broccolini and ricotta pizza crostini have all that and more. 

Broccolini, broccoli’s slim-stemmed cousin, is excellent when softened just a bit on the stovetop. During cooking, it gets flavoured with garlic, shallots, red pepper flakes and herbs. The secret ingredient, though, is the Calabrian chile paste, which, as the name would suggest, comes from Calabria in southern Italy (the toe of the boot, if you will).  Whole chiles — seeds and all — along with salt and oil make for a bright red paste that’s both fruity and decidedly spicy. Combined with the slightly bitter broccolini, it sings. A base of ricotta balances out the heat, and a chewy, blistered pizza crust serves as an excellent base. 

We blind bake our pizza dough, docking it with a fork so it doesn’t expand, and then cut it into party-size squares. Depending on how substantial you’d like your bites to be, cut a 12-inch pizza into 12 or 16 squares. A dollop of ricotta, a heaping helping of broccolini and a drizzle of leftover marinade (that stuff is liquid gold!)make for a chewy, crunchy, and creamy veggie bite.

Want more crostini inspiration? Check out our Pizza Crostini with Burrata and Trout Roe and our Pizza Crostini with Ricotta, Speck, and Marcona Almonds. 

This recipe is featured in “This New Year's Eve, Forget the Knife and Fork.”