Crostini with Macadamia Ricotta and Corn-Zucchini Succotash + Vegetarian Heartland Blog Tour

In a hurry? Click here to JUMP TO RECIPE!

These Crostini with Macadamia Ricotta and Corn-Zucchini Succotash are the perfect meat-free picnic food! They are light, delicious and easy to transport!

I’m extra excited about today’s post because we are going to dive a little deeper into my upcoming cookbook, Vegetarian Heartland.  My publisher, Chronicle Books, was kind enough to organize a little blog tour featuring recipes from the book and this post is kicking it off! Here is the schedule so you can follow along over the next week and a half!

• Friday, May 19: Chronicle Books
• Monday, May 22: A Beautiful Plate
• Tuesday, May 23: With Food + Love
• Wednesday, May 24: A Couple Cooks
• Thursday, May 25: Kale & Caramel
• Wednesday, May 31: The First Mess

Because you’ll mostly be hearing about all the delicious recipes in the book during this tour, I wanted to highlight the other elements in this blog post that make this book so unique and fun. The book is divided into the four season (pretty typical of a cookbook) but then divided again into chapters based on adventures around food (think picnics, road trip, camping, hiking, holiday hosting, and so much more) . The adventure aspect of the book is by far my favorite part – every chapter is not only filled with recipes but tips for adventuring with food and gorgeous pictures. I had so much fun getting outside and exploring for this portion of creating the book…who wouldn’t want to say they HAD to spend the day at the beach for work?

To get you as excited about this part of the book as I am, I’ve snapped a picture of a few  of my favorite adventure spreads (but saved the best ones for the people who are going to go out and buy the book – couldn’t reveal too much!):

Now go pre-order the book so you can let me know which adventure spread is your favorite!

Finally, before signing off, I want to share another recipe from the book with you. This Crostini with Macadamia Ricotta and Corn-Zucchini Succotash recipe is part of the picnic chapter and so perfect for the coming summer months when beautiful tomatoes and corn are in abundance. The recipe is purposefully vegan so you don’t have to worry about keeping any dairy chilled on your travels to wherever you are picnicking.

Crostini with Macadamia Ricotta and Corn-Zucchini Succotash recipe below:

Print

Crostini with Macadamia Ricotta and Corn-Zucchini Succotash

These Crostini with Macadamia Ricotta and Corn-Zucchini Succotash are the perfect meat-free picnic food! They are light, delicious and easy to transport!

Course: Appetizer

Cuisine: Vegetarian

Servings: 6

Calories: 290 kcal

Author: Shelly Westerhausen

Ingredients

MACADAMIA RICOTTA

• 1 cup [120 g] raw macadamia nut pieces, , soaked for about 30 minutes
• 2 Tbsp nutritional yeast
• 2 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
• 3 garlic cloves
• 1/8 tsp fine sea salt
• 2 tsp white miso paste
• 1/4 cup [60 ml] water

SUCCOTASH

• 1/2 Tbsp olive oil
• 2 cups [280 g] fresh or frozen corn
• 11/2 cups [225 g] diced zucchini
• 1 cup [155 g] frozen edamame
• 3 garlic cloves , minced
• 1/2 tsp sweet paprika
• Fine sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Instructions

1. To make the macadamia ricotta: Drain and rinse the macadamia nuts. In a high-speed blender, combine the soaked nuts, nutritional yeast, lemon juice, garlic, salt, miso paste, and water and blend until it is spreadable but not quite smooth (it should look like ricotta). Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.
2. To make the succotash: In a large sauté pan over medium heat, warm the olive oil. Add the corn, zucchini, edamame, and garlic and sauté until softened, to 7 minutes. Add the paprika during the last 30 seconds of sautéing. Remove from the heat and let cool slightly. Season with salt and pepper.
3. Top each piece of toasted bread with a spoonful of macadamia ricotta, a slice of tomato, some of the succotash, and a basil leaf. Serve warm or at room temperature.