I was having some of my girlfriends over for dinner the other night, we were all going to bring appetizers.I had a few tomatoes in my fridge from my CSA and I'm not a huge tomato fan. So what to do with the many tomatoes? Feed them to your friends!
I decided I was going to make bruschetta. I've had brushetta before and I actually don't mind it. Tomatoes aren't so... tomato-y when they are covered in balsamic vinegar and I just adore basil. That said, there was quite a bit of research that went into figuring out the best recipe. I ended up taking elements from a few recipes to create this one.
It is so easy I cannot believe that I didn't make this before!
I prepared the tomato mixture the night before because I wasn't going to have time after work/before people arrived. By making it the night before the tomatoes had some time to marinate and really take on all the flavors of the dressing. I picked up a loaf of bread on my way home from work and then toss the slices of bread under the broiler (crunchy outside, soft inside).
I let everyone assembly their own when they were ready to eat them because I didn't want to get the bread soggy.
Opinions: One of the other girls who was over also doesn't like tomatoes, but we both agreed - bruschetta isn't really tomatoes.
Another said she would have put in more balsamic vinegar, so that is just a matter of opinion, so make sure you test the mix and decide how much you'd like.
My friends all enjoyed it and we ate all of it!! And this is my go-to appetizer from now on.
Bruschetta
Approx 6 servings (appetizers)
Ingredients:
1 pint of cherry tomatoes (diced)
1 normal size tomato (diced)
2 tbs sweet onion
1 tsp garlic powder
2 1/2 tsp balsamic vinegar
2-3 tbs fresh basil, chopped
salt & pepper
3 tbs olive oil
1 loaf of bread
1 normal size tomato (diced)
2 tbs sweet onion
1 tsp garlic powder
2 1/2 tsp balsamic vinegar
2-3 tbs fresh basil, chopped
salt & pepper
3 tbs olive oil
1 loaf of bread
Directions:
Dice tomatoes.
Combine garlic, balsamic vinegar, basil, salt, and pepper. Wisk in olive oil.
Combine with tomatoes and onion.
Combine garlic, balsamic vinegar, basil, salt, and pepper. Wisk in olive oil.
Combine with tomatoes and onion.
Assembly:
Slice bread, place on a baking sheet and broil for a few minutes. Keep an eye on it though! You want the bread lightly toasty. Top with tomato mixture.
Alternate:
Slice bread, place on a baking sheet and broil for a few minutes. Keep an eye on it though! You want the bread lightly toasty. Top with tomato mixture.
Alternate:
Top tomato mixture w/ cheese &
broil (or don't broil); add grated cheese into tomato mixture
Kat, a couple of questions for you. The sweet onion - is it fresh? Minced? Diced? Secondly, do you recommend a certain type of fresh bread? Lastly, you want to include the onion in the combining part of the instructions, right?
ReplyDeleteSorry, I have an absurd eye for detail most of the time... I hope that helps! ( Just made your pumpkin muffin recipe - they're in the oven as we speak! ) :-)
Thanks Senor! I used fresh onion since I had some on hand, I did something of a mince/dice. I don't mind bigger pieces of onion but the folks I was sharing this with preferred it smaller. I will adjust recipe above to include the onion! :)
DeleteI used a loaf of Italian bread because it was on sale, cut it on a diagonal and then sliced those in half to make them more bite size/appetizer size.
Hope this helps!