The Bread Art Project with Melissa d’Arabian

Melissa d'Arabian, the winner of Top Chef and host of Ten Dollar Dinners

A couple of weeks ago I attended an event at a dreamy West Village townhouse in which the Grain Foods Foundation and Melissa d’Arabian launched The Bread Art Project, which benefits the Share Our Strength® Foundation. The Bread Art Project was created to increase awareness of the growing hunger problem in the U.S.

From now until June 30th, you can visit The Bread Art Project, and for every bread project you create (it’s free and fun!), $1 will be donated to Share Our Strength, which is dedicated to making sure no child goes hungry.

Try it…it easy and fun and it’s for a wonderful cause.

Here is a child-friendly recipe developed by Melissa d’Arabian for the Grain Foods Foundation, which believes that “staples like bread and grains provide many essential nutrients our bodies need to stay healthy.”

White Bean Bruschetta

Ingredients
1 baguette, sliced thinly along the bias
1/4 cup olive oil, divided
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, divided
1/2 white onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 t dried basil
1 t dried oregano
3/4 cup canned navy beans, rinsed and drained
2 tomatoes, cored and cubed
2 T balsamic vinegar
Kosher salt and pepper
Olive oil for drizzling

Make the bruschetta
For the bread, slice the baguette on the diagonal into thin slices (about 12 for a baguette). In a large sauté pan, heat 1 T of the olive oil and 1 T of the unsalted butter on medium heat. Place the bread slices in the pan and cook on medium high heat until sizzling and golden. Just before flipping the bread, add an additional tablespoon of olive oil and butter to the pan. Flip the bread and cook second side until golden.

For the topping, cook the onions and 2 T of the olive oil over medium heat in a medium sauté pan until the onions are very soft, about 7 minutes. Add the garlic, basil and oregano and cook another minute or two, until fragrant. Add the beans and continue cooking for another five minutes on low heat and season with salt and pepper. Add the tomatoes and turn off the heat,
allowing tomatoes just to take on the warmth of the pan without cooking. Drizzle the balsamic vinegar into the pan and gently stir.

To serve, scoop heaping spoonfuls of the tomato-bean mixture onto the grilled bread, sprinkle with kosher salt, and drizzle with additional olive oil.

Yield: 4 servings, 3 slices each
Prep time: 15 minutes
Ease of preparation: Easy

For more information, visit Go with the Grain.