I wasn’t planning on making a post about the bruschetta that I was going to make for dinner tonight. I knew I was in the mood for some TBM (tomato, basil, mozzarella), so I thought I’d try to mimic what I’ve often enjoyed at gatherings with friends and in restaurants, and whip up a quick bruschetta for dinner.
It turned out to be kind of an amusing experience.
The Recipe
I wasn’t working off of a “real” recipe here, but the plan was to make bruschetta, which, to me, means baked slices of baguette with olive oil and a garlic rubdown, topped with fresh mozzarella, fresh basil, and chopped cherry tomatoes. Here’s my version of the recipe (and my first attempt at recipe writing):
Serves 2-3 for a snack, or 1 (hungry girl) for dinner
1 baguette
Olive oil (maybe a few tablespoons?)
One clove of garlic
One handful of ripe, red cherry or grape tomatoes
One “bunch” of fresh basil
One “ball” of fresh mozzerella
One scholarship to culinary school so I learn to measure in real amounts
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Slice the baguette into inch-long slices (discarding the ends), and place on a cookie sheet or baking sheet, about four to a row. Drizzle a little olive oil on each piece of bread, just enough to coat maybe ½ of the slice. Cut your garlic clove in half, and rub the cut-side on each piece of bread. Unless you love for your hands to smell like garlic, I’d recommend trying to hold the little half-clove with a paper towel or napkin, although this gets a little tricky and slips out of the hands often. Bake bread slices for about 10 minutes, checking on them every so often after the 5-minute mark.
Slice the tomatoes into halves or quarters, depending how large of tomato slices you want on each piece of bread. Rinse some fresh basil and either tear or chop into smaller pieces. Finally, cut thin slices of the fresh mozzarella, about an inch or so long, and no thicker than a ½ an inch.
Take the bread out of the oven when it starts to turn golden brown and garlic becomes fragrant. Transfer to a serving platter or plate, and top each piece of bread with the mozzarella, basil, and tomatoes, respectively. Take your plate to the living room, nestle up on the couch, watch some Office re-runs, and enjoy.
The Scare Factor
To be honest, I wasn’t very scared of this recipe. I had never made it before, but I’m not afraid of a little TBM. I knew going into this that I didn’t have the “right” knife to slice the baguette, and that I’d need to figure out this garlic situation (see below).
Slicing the bread turned out to be no big deal. I just used a small, cheap IKEA steak knife that happened to have a serrated edge. It worked really well actually.
Mmmm. Nothin' like a fresh baguette.
I think experienced chefs often forget that instructions like “peel and chop 3 cloves of garlic” is a pretty daunting task for a novice like me.
I started by trying to peel it. It seemed like that would be the first logical step. I peeled off the paper-like layers on the exterior of the bulb… and nothing happened. I thought that when I peeled it, it would somehow come undone and reveal the cloves. That doesn’t happen. I peeled a little more, and realized that I could probably peel it forever, it didn’t seem to end.
The peeling begins.
I knew that at some point, one is supposed to whack the garlic with one’s fist. Maybe this is the step to do that?
I took my new, big knife that I received this Christmas (thanks, Dad), laid it flat on top of the bulb, and smacked my palm down on top of it. To my delight, it broke open! I found two little cloves amidst the rubble.
Well, turns out you have to peel those, too. I peeled a layer or so off, and was stunned by the very intense garlicky smell the peeled cloves produced. Finally, it smelled like garlic! Delicious garlic. I even brought one of the cloves to my mouth, and sunk my teeth into the very tip, just to taste fresh garlic. I now know that biting into a raw clove of garlic is a great way to have garlic breath that will last for at least 72 hours.
My tongue stings a little when I think of it.
I then moved onto the task of tearing up the basil. I like slightly bigger chunks of basil, which is why I choose to tear it apart with my hands, versus chopping it with a knife. However, this will make your hands smell bad. Basil itself does not smell bad. Concentrated basil rubbed into your finger tips smells like black licorice, times ten. Make sure you have a good hand soap on hand (my personal favorite is Mrs. Meyers Clean Day Lemon Verbena) and wash your hands right after.
Next was the mozzarella. Fresh out of its packaging, it resembled a very white, water-logged baseball sitting on my cutting board. I sliced thin pieces to place onto the bread.
Once I could smell the garlic toasting, I took the bread out of the oven, assembled the TBM, and that was it!
The Verdict
Considering I never really doubted this recipe, I think the verdict is an obvious one: this recipe is healthy, simple, very tasty, and filled with garlic-rubbing, basil-tearing fun. It’s great for the novice chefs out there who aren’t in the mood to tackle a huge challenge, just a little one.
