Easy, affordable entertaining recipe - Bruschetta

We had my grandma, aunt and uncle over for dinner last night. I made bruschetta, roasted chicken and a salad.  It was amazingly easy (and cheap and delicious too!). The roasted chicken recipe will be making an appearance in a "what's in Dan's lunch" post soon, so stay tuned!

I took my family up on their offer to bring dessert. In my opinion, it's rarely a bad idea to let your guests bring a dish if they ask; it makes them happy they contributed and saves you some work!

This bruschetta is so delicious, fast and inexpensive that you will never want to order it at a restaurant again.



Classic Bruschetta
Serves ~6

2 T. fresh basil, chopped OR 1/2 to 1 tsp. dried basil
2-3 large tomatoes or 4-6 Roma tomatoes - approx 2 c. diced
2 T. balsamic vinegar
Salt and pepper to taste
1/4 c. olive oil (you can use more or less to taste)
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 loaf French baguette (I've used multi-grain but white would be great too. Look first in the day-old bakery rack since you're toasting it anyway)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Note that you can actually use anywhere from 375 to 425 for this if you are cooking anything else in the oven.

Seed and chop tomatoes; seeding just means to scoop out the inside, liquid part with a spoon. Combine in a small bowl with basil and balsamic vinegar and salt and pepper. Set aside.

Thinly slice baguette at a slight angle. Brush with olive oil and sprinkle garlic over the top. Bake bread for 7-9 minutes or until golden brown.

Drain extra liquid from tomatoes before serving. Let people top the bread slices with tomato mixture as you serve; do not top the bread before serving or it will get soggy.

Variation: Cheesy bruschetta
It's not traditional, but I added some sliced fresh mozzarella to half of the baguette halfway through the cooking time and baked until melted. I happened to have fresh mozzarella because I got it on mark-down at the store, but any shredded Italian cheese such as mozzarella or provolone would work. This allowed people to just have cheesy bread if they don't want the tomato mixture, but the cheese bread with the tomato topper was my absolute favorite.