06th Jun 2010
Basic Bruschetta Recipe
Bruschetta is a no-brainer, good typical Italian food: toasted bread with a topping. It’s a typically used as appetizer all over Italy, although it has Tuscan origins.
Not any type of bread should be used to make bruschetta. The typical bruschetta bread is also known as Tuscan bread and has the particularity of being completely unsalted. As it often happens, it is not completely clear why there is no salt. The most popular explanation among food historians is that the flavours in Tuscan regional cuisine are quite strong, intense, spicy, and unique, hence the importance of having a neutral tasting bread, which highlights the flavours instead of changing or masking them.
If you are in Tuscany, you may hear the locals call bruschetta with a different name: fettunta, a combination of two words, fetta and unta, meaning slice and greasy respectively. The best time of the year to taste the real fettunta is November, when olives harvest begins and the new oil is produced, which has a very strong flavour. The tradition of spreading olive oil on toasted bread goes as far back as the Romans.
Bruschetta is a typical dish per se, and comes in infinite variations, and although none of them has acquired the status of “traditional bruschetta recipe”, perhaps the most basic is the one with herbs and tomatoes, more common in the south of Italy.
Here is the recipe for three people:
- 3 plum tomatoes
- 1 small bunch of basil
- 1 garlic cloves
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- ½ tbsp parsley, chopped
- ½ tsp oregano, chopped
- 6 small slices white ciabatta bread (Tuscan unsalted bread)
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Peel the tomatoes, and dice them. wash the basil, pat it dry with kitchen paper and dice it. Put together the tomatoes, garlic, olive oil salt, pepper and herbs, and let it rest for 15 minutes.
In the meantime, toast the bread in a the oven or in a toaster on both sides, until crispy and golden. Carefully place the tomato topping on the bread and serve wth the bread still hot.
Other articles you might like;
Leave a Reply