Instructions

1. Preheat oven or toaster oven to 350 degrees.
2. Arrange bread slices on a foil-lined sheet pan. Cut one of the garlic cloves in half and rub over each bread slice. Lightly brush each bread slice with olive oil. Bake in oven until bread slices are crisp but not overly browned, 10-15 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool. (They will remain crispy for 24 hours in a cold oven.)
3. Toast the pine nuts and remaining 2 cloves garlic in the oven until pine nuts are golden brown, 2-4 minutes; watch carefully as pine nuts burn quickly.
4. To make the pesto, in a food processor, puree the garlic with 2 tablespoons oil until smooth. Add the pine nuts to the bowl and, with off and on pulses, pulse until semi-pureed yet coarse. With a spatula, scrape garlic-nut mixture from the bowl into another bowl and reserve.
5. Place the spinach, mint, remaining olive oil, lemon zest and juice, in the food processor and process until smooth.
6. To make the pesto, combine spinach mixture with garlic-nut mixture. Stir in Parmesan and season to taste with kosher salt and freshly ground pepper. (The pesto will remain fresh, tightly covered, several days refrigerated.)
7. To make the crostini, spread pesto over each toast. Arrange goat cheese crumbles and salmon over pesto and garnish with lemon zest, if desired.