Irish Bruschetta

Well...it's bruschetta made in Ireland.  Same thing, right?  Actually, the tomatoes are from France and the basil is from Israel, but the baguettes were made right here in Dublin...this morning.  I made 5 baguettes and 3 pounds in tomatoes worth of this recipe this morning, and it was ALL eaten up by the guests before anyone ate any of the omni food.  I was pretty danged proud of it.  People were just hovering around the platter, and I had to keep refilling it.  /flex

Shortly after getting off the plane last week, we got acquainted with Roly's Cafe here in Ballsbridge.  It's conveniently located less than a block from our hotel, so we ate there more than people would generally do in our first week.  The bread there is just really, really good, and they make it all onsite.

Here at home, now, we are located about a mile away from Roly's.  We have no car, yet, but because it is Thanksgiving, and because I didn't want to show up at our sponsor's house empty-handed, and because we don't have much in the kitchen to cook with, and because I really wanted to use these incredible mix-n-match tomatoes I bought on Tuesday...well, Mr. Nix was sent for a walk in the cold this morning to retrieve some Irish French bread from Roly's.  And here we are.

Make this.  Trust me.

(my very first post from the new kitchen!  Squeal!)

Bruschetta
There are no measurements here.  Go with your gut and use what you have.

Good Crusty Bread
Tomatoes
Fresh Basil
Olive Oil
Salt
Black Pepper
Garlic Clove, peeled

 

Chop your tomatoes into nice, bite-sized pieces.  Chiffonade your basil.  If you don't know how to cut in a chiffonade, you can either look at our page here, or you can chop it up any ol' way you like.  Mix together the tomatoes, basil, salt and pepper to taste, and then drizzle with olive oil to get a nice coating.  Stir this all together.  Taste for salt content, adjust, and then put it in the fridge to marinate while you prepare your bread.

Slice your bread into the desired size pieces.  I used baguettes today because these were meant to be little bite-sized appetizers.  If you use this for a meal, go big or go home.  Use a nice heavy Italian bread or get funky and use a dark pumpernickel.  Whatever you use, keep the pieces a good size for handling.  We don't eat this with a fork, People.

  

Now, if you want to be healthy about all this, you can just toast your bread in the oven.  This is Thanksgiving, though, so I brushed the bread slices on both sides with olive oil, and I was generous with it.  Next, I  fried them in a pan on the stove.  Either way, once your bread is crunchy and ready to go, it's time to add the garlic.

Take a raw, peeled garlic clove and just rub it against the crunchy bread.  Like a grater, the bread will sort of consume the garlic.  Rub the bread with the garlic on both sides and then set your slices out on a platter.

  

Get your tomatoes out of the fridge and spoon generously onto the bread.  Get as much of the tomato mixture on the slice as it will hold and then have fun watching your family or friends try to be all neat while they eat it.

This stuff is better than the bees' knees.  It's freaking delicious.  Enjoy it, and Happy Thanksgiving.