Ingredients
MAKE 4 BRUSCHETTE:
- 6 or 7 ripe plum tomatoes (about 1 1/2 lbs) 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 10-12 fresh basil leaves, chopped.
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste 4 slices of Italian bread
- Extra-virgin olive oil
Directions
Cut the tomatoes in halves or quarters and remove the seeds and juice from their centers. Also cut out and discard the stem area. Make sure there is a top rack in place in your oven. Turn on the oven to 180°C to preheat.
While the oven is heating, chop up the tomatoes finely. Put tomatoes, garlic, extra virgin olive oil in a bowl and mix. Add the chopped basil. Add salt and pepper to taste. Slice the bread about 1cm thick slices.
Coat one side of each slice with olive. Place on a cooking sheet.
You will want to toast them in the top rack in your oven, so you may need to do these in batches depending on the size of your oven.
Once the oven has reached 180°C, place a tray of bread slices in the oven on the top rack.
Toast for 5-6 minutes, until the bread just begins to turn golden brown. Alternatively, you can toast the bread without coating it in olive oil first. Toast on a griddle for 1 minute on each side. Take a sharp knife and score each slice 3 times.
Rub some garlic in the slices and drizzle half a teaspoon of olive oil on each slice. This is the more traditional method of making bruschetta. Align the bread on a serving platter, olive oil side up. Either place the tomato topping in a bowl separately with a spoon for people to serve themselves over the bread, or place some topping on each slice of bread and serve.
If you top each slice with the tomatoes, do it right
before serving or the bread may get soggy.
