Bakery | Boulangerie | ACE Bakery | ACE Café and Bread Store

Giant Garlic and Bacon Rosemary Focaccia Croutons

with artichoke dip

These roasted garlic and bacon flavoured croutons made with our ACE® Rosemary Focaccia paired with an artichoke dip is the perfect app to elevate your next family dinner.

Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 10 minutes
Total time: 30 minutes
Serves 6

INGREDIENTS

  • 1 ACE Bakery® Rosemary Focaccia
  • 2 garlic cloves, finely minced
  • 1 tsp. fresh thyme, picked
  • 2 tbsp. Italian parsley, washed and picked leaves, chopped, divided
  • 4 strips of bacon
  • 400ml can of white (Cannellini) beans, drained and rinsed
  • 170g of canned, marinated artichokes, drained and liquid reserved
  • 1 lemon, zest and juice
  • Olive oil
  • Salt and pepper to taste

INSTRUCTIONS

  1. To make the bacon “garlic butter”, start by crisping bacon in a pan. Remove bacon from the pan (leaving the bacon fat), cool and cut/crumble into small pieces. Reserve. To the bacon fat add minced garlic, thyme leaves and ½ tbsp. chopped parsley. Add a bit of olive oil if needed to coat the croutons.
  2. For the croutons, cut the ACE® Rosemary Focaccia into 2” square cubes, toss with bacon garlic butter. Spread on a lined baking tray, evenly spaced. Bake in 400°F oven 5-8 minutes until golden and crisp, but still soft in the center.
  3. In a food processor, blitz together drained artichoke, white beans, lemon zest and juice, salt and pepper until smooth. Add some of the reserved artichoke liquid or olive oil to bring it together if required. It should be the texture of hummus. Add remaining parsley and give a few quick pulses so the dip doesn’t turn green.
  4. To serve, heap the artichoke dip into a serving bowl or “swoop” on a wooden board or platter.  Sprinkle with the reserved bacon. Pile the baked Giant Focaccia Croutons up on a wooden board, and serve with dip on the side.