An Impressive Italian Appetizer
Many Americans (including myself!) associate bruschetta with a chopped tomato mixture served on top of crusty bread; however, the term bruschetta actually refers to the bread itself! More specifically, toasted bread that’s been drizzled with olive oil and rubbed with garlic. Sounds delicious enough on its own, right? While you can top your bruschetta with pretty much anything, today we’re sticking with the classic topping us Americans can’t get enough of: fresh tomatoes marinated with olive oil, garlic, onions, and basil. It’s a light and refreshing combination that makes a great appetizer for any meal, but especially Italian dishes like rigatoni or lasagna.
What you’ll love about my bruschetta recipe:
Uses summer produce straight from the garden.Perfect for serving at a dinner party.Feels fancy, but is actually very easy.Requires only a handful of ingredients.
What You Need
Bruschetta is one of those recipes that uses very few ingredients, which means each one should be as high quality as possible for best results. Besides tomatoes and onion, you’ll need:
Toasted bread. I recommend using a French or Italian baguette. I always slice mine on a slight bias for a professional look.Olive oil. A high-quality extra virgin oil will give you the best flavor, so use that if you have it.Garlic. Once your bread has toasted, you will slice a clove of garlic in half lengthwise and rub the cut-side over the surface of each slice of bread. This is a traditional Italian technique for bruschetta that imparts a fantastic garlic flavor onto each slice of toast. Don’t skip this step!Fresh basil. Is there a better pairing then fresh basil and tomatoes?! I think not! You’ll need to chiffonade your basil to get it into thin ribbons; to do this, simply layer some freshly washed and dried basil leaves on top of each other in a stack. Starting with the long edge, roll the stack of leaves up into a log, then slice on the short end. You’ll be left with perfect ribbons of basil!
SAM’S TIP: Many bruschetta recipes also use parmesan cheese, but I leave this out of my recipe. I prefer to let the fresh flavors of the vegetables and herbs shine, and I find that the cheese tends to hinder that. Remember, this is just an overview of the ingredients I used and why. For the full recipe please scroll down to the bottom of the post!
How to Make Bruschetta
SAM’S TIP: I usually like to take my bruschetta a step further with a drizzle of balsamic glaze, which adds a great flavor and reminds me of caprese salad (minus the mozzarella). This is optional (my mom prefers hers without balsamic!), but if you have some handy, it’s worth trying it on a slice or two! Crunchy, fresh, savory, and bright–what’s not to love about bruschetta? Enjoy! Let’s bake together! I’ll be walking you through all the steps in my written recipe and video below! If you try this recipe, be sure to tag me on Instagram, and you can also find me on YouTube and Facebook
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