Roasted Tomato Bruschetta

Oct 01, 2014, Updated Jan 02, 2018

Italian Bruschetta with roasted tomatoes and fresh basil.

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I can’t believe it’s October already, where did the year go? October is my favorite month of the year, not only because it’s full of festivities but also because it’s my birthday month! So this week is going to all about cakes and more cakes! But today’s recipe is not a dessert in fact it’s one of the easiest appetizers/starters to make if not the easiest – Bruschetta. No, think about it there’s no prep work involved, the actual process itself is quite simple and the best part it tastes so wonderful and also looks amazing. So it’s win-win situation!

The first cuisine that I loved (other than Indian of course) was Italian. The reason? Pizzas and pastas were the only “non-Indian” food we knew while we were in school. So anything which was not Indian obviously made us very excited. Anyway we would get to eat Indian everyday at home and so whenever we ate out, we always ordered pizzas and pastas and I was the biggest pizza fan around! In India, the Italian food back then was far from being authentic. It was all made the “Indian way” with restaurants serving “paneer tikka masala pizzas” and so on!

But after few years, all sorts of cuisines became popular in India and we also started getting authentic Italian food in Delhi. One day I went to this fancy Italian restaurant in Delhi, I had heard that they serve the best Italian food in the city so obviously I was quite excited about it. However my excitement was short-lived because I had not realized that I love the Indian version of Italian food which was far from being close to the real deal. The pizzas were too bland for my taste and I could hardly finish them.

But over the years I have developed the taste for real Italian food too. I especially like their appetizers and desserts. One of my favorite Italian appetizer is Bruschetta. Like I said before it’s so easy to make and also looks very fancy. Perfect to make when you have a party at home!

Traditionally for bruschetta the baguette is cut diagonally and rubbed with garlic-oil mixture and then topped with tomatoes and basil. I mixed everything together, let the topping sit for an hour [that helps in flavors coming together] and then placed it on toasted breads. You can make it either way. Also for this recipe, I roasted the tomatoes just because I love the flavor it gives to the bruschetta. You can skip roasting them and add tomatoes as such too.

Method

* Preheat oven to 400 F degrees.

Wash 1 lb of grape tomatoes and toss them with 1 tablespoon of olive oil, salt and pepper. Transfer to a baking sheet.

Roast at 400 F degrees for around 20 minutes. Remove from oven and set aside.

In a pan heat 1.5 tablespoons of oil on medium heat.

Once the oil is hot add minced garlic to it.

Cook for a minute or so till it starts turning light golden in color. Remove from heat. Be careful not to burn it.

In a bowl add the roasted tomatoes, chopped basil leaves, garlic-oil mixture, balsamic vinegar and salt & pepper to taste. Mix everything together till well combined. Mash some of the tomatoes at this point [or you can mash all] , cover and let the topping sit for 1-2 hours.
Cut the baguette diagonally or in circles. Generally it’s cut diagonally for bruschetta.

Toast or grill the bread. You can also roast them in the oven. I used my grill pan.

Arrange the toasts on serving plate and place the topping on top.

Serve immediately.

* Adjust the quantity of balsamic vinegar to taste. I added around 1 teaspoon but you can go up to 2 teaspoons.

* You can also add some red onions to this recipe to enhance the flavor.

* Be careful not to burn the garlic, cook till it’s just light golden in color.