Classic Tomato Basil Bruschetta
This bruschetta is a classic burst of fresh summer flavours – tomato, basil and garlic, and makes for a perfect appetizer before a big meal, or handed out as a canape.
Prep Time 5 minutes mins
Cook Time 10 minutes mins
Course Appetizer and Starters
Servings 4
Calories 238 kcal
- 8 ripe vine tomatoes diced
- ½ sourdough bread loaf
- olive oil to brush
- 1 clove garlic
- 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 handful basil leaves chopped
- salt and freshly ground black pepper
Preheat oven to 180degC/355 Fahrenheit.
Slice sourdough on an angle into ½ cm thick slices. You should end up with 12-18 slices. Brush with olive oil and lay on a baking tray. Bake for 15 minutes or until golden and crispy. Cut garlic clove in half and lightly rub raw garlic over bruschetta.
Place diced tomatoes in a bowl and season with salt, cover and set aside in the fridge for 10 minutes. The salt will draw out some excess liquid from the tomatoes.
Drain excess liquid from the tomatoes and mix in extra virgin olive oil and basil. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
Serve bruschetta with the tomatoes and a spoon to allow people to serve themselves.
With a simple dish such as bruschetta, using the best possible ingredients is key. Ensure your bread is nice and fresh, tomatoes are ripe, basil is fresh and fragrant and extra-virgin olive oil is good quality with a strong aroma. While rubbing the sourdough with the garlic clove may seem odd, it imparts a lot more garlic flavour then you would expect, without the harshness of eating whole chunks of raw garlic.
Although commonly pronounced as ‘bru-shet-ta’, the correct pronunciation for these crispy bread bases is ‘brus-ket-ta’ in Italian.