This stuffed baguette is a recipe from the Dutch cookbook ‘Heerlijk Simpel’ (delicious & easy) by Janneke Philippi. This recipe immediately caught my eye while browsing the book, with its perfect golden crust and green pistou filling. Pistou can be seen as the French version of pesto and is such a nice variation. The original recipe calls for arugula, but I used parsley in my pistou. Both work really well.
This recipe is dead easy to make – with only six ingredients and just a few minutes of your time – but it’s still impressive and most importantly very delicious. A perfectly crispy crust and all those golden slices stuffed with the most fragrant pistou.
The pancetta makes your home smell amazing when this baguette bakes in the oven and also adds a very pleasant salty accent. I’m pretty sure I will be making this bread over and over!
INGREDIENTS
for 4 persons (or 2 hungry ones)
1.75 oz (50 g) parsley
1 large clove of garlic
2 tbsp pine nuts
7-8 tbsp good olive oil
1 bake-off baguette
1.75 oz (50 g) pancetta
extra: stick (/hand/immersion) blender
DIRECTIONS
Preheat the oven to 400F (200C).
Put the parsley, garlic, pine nuts and oil in a blending jar, add salt to taste and blend until you’ve got a smooth pistou.
Cut the baguette into pieces, but make sure you don’t cut all the way through to keep the baguette intact. Spread some pistou onto every piece (you probably have some leftovers). Tear the pancetta into small pieces and place some into each slice.
Bake the baguette in the preheated oven for 8-10 minutes, or until golden brown and crisp.
