Name: Tomato and Olivada Crostini
Yield: Makes about 50 crostini
Ingredients: a 16-inch thin loaf Italian or French bread, cut into 1/4-inch-thick slices; 1/3 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese; two 28-ounce cans Italian whole tomatoes, seeded and drained; 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil; 1 small garlic clove, chopped and mashed to a paste with 1/2 teaspoon salt; 2 teaspoons minced fresh parsley leaves; 1/2 teaspoon sugar; about 1/3 cup olivada or other bottled black olive paste(Olivada or other bottled black olive paste available at specialty foods shops and some supermarkets); Garnish: about 50 small fresh parsley leaves

The tomato topping for these crostini is based on that of a "fettunta pomodoro" (a variation of bruschetta made with whole-wheat peasant bread) sampled at Florence's Cantinetta Antinori, owned by the well-know winemaking family.

To create visual variety for our presentation, we have made half of the crostini with the black olive paste on top and the rest with the red tomato mixture on top. Those who prefer a simpler recipe can sprinkle all of the bread slices with Parmesan before toasting (doubling the amount of cheese) and top all of the crostini with the tomato mixture and then the olive paste.

Recipe notes

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