Easy Warm Bruschetta Dinner
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This Easy Warm Bruschetta Dinner is the ultimate healthy weeknight recipe. It's grown up version of tomato cheese toasts that everyone will love.
It's Throw Back Thursday time again! For this #tbt, we're going WAY back to the beginning of the blog. This is the second recipe I ever shared.
The original post had a single photo that I had taken with my iPhone 3. No part of the image is in focus and you can barely tell it's a picture of food. You'd never know it was bruschetta. Please tell me you'll check out the picture and have a little laugh with (at) me. I've hidden it just below the recipe.
The original recipe also made me laugh so hard that I kept it in here for you to see. It's a list of ingredients with no indication of quantities. It's like I wrote you a shopping list, not a recipe ingredient list.
Even though the original pictures and recipe writing were pretty hilarious, the recipe (once you figured out how to make it) was delicious. It's a lot like the tomato cheese toasts that I grew up eating at least once a week. Only this easy warm bruschetta recipe is a little more grown-up.
Because of the simplicity of the recipe, the ingredients really do need to be the best possible. While you could technically make this easy warm bruschetta with sandwich bread and winter tomatoes, you wouldn't fall in love with it.
Let's start with the bread …
See the bread up there? That's my favorite bread in the city. Say the name Fife Bread to anyone in Vancouver and the accolades will start pouring in. Buy an unsliced loaf from your favorite bakery and slice it thick. If you don't have a nice bakery near you, buy a baguette from the grocery store and slice it on a thick diagonal.
And onto the tomatoes …
These babies make up the bulk of the recipe, so you want them to be the best they can be. If you're lucky enough to have a garden, head outside to pick a few. The next best bet is to hit up your farmers' market.
If those two aren't available to you, or it's winter, opt for cherry tomatoes. Those little red beauties are almost always sweet and are a much better choice when it's not tomato season.
Original post date: September 15th, 2011
Sometimes figuring out what to eat for dinner can be a little challenging. Even if you love food as much as I do, you can’t always be prepared. We’re not all Boy Scouts, after all.
Tonight was one of those ‘I’m not prepared nights.’ It was one of those nights where I opened my fridge door to find only a few small scraps of vegetables and a whole whack of condiments. I was also exhausted from camping and starving since I hadn’t eaten since 1:00, and it was now close to 10:00. And I had a huge hike with a heavy pack on my back. It’s a miracle that I managed to scrounge up anything edible at all. It is also a miracle that what I did scrounge up with completely and utterly delicious.
Easy Warm Bruschetta: one of life’s simple pleasures. It is also ridiculously fast and easy to make and, I think, healthy for you too. I found a handful of cherry tomatoes that I had bought at last week’s Vancouver Farmers Market. There were little red ones, yellow ones and those dark colored tomatoes that for some reason are always called black but don’t look black to me at all. Being the end of August, and smack in the middle of garlic season, I had a few cloves to throw in, too. It’s a good thing I hadn’t planned on kissing anyone, those little cloves were potent! I found some slightly wilted basil in a little bag in the bottom of my hiking pack, but I wasn’t going to be too picky about a little wilty-ness.
In less than 5 minutes I had defrosted 3 slices of Terra Breads Italian cheese bread I had in my freezer, combined some minced garlic, chopped tomatoes and torn basil leaves with a good dose of olive oil, a splash of truffle infused balsamic vinegar and a few pinches of sea salt. 5 minutes, and a good sprinkling of Parmesan Reggiano later, I sat down to warm garlicky, tomato-y, basil-y deliciousness. Pure happiness.
Easy Warm Bruschetta Recipe
Ingredients
- 4 thick-cut slices of bread
- 1 ½ lbs tomatoes (chopped (see notes))
- ¼ cup olive oil – use the best you have
- 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
- ¼ cup chopped basil
- 1 large garlic clove (very finely minced)
- 1 ½ teaspoons flaky sea salt (I like Maldon)
- ½ teaspoon fresh cracked pepper
- ¼ cup grated parmesan cheese
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to broil. Set 4 thick-cut slices of bread on a baking sheet.
- In a medium-sized bowl, combine the tomatoes, olive oil, balsamic vinegar, basil, and garlic. Save the juices that will be in the bottom of the bowl. Divide the tomatoes evenly between the slices of bread. Sprinkle with the sea salt and black pepper and top with the parmesan cheese.1 ½ lbs tomatoes, ¼ cup olive oil – use the best you have, 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar, ¼ cup chopped basil, 1 large garlic clove, 1 ½ teaspoons flaky sea salt, ½ teaspoon fresh cracked pepper, ¼ cup grated parmesan cheese
- Place in your oven and broil for 7-8 minutes, or until the tomatoes are hot. Remove from the oven and spoon the reserved juices from the tomatoes over top. Serve with a little fresh basil sprinkled over the top.
Notes
Nutrition
We have thoroughly tested this recipe for accuracy. However, individual results may vary. See our full recipe disclosure here.
