Balsamic Bruschetta

My goal for this week was to find an appetizer that could become an old-faithful/back-up/go-to type appetizer; something that wasn’t too casual or too fancy (or difficult); and something that I could serve to a few friends or make for a crowd. I thought that a good bruschetta recipe could fit just what I was looking for. I have made bruschetta before, but have never been satisfied with the end product, so I looked at a lot of different recipes, and read a lot of the comments people had made about each of these recipes. In the end, I based my bruschetta around the Balsamic Bruschetta recipe on allrecipes.com, but made some alterations. Here is the recipe as I made it.

Ingredients

• 8 roma tomatoes, deseeded and diced
• ¼ cup chopped fresh basil
• ¼ cup shredded Parmesan cheese
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• ¼ cup chopped Vidalia onion
• 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1 baguette, sliced
• garlic butter
• 24 thin slices of mozzarella cheese

In a bowl, toss together the tomatoes, basil, Parmesan cheese, onion, and garlic. Mix in the balsamic vinegar, olive oil, salt, and pepper. Spread garlic butter (I used a garlic butter recipe from allrecipes.com, which was good, but be warned, it’s quite salty) on both sides of the baguette slices. Put in 450 degree oven for about 4 minutes. Take out the pan and flip them (so that the crispier side is now up). Top with a spoonful of bruschetta and a slice of mozzarella cheese. Put back in oven for three more minutes, or until cheese is melted.



I made this for a group of friends that came over (Charlotte included) and it was well received. One friend commented that she liked that there was a salty flavour on the bottom of the bread in addition to the flavours on top. I got the garlic butter tip (and my inspiration for trying bruschetta) from my aunt a couple weeks ago. It makes it slightly more labour intensive, a little less healthy, but overall worth it, I think.