Bruschetta

Course Appetizers

Cuisine Italian

Prep Time 10

Total Time 10

Servings servings

Calories 277

Author Christina Conte (Christina's Cucina)

One of Italy's most famous appetizers: bruschetta is a classic, simple Italian antipasto.

Ingredients

3 tomatoes (preferably organic, heirloom or homegrown)
1 clove garlic OPTIONAL (fresh)
3 leaves basil (fresh)
2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil (good quality)
½ tsp Kosher salt (or sea salt)
8 slices of toast (to serve, try to use a crusty Italian loaf, ciabatta or a baguette)

Instructions

Grill or toast the bread. I like to brush it with a little oil and put it into a griddle, or barbecue grill.
If using garlic, rub a cut side of the garlic onto the toasted bread slices (this is more popular in Italy), or finely chop the garlic.
Dice the tomatoes into small cubes, or chunks and put into a medium sized bowl.
Now, add the garlic to the tomatoes if using.
Chop one or two large basil leaves into little pieces and place all 3 ingredients into a bowl.
Add a the extra virgin olive oil and Kosher or sea salt, to taste. Mix well, and if it doesn't taste wonderful, you probably need to add more salt to the bruschetta topping.
Just before serving, top each toast with some tomato topping and serve immediately (otherwise, the toasts will end up soggy.) See notes.

Notes

You can omit the garlic completely if you don't like it.
Just before serving, top the toasts with the tomato topping, and now is when you want to separate the chopped tomatoes from the juice. However, here's what I do: I just take a spoonful of the topping and allow most of the juice to drain back into the bowl. You want some liquid as it's incredibly flavorful. You can dip bread into the remaining juice at the end (it tastes a lot like gazpacho.)
Don't make the tomato topping ahead of time or it will be too watery, and runny.

Nutrition

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