BRUSCHETTA

In my first post I'd like to introduce one of the easiest and quickiest (and yummiest!) Italian traditional recipes: bruschetta!
It's usually served as an appetizer and it's very common during Summer meals because it's a cold dish that doesn't need cooking and its main ingredients (as tomatoes and basil) are at the top quality during that season.
There are hundreds of different kinds of bruschetta, but the traditional one is made with bread, garlic, tomato, fresh basil and extra-virgin olive oil (or at least it is in Tuscany).


It's still quite warm here and today I found few tomatoes that were going to rotten in few days, so I decided to have bruschetta for lunch.

 This is how to prepare it:

INGREDIENTS:

• 4 or 5 tomatoes

• 4 cloves of garlic

• Some fresh basil leaves

• Extra-virgin olive oil

• Bread

• Salt

Let's talk about ingredients quality:

TOMATO:

Any kind of tomato can be good, but they have to be very ripe and juicy.
I personally used perini, the plum tomatoes.

BASIL:

Choose the tiniest leaves: they are the best.
The bigger ones tend to be mint-flavoured.
Wash them with water and dry them gently with kitchen paper.
Don't use a knife to tear them into pieces, just make it with your hands.

OIL:

Use proper extra-virgin olive oil!
I use Tuscan olive oil of course and I'm lucky enough to live in an area where native olive trees grow, the Quercetano Olive Tree, and where oil production is copious and with excellent quality.

BREAD:

Every sort of bread can suit for bruschetta.
My favourite one is a kind of Tuscan bread (Tuscan bread usually has no salt in it) named Stinco in the area where I live.
I tend to use day old bread for bruschetta: it's crispier after toasting.




Peel 3 cloves of garlic and crush them pressing them down with a flat knife blade.
Put them in a bowl.
Dice the tomatoes and put them and their juices in the bowl.
Add the basil leaves in pieces, a pinch of salt and 5 spoons circa of olive oil.
Mix all the ingredients together with a spoon, cover the bowl with a polythene sheet and put it in the fridge.
I eventually add more garlic or more basil to increase the taste, but I never exceed with oil nor salt.


I prepare it in advantace (usually few hours before), so tomatoes will have the time to make their juices come out and all the flavours can infuse.


Before serving, cut the bread in slices and divide them in 3 little parts.
Toast them in a heated pan on both sides and when they are crusty rub some garlic on both sides.
Put them on a serving platter and drizzle their top with a bit of olive oil.
Add a spoonful of tomato mix on each crouton and bruschetta is ready!

SUGGESTIONS:

• If you prefer a spicy bruschetta, add a pinch of chilli powder in the tomato mix.

• For a more instense taste, dice half onion and add it to the mixture. I usually use the red onion of Tropea

• If you're not on a diet like me, heat 2 spoons of olive oil in the pan and toast the croutons in it untill they're golden.

• If you prefer a warm appetizer, you can stir the mixture in a pan with a couple of spoons of heated olive oil.

The part of bruschetta making which I love the most?
Dipping some fresh bread in the tomato juices left at the bottom of the bowl!!