Bruschetta
An Italian country snack, originally a way to taste new olive oil: toasted bread rubbed with garlic, topped with salted tomatoes and basil.
Salt the tomatoes first, so they have time to release their juice while the bread is toasted hard and rubbed with garlic and oil while still hot. Assemble the bruschetta only just before serving, so the crisp crust meets the juicy tomatoes. Draining the tomatoes determines whether the bread stays crunchy or turns soggy.
Ingredients
The tomatoes
- 600 g ripe plum tomatoes, cut into roughly 1 cm cubes
- ½ tsp salt
- 12 leaf fresh basil, torn into pieces with your fingers
- 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
The bread
- 8 slice rustic country bread, about 1.5 cm thick
- 2 clove garlic, halved lengthwise
- 4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- flaky sea salt
How to make it
- Cut the tomatoes into roughly 1 cm cubes and toss them in a bowl with the salt until the salt is evenly distributed over all the cubes.Chef's tip Salt draws water out of the tomato cells by osmosis, so it needs a few minutes of contact to work. Toss until every cube looks wet-edged rather than dumping the salt in one spot.
- Let the tomatoes sit for 10 minutes, until a distinct pool of reddish juice has collected in the bottom of the bowl. ⏱ 10 min · passive
- Drain off the tomatoes' juice so it doesn't soften the bread later. Then toss the cubes with the 2 tbsp olive oil and the torn basil leaves until they're glossy with oil.Chef's tip Don't press or squeeze the cubes — you'll crush the flesh into pulp and lose the distinct cubes. Tip the bowl and pour the juice off; it's excellent in a dressing or drunk on the spot.
- Heat a grill pan over high heat, or turn the oven broiler to full power. Toast the bread slices dry, with no fat, for 6-8 minutes total, turning them once partway through. They're done when they have dark stripes and are crisp on the outside but still soft in the middle.Chef's tip Toast dry, with no oil on the bread. Oil in a screaming-hot pan smokes and turns bitter, and the surface you want is a rough, dry crust — the oil comes later, once the heat is off it.
- Immediately rub the hot top side of each slice with a halved garlic clove. Give it only two or three strokes, since the toasted crust grates the garlic like a grater, and more will make the bruschetta taste sharp. The surface should smell distinctly of garlic without looking white.
- Drizzle about half a tablespoon of olive oil over each slice and sprinkle with flaky sea salt while the bread is still hot. The oil should soak into the toasted grooves and make the surface glossy.
- Spoon the oiled tomato cubes onto the bread slices just before serving, so the bread doesn't have time to turn soggy. Place the assembled slices on a board in the middle of the table. Bruschetta is eaten with your fingers, straight away, in two or three bites, while the crust still crunches beneath the tomatoes.Chef's tip Lift the cubes out with a slotted spoon or a fork, leaving the juice they have given off behind in the bowl. Even a couple of spoonfuls under the tomatoes will turn the crust soft in under a minute.
