Three Way Bruschetta

To most Italians, this is just a cheap and simple snack.  It is quite strange to me, to see this being sold on resturaunt menus at quite a premium price.

It is very easy to make, no harder than say making cheese on  toast, and is alot more healthy for you to eat. No matter how tired I am, I still manage to rustle this up as a snack, or a light meal. In this example, I provide three versions to provide lots of varities to suit all tastes.  You really have to trust me when I say these are delicious. As a note, do not be scared of using alot of Olive oil, it is extremely healthy for you.


INGREDIENTS:

Extra Virgin Olive oil,
Sliced Ciabatta  (but you could use any real bread if desperate, but not the ready sliced bagged stuff)
Tomatoes, Fresh, diced,
Garlic cloves
Fresh Basil*
Salt an Pepper to season,
Slices of Mozarella (Optional 1)
Balsamic Vinegar (Optional  1)
Tinned Cannelini Beans,  Crushed with a fork, (Optional 2)
Blanched Broad Beans, Skinned (Optional 3)



METHOD:

-Chop the fresh tomatoes into a small dice, seeds, skin, everything.  (Forget cutting those huge beef tomatoes into neat slices, or de-seeding and removing skins, that is not for Bruschetta).

-Mix a tiny pinch of salt into the chopped tomatoes, this will extract excess water, and improve flavour, and now add torn (or chopped) fresh basil leaves, and let the tomato basil mix sit for a while.

-Brush some Extra Virgin Olive oil onto both sides of the bread slices, and drop the bread onto a hot grill pan, or under the grill if you don't have one, and toast.  Don't forget if your using a grill pan, always oil the food, and not the pan!

-When the bread is toasted, you have a choice of rubbing garlic onto the bread, for a subtle hint,or if like me you love garlic, crush/finely chop the garlic and combine into the earlier prepared chopped tomato mixture.

- Onto the bread add a tiny extra drizzle of Extra Virgin Olive Oil, and then add the chopped tomato mix, so that they cover the bread, not too thick.

- Throw the bruschetta under a hot grill for a few seconds, and drizzle with a final drop of the Extra
Virgin Olive Oil and season with salt and freshly ground pepper.

(Optional 1)
Instead of the plain Bruschetta as above, you can make this more substantial by adding a layer of mozarella cheese. The addition of the balsamic really helps to contrast the milkyness of the Mozarella, and in my opinion is essential.

- If you wish you could now heat some Balsamic Vinegar in a pan until the quantity you add, reduces to a syrup consistency. Normally this occurs when you reduce the quantity by about a quarter.

- Place a slice of Mozarella onto the tomato, and grill again until it softens.

- Drizzle the Balsamic reduction you made, over the top (not too much, it is very powerful).

(Optional 2 or Optional 3)
Not everybody loves tomatoes, or just for a change, you could use Cannelini beans or Broad beans in lieu of the tomatoes. The taste is very unusual and a nice change to a plain Bruschetta.

-All you do is mash up the Cannelini beans or Broad beans, with Olive oil, crushed garlic, season the mix well, and paste them generously onto the toasted Ciabatta.

-Again drizzle with copious amounts of Extra Virgin Olive oil and Serve!

Do not use the basil in this Optional recipe. Enjoy!