Bruschetta

Whenever I get fresh tomatoes I make bruschetta.  It's one of my favorite things in the world.  My initial attempts at bruschetta were inspired by these recipes, but now I just throw the ingredients together without measuring anything.  I taste it and add more of whatever I think it needs.



For this batch, I used half of a large tomato.






Chop the tomato into small pieces.





Fresh basil (significantly less than we needed for the pesto).





I rolled the basil up and sliced it into tiny pieces with my kitchen shears.





If you don't have fresh basil, you can use the dried stuff.





One clove of garlic.  I like mine garlicky.  If you don't, choose a small clove of garlic.





I grated the garlic into the other ingredients.





Extra-virgin olive oil (use the good stuff because it's not going to get cooked)...





And two splashes of white wine vinegar.





Stir it all up.





Slice some baguettes (I'll post my baguette recipe when I figure out how to make nice looking baguettes. Mine are fine for slicing, but they're kind of ugly by themselves).  I used eight slices.





Toast the baguette slices lightly on both sides.  I used a toaster oven.





Drizzle the toasted slices with extra-virgin olive oil...





And top with the tomato mixture.  Sprinkle with salt, and you're ready to enjoy!  I eat these as a meal, but they're also great as appetizers.