For a truly delicious lunch with little effort, bruschetta is surely the best. A sort of crisp, hot, open sandwich - and because it’s hot the flavours are so much more intense. Toppings are really without limit, it’s whatever turns you on, but I’m choosing to use bacon, spinach, garlic and chick peas. Monjardin chick peas are also of the highest quality and make this bruschetta a taste experience worth having. Use young, tender, spinach leaves that are completely dry so that they can be allowed to cook only briefly enough to wilt before serving up.

Ingredients - serves 4

4 generous diagonal slices of ciabatta
3 cloves garlic
8 slices back bacon, grilled
200g Monjardin chick peas - or tinned, cooked chick peas
150g young spinach leaves
2 tbsp crème fraiche
salt & pepper

Method

Halve one clove of garlic and rub it around the edges of the ciabatta slices, brush with olive oil and grill to golden. Top each with 2 slices of grilled bacon.

Peel, crush and finely chop the other cloves and place in a saucepan with the crème fraiche, place over a very low heat for a few minutes to infuse. Add the chick peas to the pan with seasoning and warm through. Finally, turn up the heat and add the spinach leaves. As soon as they wilt, remove from the heat and spoon over the ciabatta and bacon. Serve.