Bruschetta with Tomato & Basil Recipe
Transcript
00:00 Hi guys, I'm Laura Vitale. In this episode of Laura in the Kitchen, I'm going to show
00:21 you how to make a delicious and simple classic Italian appetizer, tomato and basil bruschetta.
00:28 Here's what you'll need. Red onion, tomatoes, garlic, fresh basil, extra virgin olive oil,
00:37 dried oregano, salt and pepper, and of course, bread. I prefer a French baguette, but whatever
00:44 your supermarket carries, like a crusty French bread, Italian bread, by all means, use what
00:49 you have. Okay, let's get started. First thing we're going to do is cut the tomatoes. Now,
00:55 the one thing I get really disappointed when I go into a restaurant and I get bruschetta
00:59 is that I always find that the tomatoes are like massacred. They're like almost juiced.
01:05 I want chunky tomatoes. I want a nice, chunky bruschetta. I don't like anything that's too
01:13 small, but I don't want anything that's too big that's going to fall off my bread either.
01:17 But that, for me, is perfect. But you can cut them a little smaller if you'd like, a
01:21 little bigger if you'd like that. Okay, all my tomatoes are chopped, so next I'm going
01:27 to cut the red onion. Now, remember what I said about the tomatoes. They shouldn't be
01:31 too fine, but the red onion, completely different. The red onion has to be very finely chopped
01:38 because I don't want to bite into a red onion. I just want to really have that little bit
01:42 of fire and kind of spiciness that a raw red onion brings you. So I'm just cutting a very
01:49 small amount. By the end of you chopping it, you'll want probably about a tablespoon or
01:57 so of red onion, maybe like a tablespoon and a half. You don't want more than that because
02:00 believe me, it's going to be overpowering and that's not going to make your bruschetta
02:05 very tasty. Trust me, they will pay off. If you have a dull chef's knife, it's a nightmare.
02:12 So there's the red onion. Now the garlic. I'm going to do, depending on the size of
02:20 the garlic, I'm probably going to do a clove. I think this is good. I think a clove is good.
02:25 It's a pretty nice big clove of garlic. Like I said, I don't want anything to be too overpowering
02:30 and too strong, and especially if you're having a party, you don't want to have garlic breath
02:34 while you talk to people. Okay, so I just whacked it with the back of my knife. And
02:40 same technique, you just want to go back and forth until it's really finely minced. You
02:49 could also grate this in if you wanted to. I sometimes do if I have my little microplane
02:54 near me. I just grate it right in the tomatoes, but I'm just going to chop it. Okay, so my
03:00 garlic is chopped. It's nice and minced, I should say. Now next is the basil. Fresh basil.
03:09 You cannot substitute parsley or dry basil because, you know, a lot of people don't understand
03:18 the difference between dried herbs and fresh herbs. Some dried herbs are fabulous to use.
03:25 I love to use dried thyme, dried marjoram, dried oregano is my favorite. I don't really
03:30 use fresh oregano because it's a little too strong for me, but fresh basil is something
03:36 that cannot be, has to be fresh basil, especially for tomato bruschetta. Has to be fresh basil.
03:42 Now, what I do is I just put it all in a bunch and I just start chiffonading it, which just
03:49 means just in really thin strips. And then just go over so that it's really finely minced
03:58 so you can distribute all the way through the tomatoes so that every single bite has
04:03 some basil and tomato. Now, the dried oregano. I love the aroma of dried oregano. I absolutely
04:21 adore it. I never really measured. It's something that I've been cooking for so many years,
04:29 I know how much I like of something, I know how much I don't like of something. I love
04:34 oregano and in this dish I always put about a teaspoon. I'm measuring this time for you
04:39 guys, but I never really do. So I'm just going to put about a teaspoon of dried oregano.
04:43 Maybe a teaspoon and a half. See, I never measure. And I'm going to put the salt and
04:53 pepper. Now, this is something I'm not going to measure because I really believe that salt
04:58 and pepper should be added to taste. I know I like more salt than most people, so I'm
05:03 just going to put as much as I think I'm going to like. But by all means, start with a small
05:09 amount and if you want more, just work yourself up. Never start with an excessive amount of
05:14 salt because you can't take it away. You can always add it, but you can't take it away.
05:25 You can't miss the salt because salt really brings out the flavor in all of these ingredients.
05:29 Pepper. Okay. And now, the olive oil. I'm going to use about, I don't know, two, three
05:42 tablespoons maybe. It has to be really good extra virgin olive oil. Okay, now we're going
05:50 to leave this here. Look how beautiful that is. See all those colors? It's kind of like
05:54 the Italian flag. It's like red, white, and green. How beautiful. You see how chunky it
05:59 is so that when you're mixing it, all the juices from the tomatoes and the olive oil,
06:03 they're really going to be so delicious on the bread. No idea. This bread now, oh, it's
06:09 going to be delicious. It's so crusty. Now, I'm going to show you how to slice a baguette
06:14 for this appetizer. I never slice it just like that, in rounds, because it's about this
06:21 big and it gives me no surface for the tomatoes. So I always slice it at an angle. First thing
06:28 I'm going to do is get rid of this first one because it's kind of difficult to chop up.
06:32 Don't throw it away though. It goes next. Don't cut it too thin. Like that. That'll
06:41 be perfect. And that's your first cut. So my grill pan's preheated. Now, if you don't
06:46 have a grill pan, you can always just put, just preheat your oven at 375 and just put
06:51 your slices of bread in there for about 5 minutes until it's just golden crispy. If
06:55 you don't want to dispense with that step, put it in your toaster. If however, you don't
06:58 even want the crispy bread, you can always just put the tomato mixture right on top of
07:02 the bread as is. But I want to warn you that the bread can get soggy. Now, for most people,
07:09 if most people don't have a grill pan and they wonder if it's something they should
07:12 invest in, if it's something that they should have, I think it's one of the best tools you
07:16 can find. Mine's really old. Mine's about 10 years old. I've had it for as long as I
07:20 can remember. This is one of the very first things my dad actually bought for me. And
07:24 I love it. It's really seasoned, as you can see. It's really seasoned. It's one of my
07:30 favorite tools in my kitchen. But if it's a brand new grill pan and it's not seasoned,
07:34 then I would suggest putting some olive oil on it. But I'm good to go just as is. So I'm
07:39 just going to put my slices of bread right on. This is going to be so good. Bread's done.
07:49 Now we assemble. Okay. Look how beautiful this is. Now, I'm just going to plate three
07:58 of them just to show you the finished product and what it looks like. But take a big platter,
08:04 just top them. Or what I even do for parties, I just take a big plate, put this charred
08:09 bread on, which looks gorgeous on a nice rustic brown plate. Pretty little bowl with a bruschetta
08:14 on the side. People help themselves. Perfect. Okay. So here we go. Look at that. Oh my god.
08:23 It's going to be so delicious. You see that? Look at those colors. Oh, it's going to be
08:34 so good. Look at that. I think this one needs a little more. It's a little lonely. Okay.
08:47 I like to see a couple little tomatoes on the plate. I just think it looks pretty. There
08:53 we go. I'm just going to put a little bit of basil on each one. Look at that. How pretty
09:03 is that? I'm telling you, the star of the show will be you when you bring these to your
09:12 friend's house or when you have these at your own party. Trust me. So good. There we go.
09:21 Look at that. Bruschetta. Thank you so much for watching, you guys. Now, you better go
09:25 back in the kitchen right now and make this. If you want to impress your date, if you want
09:30 to impress your friends, I suggest you make this right now. These are ingredients you
09:34 can find in your supermarket anywhere. So it's going to be so, so, so delicious. Thanks
09:41 for watching, guys. I hope you enjoyed yourselves, and I'll see you next time. Bye-bye.
09:45 [Music]