Last weekend, my parents decided they would organize a little get together to celebrate Labor Day, a holiday we know nothing about except that we get the day off. I don’t know about you, but to me that’s a good enough excuse to throw a party. When my mother phoned me about the blessed event, I cut right to the chase – what are we going to eat? I mean, no family gathering could be complete without food- that’s not even a question in our family. She immediately informed me that my father had already claimed the main course. Surprise surprise. He had recently himself king of the grill since he had become a dedicated student of Bobby Flay by cooking through the grill god’s recipes that were posted on Food Network. Ok, well I’ll do another course then. Haha – not so fast. I quickly discovered that I happened to be the last call on the list – all the courses had been snatched up by party-goers, leaving me in charge of the appetizer. Normally, I would just rip open a couple chip bags and yell out, “here you go!” but they now know the truth. They know I’ve been cooking (and blogging) day and night – so plain chips and salsa won’t cut it. They’ve seen the pictures…they’ve seen the recipes…they know I can do better. But, what do I do? What’s beautiful, bite-sized, and makes the group beg for more? I’m drawing a blank…
Let me start with the things I DO know…
- Everyone craves carbs.
- Who doesn’t like to dive into a good dip?
- Mom is tempted by the taste of tomatoes.
- Cheese on top makes anything chewable.
- My Italian dishes are always incredible.
By the list, it looks like I need bite-size pieces of bread spread with sauce and topped with tomatoes and cheese…all with an Italian twist. I only know of one dish that fulfills all five fantasies, but still fancy enough for a special family function – bruschetta. One problem – I’ve never made it before!!! I’ll need another cup of coffee so I can get my creative cooking juices flowing.
Because bruschetta calls for bread, I ran to the nearest bakery and picked up a freshly baked baguette. They were even so nice as to cut it into bite size slices for me since 1) less work for me, 2) it’s free, 3) I can eat bread samples while I wait.
After breaking out my cookie sheet, I (as I do with everything) sprayed it down with non-stick spray. Picking out the largest bread slices first, I spread them down 1/2 inch apart and covered the entire sheet. I may or may not have snacked on a few of the small pieces. Using my handy dandy kitchen brush (spoon works too) I dabbed some olive oil on one side and flipped them over (oil side down). The oil keeps it from sticking on the pan and gives it a great flavor. Yes, I do realize that I used both non-stick spray and oil. I’m anal about my food not sticking to the pan – if the dishwasher won’t clean it, don’t expect me to!
Popped ‘em into a hot 450 degree oven. It is seriously hot in there! Since I was going for crispy bread, not croutons, it only took 5 minutes to get them all nice and toasty. I was so proud of my mad toasting skills I flipped the right slices on the sheet over to show you what happened underneath. It’s MAGIC! No, not really…just thankful I didn’t have the fire detector go off this time!
On to the next ingredient! We are going to take this bruschetta up a notch and add a little something I DO know how to make – and very well if I don’t mind saying so myself.
What is that green globby lookin’ stuff? It’s PESTO!!! Click HERE for the recipe…or be a rebel and make up your own. For those of you who don’t have a minute to spare, they do sell pesto prepackaged, but it tastes oh sooo good when it’s homemade!
The mozzarella cheese. Ah yes, cheese makes everything and anything taste A-MAZ-ING. It’s true, no lie. Behold! Below is a beautiful ball of cheese…that I am about to chop into a million pieces.
And we’re choppin’…
Perfecto! Had to try a bite…just to see if the cheese is “still good” of course.
The red. The ripe. The really delicious…Roma Tomato. I got excited at the store and bought 6. I only needed 4. I sliced them up like I have before! Or maybe just like before…I can’t remember if I actually have cut slices that were a 1/4 inch thick.
Spray down the cookie sheet (same sheet, bread removed) with non-stick spray – seriously this time because tomatoes will stick to the pan and not come off. If you don’t, your pan will have burnt tomatoes stuck to the bottom until the end of time. You don’t want this. Use the spray. Then, I brushed on a thin coat of olive oil. Getting into Tinkerbell mode, I sprinkled “fairy dust” (salt and pepper) on the slices like a fairy. I had to immediately stop. I started scaring Snoopy…he doesn’t appreciate imagination in the kitchen.
The tomatoes toasted up in the blazing hot 450 degree oven for 20 minutes. I attempted to roast and not burn the tomatoes…I did quite well, but my fire detector didn’t know the difference…again pissed off Snoopy. By sliding a spatula carefully under the little tots, I removed them one-by-one while still warm. If you get lazy they will solidify to the pan!
Last but not least…the red onion!
My bruschetta is on an “onion light” diet to spare the breath of the dinner guests, so I finely sliced up only half of the onion.
In a skillet with the stove set to medium, I added 1 tablespoon of olive oil, 1 tablespoon of butter, and my bee-auuut-i-ful onion slices. Everything is better with butter! If you don’t believe me, ask Paula Deen.
After a few minutes of stirring and salivating over my future bites into bruschetta, I turned the heat down to medium low. Cooking onion low and slow will make it absolutely scrumptious and perfect to top this tasty appetizer.
Now what we have all been waiting for…the final moment…the assembly!
Just minutes before the party and with Merlot in hand, it was time to assemble my soon-to-be amazing appetizer.
Only a large platter will do, these guests are going to be terribly hungry!
Bread down, crusty side up.
Spread on my perfect pesto.
Maneuvered on the Mozzarella – oh my that looks yummy.
A slice of roasted tomato, slides carefully on the concoction.
A few strings of onion, I’m salivating as we speak (er…type).
To push it over the top (go BIG or go HOME), I sprinkled dried basil leaves (not like a fairy) and grated fresh pepper to perfection!
Taaah Daaah!
There it is…
The bold. The beautiful. The bite-sized…
Bruschetta!
Eat your heart out everybody!
But, you better not forget save room for that bar-b-q…you wouldn’t dare disappoint the self-declared grill king!
Wow jenn! Those look awesome!!
Jen, you know i LOVED the bruschetta!!! It was wonderful! And yes, we go crazy over your italian dishes! Perfection for sure! And the blog and photos, well frankly, i am IMPRESSED! LOL….what would you like to bring for Thanksgiving??? You can have first choice! you know i love you and am proud of you!
Where do you get your inspiration for the content on your site? Looking for suggestions as I can never come up with anything.
My mind works in mysterious ways and is always thinking about 101 things at once – both a gift and a curse I would say. My inspiration for the foods I make come from what flavors my family and friends love. On my humor or way of writing, I usually think about a movie, theme, or person and put myself in that mode for the entire article.