Thursday, July 23, 2009

The Best Bruschetta in the World

The Best Bruschetta in the World


I don’t like to brag, but, I live in a town which is famous throughout Italy for two things. The first is the Infiorata, and the second is the Pane di Genzano. The bread of Genzano is one of the first in Europe to have a name place designation. That means it cannot be duplicated anywhere else, because it can only be made in Genzano, by Genzanese bread makers, using a specific set of ingredients. However, this posting is not a lesson on bread making, but on how to make the most delicious bruschetta with the bread that is available. Genzano’s crusty, fragrant, and enticing bread is perfect for bruschetta. Oh, and by the way, it is pronounced BRU-sKet-tah. NOT brushhhedda.

You only need a few simple ingredients to make it correctly

Ingredients

½ loaf of a very crusty Italian bread

10 diced cherry tomatoes

2-3 chopped fresh basil leaves

1 clove of garlic and a fork

Coarse Sea Salt, crushed

Olive oil
Directions:
1. First, you'll need to start out with a half loaf of good, crusty, Italian bread.
Chop/dice 10 cherry tomatoes and in a small bowl, mix together with fresh basil leaves(about 3, chopped) and some crush coarse sea salt(about a pinch)
Slice the bread into 1.5cm slices, and then slice those in half. Put in your broiler, wood fired oven, stove at high heat(about 180C) until lightly toasted.Take the one clove of garlic, peel in and slice off both ends. Stick one end into a fork, and let the other sliced side lightly brush against each piece of bruschetta
Put them all on a serving plate, drizzle olive oil over them and then sprinkle your sea salt over each piece.On half of the slices you will add the tomato/basil mix, and the other half you will leave with olive and sea salt.

Drink with a lovely glass of local Frascati


I learned this from the most traditional kitchens of Genzano, places like Carceri, Pellicione, Tigellino, and of course La Cucina di Mamma di Ettore