iamaneviltaco

Keeping in the theme of light, summery italian cuisine, here's an amazing starter that can be quickly fired on a grill, or just tossed together before dinner. It's great date food, and criminally simple. Omit the topping and you have bruschetta classica, or real authentic italian garlic bread.

Ingredients:
diced de-seeded tomatoes (Again, I go with campari. Plum tomatoes would be great here, as well.)
sliced thick crusted italian bread, about 1/2 inch thick.
1 clove of garlic, peeled
extra virgin olive oil
chopped basil (stack all of the basil, roll it into a tube, and then chop it. This is called julienne, and I find it provides maximum flavor and great texture, because of the long thin strips)
salt and pepper to taste

So, start off by toasting the bread in your broiler, a toaster oven, or on a grill. Grill it till it's golden brown. While it's toasting, mix together the tomatoes, basil, enough olive oil to coat the mixture without making it insanely soggy, and the salt and pepper. TASTE. That's the only way to be sure you've got a good mix. I'd give you portions, but this is really a make it how you like it kind of dish.

PROTIP: I keep a small container of diced tomatoes onhand, constantly, so I don't need to mess with dicing anything when I want to make a chunky sauce, salsa, or bruschetta.

After the bread is toasted, rub it (you'll feel silly, but it really does work) with the clove of garlic, gently. Then sprinkle the olive oil onto the bread, getting it a bit moist but being careful not to make it too soggy. Stop here, and you have traditional italian garlic bread. This is real bruschetta, the authentic basic recipe doesn't have the tomatoes. So, if a restaurant claims their bruschetta al pomodoro is just bruschetta, laugh at them like a good food snob.

For bruschetta al pomodoro, spoon a good helping of the herbed tomato mixture onto the bread. Simple enough.

Variations on this are many. I suggest away from vinaigrettes, as they can overpower the sweet simplicity of the tomatoes and basil, and hide the garlic entirely. The authentic italian style stuff never uses vinegar. The best variation I feel you can do is simply to chop up a clove of garlic and toast it lightly in a pan, in a tiny bit of olive oil, and mix it in to the tomatoes, then add in some grated fresh parmigiana reggio cheese. If you must add a bit more spice to it, I suggest fresh chopped oregano, in a very small quantity.

If you're taking this to a barbecue, mix together the topping beforehand and bring it in a bag in a cooler, fire the bread on the grill, and continue as normal. This, at a cookout, would be unexpected. In the land of potato salad, the bruschetta reigns supreme.