I never realized this until now, but food blogging brings together a few of my favourite things..cooking (of course), food styling & food photography (which have been a more recent discovery) and my penchant for mindless writing. Don’t get me wrong, I make sure that the recipes that I post on here are my absolute favourites, be it old family classics passed down from my grandmother, or new eclectic combinations that have been stumbled upon through trial and error (or a complete fluke). I treat this blog like a database for my favourite recipes so if it’s on here, you know that it’s something I want to hang on to for dear life.

Bru-shet-ah? Or bru-sket-ah? That is the million-dollar question now. It’s actually the latter, since the Italians pronounce the sound “ch” as a “c”. Pronouncing it “bru-shet-ah” is their equivalent to scraping your fingernails on a chalkboard. I know, quite dramatic that.

These little canapés can be treated as rustic or chic as is your style, and can be topped with an assortment of ingredients ranging from basic to completely extravagant. Anything goes! You may want to experiment with different ingredients, and by all means, please do, but I do try to remember that when it really comes down to it, the simpler the better. A simple bruschetta proves that there indeed is elegance in restraint.

I came across a great idea recently – you can set up a cute little bruschetta bar for a party! Plan and make the toppings for your bruschetta and get your guests to build them up with whatever they’d like – it’s more fun, half the work, and you can even ask your guests to bring over a few ingredients for it without feeling the guilt of over-burdening them. Totally do-able!

I’ve made four very simple toppings here..tomato and basil, mushroom and thyme, olive-caper tapenade, and oven-dried tomatoes. I make my own oven-dried tomatoes that I preserve in Olive oil (recipe coming up soon), but a jar of shop bought sun-dried tomatoes will suffice nicely too. I haven’t even gotten to the best part yet though.. all of this took me less than 20 minutes to put together, start to finish! And an hour to photograph and edit the pictures before I could stuff my face. I did NOT sign up for this.

INGREDIENTS :

1 baguette, sliced

1 clove of garlic

Extra-virgin olive oil

Grill your baguette slices on a griddle pan / regular pan without any oil. When still warm, rub the garlic clove on each slice and top with a little extra-virgin Olive oil.


Bruschetta with tomato & basil
 : (makes 3 – 4 toppings)

1 large ripe heirloom tomato, finely diced

5 basil leaves

1 clove of garlic

A dash of white wine / apple-cider vinegar

1 tsp extra-virgin Olive oil

Freshly ground black pepper

Salt

Roll the basil leaves together into a cigar shape and finely slice. Combine basil, tomatoes, cider vinegar, and olive oil and generously pile onto your bread. Season with salt and pepper. Top your slices of bread just before serving (as the bread tends to go soggy otherwise).

Bruschetta with mushrooms & thyme : (makes 3 – 4 toppings)

200 grams mushrooms, rinsed and quartered

3 cloves of garlic, finely chopped

1 sprig of thyme

1 tsp Olive oil

Freshly ground black pepper

Salt

Pour the olive oil in a small pan and add the chopped garlic. Once they start to sizzle slightly, add mushrooms and thyme. Wait for the mushrooms to cook down, making sure that they still have a bite to them. Season with salt and pepper and let it cool slightly. Pile onto your bread just before serving.

Bruschetta with Olive-caper tapenade : (makes 3 – 4 toppings)

3 tsps of pitted black olives

1 tsp capers

1 clove of garlic

Freshly ground black pepper

Salt

Coarsely blend all the above ingredients in a blender or food processor. Generously slather onto the bread just before you serve.

Bruschetta with oven-dried tomatoes :

3 tsps of sun-dried tomatoes preserved in Olive oil (I used oven-dried ones that I make myself, but this works just as well)

Freshly ground black pepper

Salt

Slice the tomatoes and season with salt and pepper. Pile this on your bread just before serving.

3 Comments

Liv D

Hi, I found this on FoodGawker and was hoping I could get your permission to post the recipe on my instagram recipe page (@foodie_recipes) as it looks delicious! I will tag you in the photo and put your website address on the post! Hope this is okay, thanks 🙂 x

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