Bruschetta

Bread grilled over fire, rubbed with raw garlic while hot, and oiled before anything else.

Vegan.

Ingredients

• 8 thick slices country bread
• 4 cloves garlic, halved
• 6 tablespoons good olive oil
• 400 g ripe tomatoes, diced
• flaky salt
• a few basil leaves

Method

1. Grill the bread over coals or under the hottest grill until it is charred in stripes and still soft inside. A toaster dries it through; you want a crust and a yielding middle.
2. RUB THE GARLIC ON WHILE THE BREAD IS TOO HOT TO HOLD. The cut face melts against the rough charred surface and leaves garlic behind — on cool bread it skids about and leaves almost nothing. This is the whole of the dish's name.
3. Pour the oil over at once, generously, so it soaks in while the bread is warm.
4. Salt the tomatoes separately and leave them 5 minutes, then drain off the water they give out. Wet tomatoes on oiled bread make a soggy raft.
5. Spoon them on, tear basil over, and eat immediately. Assembled even ten minutes early this goes limp.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under Italy · All recipes