Bruschetta
READ THIS FIRST: Bruschetta recipes don't really deviate a ton from one to another, this is pretty typical except arguably the parmesan cheese that's mixed in. I cannot stress enough how carefully you need to broil your bread-it'll go from perfect to burned in the blink of an eye! I like to balance the broiled crunch with the soft bread texture, but you can increase crunch by broiling longer. It's important not to skip the broiling step because the tomato mixture will make un-toasted bread soggy very quickly. Tyler prefers his bread to have a ricotta spread a la Hard Rock Cafe, but it can be easily skipped if it's not your preference. This really needs to be served same day, as the tomatoes don't keep in the vinegar and the bread hardens SUPER fast.
Ingredients
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- 4-6 vine-ripened tomatoes
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- 8-10 leaves fresh basil
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- 1/2 cup shredded parmesan
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- 1/2 tsp salt, or to taste
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- 1/2 tsp pepper, or to taste
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- 3 tbsp balsamic vinegar
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- 6 tbsp minced garlic, *Optional* plus 4 cloves, unpeeled
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- 1 french baguette
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- 4-6 tbsp olive oil
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- OPTIONAL Ricotta cheese
Directions
- Optional In a small saucepan, roast garlic over medium heat by adding unpeeled cloves to pan and tossing frequently until brown spots appear on the garlic peel. Set aside.
- Hull tomatoes with tomato huller (easiest), or remove seeds and juice via a knife. (A huller is worth the investment, particularly if you cook with tomatoes or berries often.)
- Dice hulled tomatoes, chop basil, and add together in medium bowl. Add salt & pepper, minced garlic, balsamic vinegar and parmesan cheese to bowl and toss thoroughly. Place in refrigerator.
- Slice baguette into 24 equal slices, discarded heels. Thickness is based on preference, but I usually go for about 1”.
- Turn on oven to medium broiler setting, arranging the top rack in place.
- Place sliced bread on baking sheet. Unpeel roasted garlic from step 1 if you decided to do this and rub on each slice. Brush each slice with olive oil.
- Broil for about 2 min, rotating after 1 minute. If you prefer toastier bread, broil a bit longer. Typically ovens don’t broil evenly so it’s VERY important to rotate your bread. I recommend watching it with the oven light-it’s just too easy to lose track of 1 minute!
- Remove tomato mixture from refrigerator, place serving platter on countertop.
- Optional Spread bread with ricotta cheese, a little bit more generously than you would butter bread. This gives a very mild creaminess to the bruschetta.
- Using a spoon, place 1-2 tablespoons of tomato mixture to each slice of bread and arrange on serving platter. NOTE I don’t recommend placing the bread on the platter then adding the tomato mixture because it can fall off and result in a messier-looking presentation. It’s definitely easier to do it that way-but not as pretty!