Tomato and Basil Bruschetta
We have way too many tomatoes, they’re popping out our ears. Good thing I can’t get enough of this bruschetta. Great as appetizer, part of a meal, or as breakfast for me personally.
Ingredients:
- 1 loaf of crusty bread
- Tomatoes
- Fresh basil bunch
- Olive Oil (best you have)
- 1 clove of raw garlic
- Salt (Kosher preferred)
Directions: (click on images to enlarge)
1. Turn on your oven’s broiler
2. Cut bread into thick 3/4 inch slices (on the bias if you want to be fancy).
3. Dice up tomatoes, I just halved some cherry tomatoes. Squeeze out the seeds unless you like things soggy.
4. Cut basil into thin strips
5. Mix the tomatoes and basil, adding olive oil and salt to taste.
6. Put the bread under the broiler to toast, keeping a close eye on it.
7. When the bread is golden toasted, take it out and immediatly rub the raw garlic on it while it’s hot. This way you’ll get that garlic kick with getting in your teeth.
8. Serve to people who’ve never had it before and hear them oooh and aaaah.
 Step 5 |
 Step 7 |
 Yum. |
Cost:
We grow our own tomatoes and basil, so we really just need to buy bread for this. If not, the basil will probably cost more than the bread, around $2 a bunch, but you may not need the whole thing just for this.
Final comments:
Many people already know about this, but it’s always great to show off to people who don’t 
. Either way, it’s fast, and it’s tasty. Adding a soft cheese like gorgonzola on top and melting it under the broiler can make it extra fancy.
September 6th, 2005 at 12:44 pm
Okay, this will certainly work for our tomatoes! How funny, I was just thinking of things to do with our tomatoes this morning and then came here and saw your post.
Mmmm…it looks so good. And I have a hunk of goat cheese in the fridge (’cause I’m extra fancy like that).
:)
September 6th, 2005 at 12:47 pm
Agrees with mlb much nicer with a hunk of cheese … brie works well too
September 6th, 2005 at 4:27 pm
“My” special recipe, from bottom-up:
foreach slice of bread:
* rub bread with garlic
* lightly paint bread with olive oil
* lay down one or two basil leaves on top (uncut - let the leaves cover the bread)
* lay down a slice of mozerella on top of that
* and finally, lay down two or three tomato slices on top (or more, depending on the size of the tomato slices)
ok, so *maybe* you will wrestle with the basil-cheese-tomato layer sliding off while you eat, but it’s never been a problem for me
September 7th, 2005 at 12:06 pm
a neighbour gave us some tomatoes the other day and they are getting quite ripe. if i had ANY bread in the house i would make this tonight. alas, no bread. sigh. maybe i’ll go out and get some….
i like this with feta. i like most things with feta.
September 7th, 2005 at 8:58 pm
aah! your blog makes me dizzy. i’m going to have to blogmark you and visit this weekend some more when i can delve into all your delicious posts. great job!
September 8th, 2005 at 11:19 am
just made this today at lunch (with the blue caesar) and it was great. my husband really liked it too.