Nosh: Apricot-Radicchio Crostini

Who's ready for a bite of summer?I was invited to a gigantic, mid-summer girls' night at a friend's house, and in the interests of friendship I offered to get there early to help set up. Which, of course, meant I didn't have the luxury of doing that last minute, panic-and-run-around-while-I-get-something-ready dash through the kitchen. I needed something easy. I needed something portable. And it was summer, so I didn't really want to tie myself to the kitchen for something fussy and elaborate (and long on the feet and sweaty).  What to do?Seriously. apricot-radicchio crostini. They are ridiculously easy. A minimum of cooking. You can pack them up and go. And they are delicious. Here's what you need:

• 1 long baguette
• 3-4 apricots (or 3 peaches), ripe but not super-soft; the super-soft ones don't make pretty slices
• 1/2 a small head of radicchio (more on this in a minute)
• 1 lemon
• 1 handful walnuts (or pecans, they'd also be lovely)
• 1-2 teaspoons poppy seeds
• shaved slices of pecorino romano cheese
• chives (or parsley or tarragon) to garnish
• salt/pepper/oil, as needed

First things first: get the hot stuff out of the way. Brown your baguette and toast your walnuts. This is--really--the only time you'll need the hotbox for this recipe, so get it over with. Heat the oven to 350°; while that is warming up, slice your baguette into nice even slices, no more than ½ inch thick. Daub the bread generously on both sides with olive oil so it gets nice and brown and crispy once it goes into the oven.Put them in; flip once after 7 or 8 minutes. Keep an eye on them, and another 5 or 7 (ish) minutes later, they should be golden and crunchy and ready to eat. Set aside.While the bread is cooking, toast the walnuts. Set out a heat-proof bowl to pour them into when they're done toasting. Break the walnuts into small chunks and put them in a dry pan, over medium heat.Stay there with them, and shake the pan every minute or two. When you start to smell lovely, toasty walnut that gives you a warm, happy feeling inside, take them off the heat. They're done, and nuts will burn easily once they've reached the point of doneness. Put your walnuts into the handy bowl you've already set up. Put them aside. I had some beautiful, rosy-cheeked apricots that I couldn't wait to get my hands on. They were so gorgeous they practically glowed with their own inner light.Cut the apricots (or peaches, if you can't find apricots) into thin slices. Mix with the cooled walnuts. Take half a head of radicchio and cut into fine shreds. Mix with poppy seeds and the zest and juice of one lemon. Remember, zest first, then juice.Please note a few things about radicchio: it is an incredibly hardy vegetable, so IF you cut half the head, mix it with lemon, and end up with a reasonable pile of leftover lemony radicchio...yes, it will wilt slightly overnight but will retain its overall crunch. And it is fantastic the next day on a pita with some hummus and cucumbers. For the remaining half a head, it's summer, so fire up the grill (or get out your grill pan if you hate cooking outdoors) and grill it.Chop chives into little bitses. Get beautiful shavings of pecorino romano cheese thanks to the clever use of a vegetable peeler. You most certainly may use parmesan cheese if that's what you have in your fridge, but I think pecorino romano is a better choice for this dish. It's sharper and less nutty, and I think it's got more of a salty bite, so it provides a fun contrast. But hey, it's your kitchen. Go with your heart.Got everything? Great. Start to assemble the crostini. It's pretty simple. Lay out your bread, then put down a layer of the apricot/walnut mixture, top that with radicchio, then top that with cheese, chives, a sprinkling of salt and pepper, and a little drizzle of oil.Let's review: Easy? Check! Almost no-cook? Check! Portable? Check! Provides a great contrasting combination of crunchy, sweet, bitter, salty, savory? Check! It's easy to do something later with unused but prepped ingredients? Check! Super-portable? Check! They taste great the next day?Ummm.I can't tell you that. There weren't any left to bring back home.Mission accomplished.