My bruschetta recipe

AUGUST 12 03

I'm having a lazy afternoon making bruschetta to use up my glut of tomatoes from the garden.

Hey, do you want my bruschetta recipe? I first ate bruschetta in a restaurant on the wharf on the island of Procida in the Bay of Naples, where 'Il Postino' (The Postman) was filmed, the beautiful beach is there and is now known locally as 'Il Postino beach', its real name being Pozzo Vecchio. The film discreetly avoided focusing on the piles of rubbish washed up in one corner, but nonetheless it is a wonderful beach. I never asked for the recipe for bruschetta when I was there but I experimented at home until I arrived at something that resembled what I had in the restaurant. Always interested to hear of any more 'authentic' Italian family bruschetta recipes, but here's mine anyway:

Bruschetta

few tbsp extra-virgin olive oil

3 slices crusty bread

2 cloves garlic

handful fresh basil leaves

tomatoes

 

Pour extra-virgin olive oil in the bottom of a basin, add a couple of crushed and chopped garlic cloves and plenty of chopped fresh basil leaves. Leave to steep for a while. Then cut up the tomatoes small but not quite diced, and take slices of bread to make toast. Toast one side under the grill, turn over and slightly toast before spooning the garlic and basil olive oil over the bread and toasting further. Place on a plate and put the chopped tomatoes on top, twist of pepper, sprinkle of salt.

 

Notes: This is just as good with thin-sliced 'factory' bread as it is with thick crusty bread, just different. The tomatoes should be room temperature, not from the fridge, and as I eat this on a sweltering day with tomatoes freshly picked in the sun they will be quite warm. I've seen bruschetta recipes where people warm the chopped tomatoes first in a pan. I never do this because there is no need. The tomatoes shouldn't be hot.

Copyright © 2003 Biroco