Sunday, September 5, 2010

Bruschetta as requested

Bruschetta!!!

what you need:
2 large tomatoes
1 1/2 cups cherry tomatoes
5 cloves of garlic
pinch of salt
fresh cracked black pepper
3 green onions
2 tbs extra virgin olive oil
about 20 leaves of fresh basil

Chop your tomatoes into manageable chunks (don't discard any of the liquid) and slice your green onions into nice rounds. Mince the garlic, julienne your basil. Put everything into a bowl, mix well and let sit for an hour at room temp OR in the fridge over night (or during the day until dinner). Some recipes call for a little balsamic vinegar or red wine vinegar and if you are using hot house tomatoes you may want that boost of acidity. With good fresh tomatoes in season I really don't think it is necessary. Slice a loaf of crusty Italian bread into nice 1 inch slices and brush them with olive oil on one side. With the oiled side face down on a foil coated baking sheet, bake until golden brown in a 350 degree oven. In the last couple of minutes you can add a little Parmesan or mozzarella to the bread and let it get brown. I like an "Italian blend" with mozz and parm all in the mix. Kraft makes a very affordable and decent one but if you want it more tangy, got for like Sargento or something (they put asiago in theirs if I remember). Yay!! Eat bruschetta and enjoy.

*note: I did this from memory and I suggest tweaking to your own specifications
*kalamata olives might be a nice addition.....hmmm......

3 comments:

  1. Thank you, thank you, thank you. I made this tonight. Ended up making a couple of substitutions so I wouldn't have to go to the grocery store. FYI instead of the cherry tomatoes I used some of the sun-dried tomatoes I mentioned back in Issue 12 and couldn't figure out how to use, and because we didn't have any green onions on hand I diced a small red onion. This meant that the balsamic vinegar came in handy to soften the spiciness of the onion...

    Anyway, I'd never made bruschetta and this proved to be a tasty, veggieful dish. Thanks!

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  2. that sounds like a really good adaptation! I need to remember to reference this comment in the fall/winter when good tomatoes are not available.

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  3. Finally got around to making this as directed, and boy was it yummy. Fresh tomatoes, green onions - they make all the difference.

    Instead of toasting the bread with parm or mozz, we had some brie that we needed to use up, and we put that on it and toasted it. The brie was the wedge kind, just firm enough, after refrigerating, to be sliceable, and it got nice and gooey on the bread, and it went real well with the bruschetta mix.

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