Spiced Red Onion Chutney Crostini, plus Gorgonzola

Sweet and sticky red onion chutney made with good festive spices served with char-grilled ciabatta bread and topped with crumbly gorgonzola cheese. This crostini is solid served during the holidays with a festive tipple.

We wanted to create a crostini recipe that felt festive and what better than strong gorgonzola cheese paired with a sweet, festive spiced red onion chutney.

Our mother-in-law makes red onion chutney at Christmas time and it never lasts long it's pretty much devoured within 1-2 days.

We're making a quick and easy version here with red wine, red wine vinegar for that sharp acidity, sugar, cloves, cinnamon and juniper berries.

The spices give the chutney a beautiful festive flavour that's solid with cheese. The chutney can be put on sandwiches, served with a cheeseboard or with crostini like we have it's so good!

We used Gorgonzola Piccante which has a stronger flavour and more crumbly texture but Gorgonzola Dolce (the creamy kind) will also work well as will most blue cheeses.

Visual walk-through of the recipe

This is a visual guide to help you with each step. For the full written recipe, ingredient amounts and tips scroll to the recipe card below.

1. Prep the onions – to make this quick and easy, we sliced the onions in our food processor using the slicer attachment. It's not only quick but saves your eyes from watering (photo 1).
2. Sweat the onions – add the onions and sugar to a saucepan and cover with a lid. Cook on medium heat for about 10 minutes until soft. You don't need to add any oil because when covered, the onions release a lot of moisture, allowing them to soften. (photos 2 and 3).

1. Add spices – once soft, remove the lid and add the red wine, red wine vinegar, spices and bay leaf with a pinch of salt. Stir to combine the ingredients then cook uncovered for 10-15 minutes until they're soft and sticky (photos 4-6).

1. Leave to cool – leave the onion chutney to cool completely then store in the fridge until needed. The chutney tastes even better the next day!
2. Assemble crostini – spoon some of the caramelised red onions on some char-grilled ciabatta bread and top with gorgonzola cheese, serve!

Serving suggestions

The red onion chutney is also good served on sandwiches or as a condiment to a cheeseboard.

These crostini are solid served at parties during the holidays. Why not try serving them with other nibbles such as taralliItalian breadsticksmarinated olivesmozzarella bocconcini or our walnut focaccia (good with cheese).

As for drinks that go well, Prosecco, red wine or a good Italian cocktail like our Sbagliato RossoVenetian Select Spritz or Christmas Spiced Cranberry and Prosecco Fizz.

More crostini recipes to try

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Mortadella, Pistachio and Burrata Crostini

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Chicken Liver Pate – Tuscan Crostini

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Burrata and Parmigiano Crostini with Crispy Prosciutto

Ingredients

Makes 15 crostini

• 3 large red onions
• 50 g sugar ((1/4 cup))
• 50 ml red wine vinegar ((just shy of 1/4 cup))
• 50 ml red wine ((just shy of 1/4 cup))
• 3 juniper berries
• 4 cloves
• 1 pinch cinnamon
• 1 pinch salt
• Gorgonzola piccante ((crumbly kind))
• 1 loaf Ciabatta bread

Method

1. Finely slice the red onions, we like to do this in our food processor using the slicer attachment which takes seconds but you can also finely slice them with a knife.

2. Add the onions and the sugar to a large saucepan and cover with a lid. Cook on a medium heat for 10 minutes until soft.

3. Remove the lid and add the red wine, red wine vinegar, spices, bay leaf and a pinch of salt. Stir to combine then continue cooking until soft and sticky (there should be no liquid left).

4. Leave the onions to cool completely.

Assemble the crostini

1. Cut the ciabatta into slices and drizzle with olive oil. Char-grill the crostini on a hot griddle pan.

2. Top with the cooled red onion chutney and some gorgonzola cheese then serve.

Kitchen notes

• Prep in advance The red onion chutney tastes even better the next day.
• Before serving remove the cloves, bay and juniper berries before serving.
• Storage The chutney will keep well in the fridge for 3-4 days.
• Other cheese that would work well any blue cheese, Taleggio or a strong soft cheese such as brie or Pecorino Staginato.