It’s not summer until our fresh homegrown tomatoes are just right for our all time favorite appetizer, Fresh Tomato Bruschetta! Homegrown vine ripe tomatoes, garden fresh basil and garlic, farmer’s market sweet onion, capers, good quality parmesan cheese, sea salt, and ground pepper on a crusty slice of warm garlic toast… What more do you want out of summer???
BRUSCHETTA SERVING OPTIONS
Not only is garden fresh bruschetta delicious as an appetizer it makes a great topping for grilled or baked chicken. Perfect on warm pasta or serve it cold as a refreshing summer pasta like my Cold Curry Pea Pasta Salad.
Here are a few additional serving ideas👇
- As a dressing for a garden salad
- Over baked or grilled chicken or fish
- Add jalapeno and use it as a taco topping
- As a pasta sauce or in combo with a basic sauce
- Topping for a baked potato
- Use it as a pizza sauce
- Addition to an Italian sandwich
The possibilities are endless!!!
With so many different recipes for Bruschetta out there, my family prefers the version of Bruschetta without the basalmic vinegar. Using basalmic vinegar or red wine vinegar is the traditional way to make it but I found out years ago to get my kids to eat it I had to leave it out. They just didn’t like vinager…seriously can you blame them?
HOW TO MAKE FRESH TOMATO BRUSCHETTA?
Actually, what we call bruschetta is not the tomato topping…it’s the bread topped rubbed with fresh garlic and a drizzle of olive oil. Who knew…right? But for common American purposes, I am going to refer to this yummy Italian influenced garden-fresh topping as Bruschetta.
You’ll Need:
- Fresh, juicy ripe tomatoes
- Fresh basil
- garlic, more than 3 cloves:)
- onion
- sea salt
- pepper
- good quality olive oil
- Parmesan, Romano, or Asiago hard cheese
- capers
- good fresh hard-crusted bread like French, Ciabatta, or a thin baguette
Easy Fast Steps
STEP ONE… Cut and chop the tomatoes and onion.
STEP TWO… Chiffonade the basil (roll into a cigar shape and cut with a knife horizontal…it will make ribbons of basil)
STEP THREE… Crush, peel and chop the garlic…(use this method for the fastest and easiest way to peel garlic!)
STEP FOUR… Add everything except cheese to a bowl and mix gently. Add cheese then mix slightly again…let sit at room temperature for about 30 minutes.
STEP FIVE… Serve with bruschetta bread.
Bruschetta Bread
Just a personal opinion but give me a fresh, warm loaf of crusty bread, some really good quality olive oil with a lot of garlic (or butter!) spice it up with some fresh dried herbs and you’ve just given me the keys to the kingdom! I love bread!!!
Bread for bruschetta toppings is easy and takes about 5 minutes to prepare.
- Olive Oil
- Fresh or fresh dried herbs
- Lots of crushed garlic (use a meat mallet for easy crushing…skins slide right off!)
- Mix together and let sit for a bit to infuse the flavors
- Cut fresh bread on the diagonal 1/2″ thick
- Spread or brush garlic mixture on top of each slice
- Cook at 350 for about 10 minutes and you’re good to go!
Pro Notes:
Make sure your bread is fresh. Cut it with a serrated bread knife diagonally with about a 1/2″ thickness. Using a perforated baking sheet or pizza pan will ensure the bread is crusty on both sides and soft and yummy in the middle. Delicious!
HOW DO YOU STORE FRESH BRUSCHETTA?
If you have left over bruschetta (ha, ha, doubtful) you can easily store it in a glass or plastic covered container in the fridge for a couple of days. If you decide to try freezing just remember that all the veggies will unthaw squishy and mealy. But…thawed bruschetta would be excellent as a flavor addition to a veggie based soup or pasta sauce.
EXTRA TIPS
Using vine ripe, in-season, tomatoes whether your own, from your local farmer’s market, or regionally grown… this is key to this dish. I’ve made bruschetta in the winter with hothouse commercially grown tomatoes before and it’s just not the same…at all! Any variety of in-season vine ripe tomatoes will do.
EXTRA NOTES FOR GARDEN FRESH BRUSCHETTA
You can also use any amount of garlic you want. I tend to get a little heavy on this so adjust to your taste. Same with the salt, pepper, oil, basil, and cheese. Anything really goes in this…
- black or green olives
- anchovies
- green onions
- shrimp
- experiment…that’s what cooking is all about!
ENJOY!!!
Fresh Tomato Bruschetta
Ingredients
- 4 med. tomatoes cut up
- 4 cloves garlic crushed and chopped fine
- 1 handful of basil chiffonade (cut in ribbons)
- 1/2 onion finely cut
- 2 tbsp capers or more to taste
- 1 1/2 tsp sea salt or more to taste
- 1/2 tsp pepper more or less to taste
- 1/2 cup parmasan cheese more or less to taste
Instructions
- STEP ONE… Cut and chop the tomatoes and onion.
- STEP TWO… Chiffonade the basil (roll into a cigar shape and cut with a knife horizontal…it will make ribbons of basil)
- STEP THREE… Crush, peel and chop the garlic…(use this method for the fastest and easiest way to peel garlic!)
- STEP FOUR… Add everything except cheese to a bowl and mix gently. Add cheese then mix slightly again…let sit at room temperature for about 30 minutes.
