Smoked Vegetable Tapenade Crostini

Smoked vegetable tapenade is a great crostini topping for any gather and can be made well in advance.

Difficulty:

3/5

Prep time:

30 min

Cook time:

2.5 h

Serves:

12

INGREDIENTS

1 baguette
6 ounces goat cheese
1 large eggplant, halved lengthwise
3 portobello mushrooms, sliced
1 each yellow, orange and red pepper
1 tomato
1 red onion, quartered

MARINADE

1 cup olive oil
1/2 cup fresh herbs, chopped (try a combination-parsley, basil, fennel, sage, tarragon work well)
1 shallot, peeled
1 large garlic clove, peeled
1 tbsp lemon juice
2 tbsp parmesan cheese, grated
2 tbsp chopped walnuts
salt & pepper, to taste
Combine all the ingredients in a food processor and puree.

DIRECTIONS

Marinate all the vegetables except the peppers for 30 minutes. Meanwhile, light the Keg, and set at about 400°F. Place whole peppers on the Keg and cook until blackened. Set them in a paper bag to cool for 15 minutes, then peel off the skin, and remove the seeds.
Reduce the temperature of the Keg by dialling down the top and bottom air vents. Reserving the marinade, place the remaining vegetables on the Keg, and cook for about 2 hours, or until tender and smokey. Peel the skins off of the tomatoes and remove the seeds. Dice all of the vegetables into 1/4 inch pieces and place in a large glass bowl. Combine with 1/3 cup of the reserved marinade. Add more chopped fresh basil and parsley. Season with salt and pepper, to taste.
Slice baguette on the diagonal into 1/2 inch slices. Take the remaining marinade, should be 1-2 tablespoons left and combine it with 1/2 cup of olive oil. Brush baguette lightly on both sides with this olive oil mixture and place on grids. Grill for 3 minutes per side. Remove from grill. At this point, you can set everything aside to assemble later, or assemble and eat them right away! Spread with goat cheese, top with 1 tablespoon of grilled vegetable tapenade and place back on Keg for 5 minutes to heat through.