Summary
- The bruschetta bread
- How to prepare the bruschetta
- Classic Tomato Bruschetta
- The contemporary bruschetta
- The bruschetta with lard, rosemary and honey
- Bruschetta with sausage and gorgonzola cheese
- Bruschetta with ‘nduja and provola cheese
- Bruschetta with anchovies and butter
- Bruschetta with avvocado
- Bruschetta with ricotta cheese and cherry tomatoes
- Bruschette with Aubergine stew
- Bruschetta with grilled courgettes and crescenza cheese
- Bruschetta with olive paté and turkey
Discover one of the most iconic recipes of Italian food culture.
La bruschetta is not a recipe, it’s a tradition.
It was born as a simple recipe to make use of the stale bread, by grilling the stale bread on the barbeque it becomes fragrant and crunchy. You top it with garlic spread by literally rubbing the garlic clove on the hard surface of the bread and then add a tomato sauce made with fresh tomato salsa, extra virgin olive oil, salt and oregano.
This is how i used to eat bruschetta when I was a child and we used to gather around a barbeque to a family lunch in the summers in Italy.
The interesting thins is that the bruschetta was never eaten as a starter in my family. The bruschetta was the last piece of the lunch that was to be prepared after everything else was finished, usually after a good two or three hours sitting at the table eating, and when the fire of the barbeque was “gentle”, almost finishing of its sparks, as you could not roast the bread on a too strong heat as it would burn the bruschetta bread.
The bruschetta bread
The right bread for bruschetta are slices of bread of about 1 cm – half an inch – thick, preferable from a day or two old bread.
The bread needs to be toasted or roasted on the grill for a few minutes on both sides, just to become golden or light brown. Not black as the bitter of the burnt parts would overcome the flavour of the tomato sauce.
How to prepare the bruschetta
The first thing to do is to prepare
Time needed: 10 minutes.
Preparation of the bruschetta with tomato salsa
- Cut the bread into slices and place them on the baking tray lined with parchment paper;
The slices for bruschetta should be around 1 centimeters thick, half inch
- Toast the slices of bread at 160 ° for a few minutes;
Toast until light brown, not black i.e. not burnt
- Take out the dripping pan and rub a clove of garlic on each slice;
You can peel the garlic before you do it or not. If you don’t you should chop off the hard bit at the beginning of the clove.
- In a bowl put the Mutti tomato pulp with a dash of extra virgin olive oil and a pinch of salt and mix well;
We reccommend the Mutti tomato pulp for bruschetta, as it’s very juicy or you can use plum tomatoes
- Spread the tomato salsa on the bruschetta with a spoon;
I like it with a thin layer of tomato, but you can add to taste
- Garnish the slices with whole or chopped fresh basil or oregano;
The oregano give the bruschetta a pizza-like taste. I really like it, but it’s up to you.
Classic Tomato Bruschetta
- Slices of homemade bread, preferably a day or two days old;
- Mutti tomato pulp, or blended plum tomatoes;
- Garlic clove;
- Good quality extra virgin olive oil,
- Fresh basil leaves or dried oregano;
- Salt to taste.
- Optional: chili pepper flakes.
The contemporary bruschetta
The modern cuisine has turned the classic bruschetta in a flavoured experience of Italian cuisine tasting.
The bruschetta with lard, rosemary and honey
Ingredients:
12 small slices of bread
6 thin slices of cured lardo
100 g aged pecorino
1 sprig rosemary
1 tablespoon acacia honey
Flaky salt, to taste
Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
How to prepare: roast the bread in the oven for 5 minutes at 200 C, add the slices of pecorino cheese on top and cook for other 5 minutes, finaly take out from the oven the crostini and add the slices of lard, a little rosemary and a little spoon of honey on each slice.
Bruschetta with sausage and gorgonzola cheese
Bruschetta con salsiccia
See the full recipe here
Bruschetta with ‘nduja and provola cheese
Bruschetta con la ‘nduia from Puglia and provola cheese is has a real kick! The ‘nduja is a spicy spreadable sausage made with meat and chili pepper and the provola is a smoked cheese that melt really well on this bruschetta.
For the ‘nduja and provolone bruschetta recipe, cut 2 large slices of Apulian bread, divide them in half and lightly toast them in the oven at 200 ° C for about 5’: they must become crunchy, but without becoming too brown. Dice the smoked provola cheese.
Remove the slices of bread from the oven, without turning it off, spread them with the ‘nduja and distribute the diced provolone over them. Return the bruschetta obtained in the oven for 3-4 ‘, until the provolone begins to melt.
Ingredient: slices of bread from Apulia, ‘nduja, provola cheese.
Bruschetta with anchovies and butter
This is a typical winter holidays recipe in Italy. The salty taste of the anchovie, the creamy unsalted butter and the crunchy slices of bread are armonious and tasty. Pair it with a dry fizzy wine like spumante brut, metodo classico or champagne.
The bruschetta with butter and anchovies are the perfect appetizer for lovers of this fish. The combination of butter with anchovies is something fabulous, if you put it on hot bruschetta then it is even more so.
Bruschetta with marinated anchovie and butter
Bruschetta with avvocado
The vegan super food bruschetta. Ingredients: avvocado, lemon, high quality extra-virgin olive oil,
peel the avocado and mash it with a fork, add the lemon juice, a pinch of salt, a pinch of pepper and a drizzle of oil …. and season your bruschetta (I used the whole grain bread with seeds). Also the traditional pomodoro bruschetta is vegan.
Bruschetta with ricotta cheese and cherry tomatoes
Bruschetta with ricotta cheese
Bruschette with cherry tomatoes and ricotta are a delicious appetizer, also perfect as an aperitif or snack, or as a quick idea for lunch or dinner, easy to prepare with a few simple ingredients. Slices of toasted bread topped with a ricotta cream and confit cherry tomatoes roasted in the oven with aromatic herbs and basil
Bruschette with Aubergine stew
The obergine stew is a traditional vegetable side dish from Sicily. It’s tasty and it’s rich because aubergines and tomatoes make it saucy and rich in flavour. The recipe for bruschette with aubergine stew a.k.a caponata di melanzate is simple. Grill the slices of bread and heat up the caponata di melanzane compote that you can order online from Italy. Add a little extra-virgin olive oil in the pan where you heat the caponata.
Prepare the bruschette pouring gently the aubergine on the roasted bread. Serve warm.
Bruschetta with grilled courgettes and crescenza cheese
This is my own recipe and one of my favourites. I slice and grill the zucchini (courgettes o zucchine – Italian), while the zucchine are grilling I chop finely some parsley and a clove of garlic together. Then i mix the parsley and garlic in a cup with some extra-virgin olive oil of the highest quality I can find. I usually buy my EVO oil directly from the mill in Italy.
Preparation: once the bread is grilled, spread some crescenza cheese or other soft cheese on each bread slice, lay one slice of grilled zucchini folded in two parts to make it fit on the slice of bread, top with the sauce made with parlsey, garlic and EVO oil. Serve warm.
Bruschetta with olive paté and turkey
This is a very simple recipe that you make with sliced roasted turkey and olive paté. It’s very simple but tasty.
All you need to do i prepare the bread slices for bruschetta as previously shown, add a thin slice or two of cooked turkey and spread the olive paté on top.
As an alternative you can use pancetta slices.
The bread for the bruschetta has to be a slice of loaf of bread tosted or grilled on both sides. The bread for the crostini can be from a baguette or pre-sliced berad. The second difference is the crostini are smaller in size compared with the bruschetta.
Bruschetta is pronounced in Italian with a hard “c” like brusketta, the “c” is pronounced like the k in the word brisk. Many english speakers pronounce is bruscetta like brushetta, this is not the correct Italian pronounciation but we understand both versions.
