Cooking with Asia

Prep time: 15 minutes Cook time: 10 minutes

Ingredients

6 or 7 ripe plum tomatoes (about 1 1/2 lbs)

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil

1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar

6-8 fresh basil leaves, chopped.

Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

1 baguette French bread or similar Italian bread

1/4 cup olive oil

Directions:

1. Make sure there is a top rack in place in your oven. Turn on the oven to 450°F to preheat .

2. Prepare the tomatoes first. Score an “X” on the bottom of the tomato. Parboil the tomatoes for one minute in boiling water that has just been removed from the burner.

3. Dip tomatoes in an ice bath. Using a sharp small knife, remove the skins of the tomatoes.

4. Once the tomatoes are peeled, cut them in halves or quarters and remove the seeds and juice from their centers. Also cut out and discard the stem area. Why use plum tomatoes instead of regular tomatoes? The skins are much thicker and there are fewer seeds and less juice.

5. Chop up the tomatoes finely.

6. Put tomatoes, garlic, 1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil, vinegar in a bowl and mix.

7. Add the chopped basil. Add salt and pepper to taste.

8. Slice the baguette on a diagonal about 1/2 inch thick slices. Coat one side of each slice with olive oil using a pastry brush. Place on a cooking sheet, olive oil side down. You will want to toast them in the top rack in your oven, so you may need to do these in batches depending on the size of your oven. Once the oven has reached 450°F, place a tray of bread slices in the oven on the top rack. Toast for 5-6 minutes, until the bread just begins to turn golden brown.

9. Align the bread on a serving platter, olive oil side up.

10. Place some topping on each slice of bread and serve immediately or the bread may get soggy.

Yield: Makes 24 small slices

When I heard we were making bruschetta I didn't know what it was but I had idea. I actually thought bruschetta was like spinach and cheese on a baguette so I guess I was pretty close to knowing what it was. I told my mom and she said we've had it at a restaurant before and then it clicked in my head and i knew what is was that we were making. When my group and I made this we did everything right or so it seemed. The thing that we did really well was peeled the skin off the tomatoes. When we took them out the hot water we put them in ice and then the skin started peeling off and we didn't even need a knife to peel it off. It came off really easy and I was glad that we did it right. This was a really simple recipe and it was hard to mess up but the only thing I can think of that we may have done wrong is not mince the garlic small enough. If I were to make this recipe again I would want to make the whole thing, I was kind of dissapointed that we weren't able to make the whole thing but that's fine. When we minced the garlic I remembered that you should always keep the tip of the knife on the cutting board and almost do a rocking motion back and forth to get a good mince. Another helpful tip I used from class was that you smash the garlic with the knife and it makes it easier to remove the peel. When making this recipe me and my group were suprised on how quick and simple it was. To me the taste of the mixture was a bit bland and had a really strong garlic taste, I don't necessarily like garlic so that may be the reason why I didn't realy prefer this recipe.