Classic bruschetta. It never fails. Need to throw together a quick appetizer – done. Need an easy, fresh and light dinner. Accomplished. And, with the summer tomato season quickly approaching, I thought this would be a great recipe to get your wheels turning about all the cool things you can make with produce you can grow in your own garden.
Bruschetta is quickly becoming one of my favorite dishes. It is beautiful (hello bright and wonderful colors), it smells A-Mazing (basil + fresh tomatoes and garlic….), the ingredients are simple and fresh (I am counting 7 ingredients plus the sweet balsamic glaze) and it is fairly quick. And, similar to a tapenade, this is kind of a classic that you can take and put your own spin on it! There are all kinds of “bruschetta” recipes out there now – it is a great way to pair some complex or unique flavors together on a little bite for your guests. I am confident this will not be the last bruschetta recipe you see here! Many more are in the works!
So, go get the most beautiful Roma tomatoes (they have strong flavor and are typically very firm – this is good because no one likes mushy bruschetta!) and some yellow cherry tomatoes (each kind of tomato has a slightly different taste – having more than one tomato in your bruschetta creates a more complex flavor).
Also, if you are making homemade sweet balsamic glaze, now would be the time to start reducing that on the stove. Click here for the easy recipe!
Make sure they are clean (I am a firm believer in 50/50 water-vinegar spray on all veggies and fruits – have you ever soaked your grapes in it? So disgusting…. so much dirt).
Slice your Roma’s into about 4-5 slices, about a half in thick or so. Then take out the seeds – and then dice the remaining part of the tomato. Grab a glass of wine and repeat process until all of your Roma tomatoes are diced 🙂 Or at least that is what I did…
Aaaand done.
Take your yellow cherry tomatoes and quarter them. Don’t worry about the seeds – a very good friend of mine gave me a great tip, for little seeds like these, you can just put all of your cut up tomatoes in a colander and rinse with water, the seeds will simply wash away! So much quicker than trying to pick all of these seeds out by hand!
Once all the tomatoes are cut up, combine all your ingredients in a bowl and mix, mix, mix. While I am all about serving this dish right away so there is no chance of any mushiness developing…. there is something to be said for letting this sit in the fridge for a little while to let all the flavors meld and develop better.
Right before serving, get your French baguette, slice and put some olive oil on top of each slice.
Yum.
Or, instead of serving this on the traditional French baguette, you could serve over chicken! Don’t forget to drizzle the sweet balsamic glaze on top! Enjoy!
- 8 Roma tomatoes; de-seeded and diced
- Approx. 30 yellow cherry tomatoes; quartered and de-seeded
- 1 Tablespoon + 1 Teaspoon chopped garlic
- 1½ cup roughly chopped fresh basil leaves
- 3 Tablespoons + 1 Teaspoon high quality olive oil (plus some additional olive oil to put on top of sliced baguette)
- 1½ Teaspoon kosher salt (more to taste)
- French baguette
- Balsamic glaze
- Combine Roma tomatoes, yellow cherry tomatoes, garlic, basil, olive oil, and salt in large bowl.
- Mix well and taste to determine if you want any additional garlic, basil or salt.
- I would recommend letting the mixture to sit for at least 30 minutes before serving.
- Take French baguette and slice at an angle to create about 1 inch thick slices.
- Place on cookie sheet and baste with some additional olive oil.
- Place in the oven at 400-450 for about 4-6 minutes, or until the bread starts to get a little crispy, but watch it closely - the last thing you want is bread you can barely bit through.
- Remove bread from oven.
- Serve slices of bread with a heaping about of the bruschetta mixture and drizzle with sweet balsamic glaze.
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