Bruschette Semplice

You are all very lucky that you can make your bruschette outside on your Weber grill as the summer evening is cooling off. If I want to make them, I have to turn on the oven to 500 degrees which is absolutely insane considering it has been, on average, 95 degrees here for the last 2 weeks.

What you need:

Hot coals
Day or two old bread, nothing airy, you want thick, sturdy bread
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
A clove of garlic, whole and unpeeled
Any toppings you want

First step is to slice your bread into 1 inch thick pieces. Drizzle one side with olive oil and a tiny pinch of salt. Toss them on the hot, hot grill with the oiled side down. After you get the nice grill marks (a little burn is good too), flip them over, add another small drizzle of oil and grill them for another minute or two. Here is the key, take the unpeeled, clove of garlic and cut one end of it off and then LIGHTLY rub it across the toast, one time! You should immediately get the lovely scent of garlic on the hot bread. If you love garlic and don't mind tasting it for a few days, feel free to get crazy with it. Also, I leave the peel on because I don't like the smell of garlic on my fingers, ma come voui (but how you want)! The last step is to add the toppings, another drizzle of olive oil and a pinch of salt in that order (or you end up with all of the salt on the plate and not the food). Buon appetito!

Greenish-Red tomatoes* with torn basil and olive oil
Sweet Cherry Tomatoes with torn basil and olive oil

You could just as easily add some nice mozzarrella to these and have Bruschette Caprese, another favorite is with arugula and cherry tomatoes. Really, what you pile on top is your business, just mind the simple procedure and you'll be really happy.

*Avoid using really ripe red tomatoes because they end up soaking your bread and you lose the "toastiness" of it. That's why they use the unripe tomatoes here a lot of the time.