we love bruschettas. they're easy to make, endlessely adaptable, and they require basic ingredients that everyone has in their kitchen, like bread.
this cliché about french people is actually true: we always have bread at home, and it's unconceivable to have a meal without it.
and almost everytime there is a small argument when the three of us are home, it's about bread:
mom: "where's the bread?"
m.: "you told dad to buy 2 baguettes this morning."
dad: "i told a. to buy 3 baguettes on her way back."
mom: "3? but i said only 2!"
a. walks through the door.
mom, dad, m.: "do you have the bread?"
a.: "nobody told me to buy some."
s. arrives: "where's the bread?"
anyway, bruschettas are also a good way to use the previous day's bread! and it can be perfect as a main dish with a side salad.
for 6 bruschettas:
6 slices of country style bread (what we call in french "pain de campagne")
goat cheese
2 tomatoes
1 garlic clove
olive oil
a dozen of fresh basil leaves
a pinch of salt
a pinch of pepper
preheat the oven at 200 °C (390 F).
place the slices of bread on a baking sheet covered with parchment paper.
peel the garlic clove, and cut it in half. rub it on the slices of bread, the same way you would use an eraser on a sheet of paper. if you don't want your fingers to smell like garlic for the rest of the week, hold the garlic halves with a fork.
wash the tomatoes, and cut them in half. repeat what you've done with the garlic using tomato halves. you should end up with only the skin of the tomatoes left in your hand. the slices of bread should be moist.
drizzle with olive oil.
add 2 or 3 thin slices of goat cheese on each slice.
salt and pepper to taste, and add the basil leaves, coarsely chopped.
cook in the oven for about 10 minutes until the goat cheese is slightly melted.
leave to cool and eat cold.
piece of advice:
we love eating these bruschettas cold, but you can also eat them hot, right out of the oven
you can add whatever you have in the fridge, ham, olives, anchovies, ...
