Last autumn my boyfriend and I spent a couple weeks driving around Italy in the region of Umbria (central Italy, a bit south of Tuscany / Florence). One of our favourite things to do when travelling is to experience the local flavours, and where better to do that than in Italy, right?
In order to be able to better bring those flavours back home we decided to spend a day following a cooking workshop. We spent several hours learning how to make different types of fresh pasta and ravioli as well as my boyfriend’s favourite dessert, panna cotta.
During a break in our cooking we spent a bit of time sitting out on the terrace, sipping some proper Italian red wine, and enjoying our teacher’s homemade bruschetta.
We didn’t get to make bruschetta ourselves as our teacher insisted it needed to rest overnight to allow the flavours to come together. However, I did pick up some valuable tips for this seemingly simple dish that has allowed me to recreate it at home!
The main tip was to not include any fresh garlic in your bruschetta mixture as it can easily overpower the other flavours. Instead, slice a clove of garlic in half and rub the cut side on your toasted bread before loading up on the bruschetta topping. It was a total game changer and I definitely recommend trying it yourself!
Bruschetta
Ingredients:
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3 medium tomatos, diced
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1 red onion, diced
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1 tbsp (15mL) fresh basil, chopped
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1 tbsp (15mL) olive oil
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1 tsp (5 mL) apple cider vinegar
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pinch each of sea salt & pepper
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2 garlic cloves, halved
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bread
In a medium sized bowl combine all ingredients except the garlic cloves and mix well.
Allow to sit for several hours or overnight for the flavours to develop (you can use right away if you want, of course!).
On a slice of freshly toasted bread, rub all over with the cut side of the garlic clove.
Load up your bread with the tomato mixture.
Enjoy!
Serves 4
