Hello!
I have to tell you I had fun making today’s post! For a recipe that should only take maybe 10 minutes to make, took me two hours. I love when I have time to take extra love when making my recipes. Life is always rush rush! Normally I make my recipe, snap a few pictures and eat it! I have my Husband sitting at the table telling me to hurry up because dinner is going to get cold. At least now that I have been blogging for a while, he understands. So today’s take time recipe for me, but will be quick for you is the making of Bruschetta!
I love Bruschetta! It’s one of my favorite appetizers! There is something about the smell of the fresh basil that I just love and combining it with tomatoes, oh man it’s pure heaven to me!! The first thing I did was cut up my tomatoes into little pieces.
I used some nice fresh plum tomatoes that had a wonderful taste. But honestly nothing beats fresh tomatoes from the garden. I’m hoping in the next week or two, I’ll be able to plant some tomatoes. As long as my dog Sampson doesn’t eat them. He is obsessed with tomato plants. He eats the plant and the tomatoes. They are poisonous to dogs, but I have to say he has been fine. We asked the vet and they said it’s pretty common for dogs to eat tomatoes, but never ever heard of them to eating the plant to. I have a weird dog!
Then the next thing I did was cut up my fresh basil. I found it’s easiest to cut it, if you place the leaves on top of each other and roll it up. It kind of looks like a basil cigar. Then give it some nice thin cuts.
Then I added my basil to the tomatoes and gave it a little drizzle of olive oil and a pinch of salt and pepper. The salt really makes the tomatoes all nice and juicy! Then it’s time to cut the bread! I used a fresh Sour Dough Baguette Actually I was going for a French Baguette and the bad said french, yet it ended up sour dough. That’s ok, it was fabulous on sour dough.
I brushed on the olive oil to the bread and for added flavor I took one clove of garlic and rubbed it all over the bread! Oh baby, it was good! My Husband really loved the bread. I left a few pieces plain for him, since he’s not a Bruschetta fan! Crazy man!!
Then I placed my bread in the broiler and toasted it for about 2 minutes, until the top of the bread got crunchy. I didn’t flip the bread because I still wanted it a little soft. I feel it’s easier for biting! Here is the bread fresh out of the oven.
My bread was a little on the holy side. That’s ok, less carbs and more tomatoes to cover the holes. lol Then to serve, I topped my fresh baked bread with my tomato and basil mixture and then sprnkled a little bit of freshly grated Parmesan Cheese.
Oh baby, isn’t that pretty? This just gets me so excited for Spring and Summer! I swear I could eat this everyday and not get sick of it.
This recipe is fabulous on it’s own, however I needed to add one more thing to make this absolutely perfect!!
That is better! I thought a little Balsamic Glaze would be a perfect addition to the Bruschetta and it was! I love the Balsamic Glaze. I didn’t make it homemade, but I cheated and bought it from Trader Joe’s. My Husband didn’t want to try it and I said just have a little. His eyes lite up and the first thing out of his mouth was this glaze would be amazing on french fries! lol That man! But you know what? He’s probably right. He thought since the glaze is thick, that his fries wouldn’t get so soggy. Hmmm, my guess is he will be trying that when we have fries again.
- ½ french baguette (173 grams)
- 1 tbsp. + 1 tsp olive oil
- 1 clove garlic
- 3 Plum Tomatoes, seeded, diced
- 10 basil leaves, sliced thin
- 1 tbsp. Parmesan cheese
- salt & pepper to taste
- Optional Topping: Drizzle of Balsamic Glaze
- Preheat broil to high, line a baking sheet with parchment paper; set a side
- Cut baguette on a slight diagonal about ¼" thick. Place bread on to parchment paper. Place 1 tablesppon of olive oil in a bowl and with a pastry brush, brush each slice of bread on one side only. Take the garlic and rub it on to the bread. This is to give the bread a slight garlic taste. Place bread in the broil for 2 minutes until lightly crispy.
- Meanwhile, add diced tomatoes and basil to a bowl and drizzle with 1 teaspoon of olive oil. Mix together, season with salt and pepper to taste.
- Add tomato mixture to the top of bread and sprinkle with Parmesan Cheese.
- Optional: Top with a slight drizzle of Balsamic Glaze
- Serve and Enjoy
I have to tell you that this recipe should serve four people, but my Husband and I ate it all!! It was so good!! So good! Matter in fact Jenny gave me a coupon for a free loaf of bread from Panera and I’m thinking, I’m going to be making this again! I love it! This is probably one of my all time favorite appetizers!
Well my Friends, I hope you had as much fun as I did making this and eating it! Have a lovely day!
Toodles,
Jennifer
