I have been sitting out for the last few weeks of the Food Matters Project because the end of the school year always seems to kick my tail with obligatory things while all of my fun projects get shoved to the background. But when a friend and I decided to split up dishes for our own Mothers' Day feast and I took appetizers, I knew that I could squeeze in this week's Bittman assignment - Bruschetta Rethought - which was selected by Laura of Chef Laura at Home.
First, an Italian lesson, because nothing makes me want to walk out of an Italian restaurant more than when the waiter pronounces something incorrectly. Sorry. Just a pet peeve of mine.
This dish is pronounced brews-Keh-ta not brew-SHeh-ta. We were recently at an Italian deli and I ordered two drinks for my kids - one aranciata and one limonata. The man behind the counter said, "Wow, I've worked here for 6 years and you are the first person who has ever pronounced those correctly. God, I hate how people butcher the Italian language." Glad to know I'm not alone in that.
Second, click here for what our week's hostess did with her bruschetta. And to see what the other bloggers created, click here and look in the comments section.
I used an artisan loaf that had large chunks of salt pressed into the top before it was baked, so I didn't add any salt to my toppings. But I'm getting ahead of myself.
Slice your bread into thick slices and broil the bread - or grill it - until it is lightly browned on both sides.
Typically you would rub the bread with fresh garlic and then top it. I added fresh garlic to my topping so I skipped rubbing garlic on the bread. I did spread a thin layer of marscarpone on the toasts before topping them.
I love things that are little more than stir-and-go yet are packed with flavor. This is one of those things. In a large mixing bowl, I stirred together...chopped dried figs
diced green olives
sliced garlic cloves
fresh oregano
freshly ground pepper
Splash of olive oil
Then I served the bruschetta with a rhubarb syrup-champagne cocktail. Cheers and happy mothers' day to all the moms - of boys, girls, critters, or any combination of those!!
Reading the ingredients in your toppings now makes me wish I picked one of the Bittman choices... figs and olives together sound so exotic!
ReplyDeleteThat sounds delicious and I love your cocktail!
ReplyDeleteWhat a great combo!
ReplyDeleteFigs- why did I not think of that?!? Great idea- this will definitely have to be redone when figs are in season around here. Thanks for the great idea & yay to pronouncing things correctly! =)
ReplyDeleteYum! This sounds absolutely delicious, I'm going to need to find a way to get some figs and olives into a meal pronto!
ReplyDelete