Recipe for healthy bruschetta

White beans, roasted tomatoes and broccoli combine to become a flavorsome, good-for-you dish.

This dish makes for a really nice light lunch or starter. Any leftover white bean purée can be eaten as a dip with crudités or you can thin it down with a little hot stock, to turn it into soup.

The tomatoes take a bit of time to cook, but your patience will be rewarded; drying them out in the oven really intensifies their sweet, juicy flavour. They keep well in the fridge and are perfect for adding interest to salads and sandwiches, so it is well worth making a large batch.

If you were serving this as a starter, you probably wouldn't need the broccoli, but it adds an interesting texture and is, of course, full of goodness. Don't be put off by the addition of anchovies - you can't really taste them, but they bring a nice savoury flavour to the dish.

White bean bruschetta with roasted tomatoes and broccoli

Serves 3-4

For the tomatoes:

100g cherry tomatoes

1 tbsp olive oil

tsp caster sugar

For the white bean purée:

1 tbsp olive oil

1 garlic clove, peeled and chopped

4 spring onions, sliced

2 sprigs rosemary, leaves picked and finely chopped

1 x 400g tin cannellini beans, rinsed and drained

50ml water

lemon juice, to taste

For the broccoli:

200g tenderstem (or regular) broccoli

1 tbsp olive oil

1 lemon, zest and juice

2-3 anchovy fillets

3 tbsp chopped parsley leaves

ciabatta bread, sliced

salt and black pepper

To make the tomatoes, heat the oven to 120°C/fan 100/gas 1/2. Slice each tomato in half, tip them into a bowl and add the olive oil and sugar. Season with salt and black pepper, mix well to coat, and arrange on a baking tray cut side up. Transfer to the oven and cook for 2 to 2 hours, until the tomatoes have dried out.

Heat a tablespoon of olive oil on a saucepan over medium heat. Add the garlic and cook for 2-3 minutes, before adding the spring onions and chopped rosemary. After a couple of minutes, tip the beans into the pan, pour over the water and simmer for 3-4 minutes until the beans are heated through. Remove the pan from the heat, leave to cool slightly, then transfer to a bender. Season with salt, black pepper and lemon juice and blend to a purée.

Blanch the broccoli briefly in boiling salted water. Heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a frying pan, add the anchovy fillets, lemon zest and juice and stir until the anchovies have dissolved. Tip the broccoli into the pan, season with black pepper (you won't need any salt, because of the anchovies), add the cherry tomatoes and parsley, mix well and remove the pan from the heat.

Toast the bread and spread thickly with the white bean purée. Pile the broccoli and tomatoes on top and serve.

Nutritional information for cannelloni bean bruschetta per serving:

Calories: 173

Calories from fat: 18

Total fat: 2.0g

Saturated fat: 0.3g

Source: www.caloriecount.about.com

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