Chef Graziella
Arancini alla Siciliana
Golden fried rice balls from Sicily, where Arab culinary influence meets Italian home cooking. The saffron-perfumed rice conceals a heart of slow-simmered ragù and sweet peas.
Culinary Explorer
A cooking platform built around craft, culture, and the stories behind what we eat.
Bruschetta al Pomodoro Fresco
Created by
Grilled bread rubbed with garlic, crowned with ripe tomatoes, anointed with your finest oil. This is bruschetta as it exists in Italy, not the soggy appetizer Americans invented.
Appetizers & Snacks
Italian
Weeknight
Dinner Party
20 min
Active Time
5 min cook•25 min total
Yield6 servings
Bruschetta is grilled bread. That is all the word means. The tomatoes are a topping that came later, a happy marriage of charred bread and summer's best produce. Americans have turned it into something unrecognizable: cold, soggy bread buried under a mountain of tomatoes swimming in balsamic vinegar and enough garlic to ward off an army of vampires.
The garlic in proper bruschetta is not chopped, not minced, certainly not roasted into paste and spread like butter. You take a whole clove, cut it in half, and rub it once across the hot bread. The rough surface acts like a grater. What remains is perfume, not assault. The bread must be warm when you do this, or the garlic will not release its oils.
Your tomatoes must be ripe. Not supermarket tomatoes bred for shipping, hard and pink and tasteless. Ripe tomatoes, fragrant, yielding slightly when pressed, warm from the garden if you are fortunate. If your tomatoes are not in season, do not make this dish. Wait. There are other things to eat.
The word bruschetta derives from the Roman dialect verb 'bruscare,' meaning to roast over coals. Olive farmers in Tuscany and Lazio originally made it during the fall pressing to taste the new season's oil: bread grilled over embers, rubbed with garlic, drenched in just-pressed olio nuovo. The tomato topping arrived centuries later, once Italians overcame their suspicion of the strange New World fruit.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
ripe tomatoes
Quantity
1 1/2 pounds
at room temperature
rustic Italian bread
Quantity
6 slices
cut 3/4-inch thick
garlic cloves
Quantity
2
halved
extra virgin olive oil
Quantity
1/4 cup, plus more for drizzling
fresh basil leaves
Quantity
8-10
flaky sea salt
Quantity
to taste
black pepper
Quantity
to taste
freshly ground
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| ripe tomatoesat room temperature | 1 1/2 pounds |
| rustic Italian breadcut 3/4-inch thick | 6 slices |
| garlic cloveshalved | 2 |
| extra virgin olive oil | 1/4 cup, plus more for drizzling |
| fresh basil leaves | 8-10 |
| flaky sea salt | to taste |
| black pepperfreshly ground | to taste |
Equipment Needed
- •Grill, grill pan, or broiler
- •Sharp knife for dicing tomatoes
- •Pastry brush for oiling bread
Instructions
- 1
Prepare the tomatoes
Core the tomatoes and cut them into small dice, roughly half-inch pieces. Place them in a bowl and season generously with salt. Let them sit for 10 to 15 minutes. The salt draws out moisture and intensifies flavor. Do not skip this step.
Roma tomatoes or other paste varieties hold their shape better than beefsteaks, which can become watery. Use whatever is ripest and most fragrant at the market. - 2
Grill the bread
Heat a grill, grill pan, or broiler until very hot. Brush both sides of each bread slice lightly with olive oil. Grill until the bread is golden brown and marked with char on both sides, about 2 minutes per side. The bread should be crisp on the outside but still have some give within. Watch it carefully. Burned bread cannot be saved.
- 3
Rub with garlic
While the bread is still hot, take a halved garlic clove and rub the cut side once, firmly, across the surface of each slice. The rough, toasted surface of the bread acts as a grater. You will see the garlic diminish. One pass is enough. The garlic should whisper, not shout.
The bread must be warm for this to work. Cold bread will not abrade the garlic. This technique gives you garlic essence without the harshness of raw minced garlic sitting on top. - 4
Assemble and serve
Drain any excess liquid from the tomatoes. Spoon the tomatoes generously onto each slice of bread. Tear the basil leaves and scatter over the top. Drizzle with your finest olive oil. Finish with a few flakes of sea salt and freshly ground pepper. Serve immediately. Bruschetta waits for no one. The bread softens within minutes.
Chef Tips
- •The bread matters. Seek out pane Pugliese, pane casareccio, or any rustic country loaf with an open crumb and thick crust. Supermarket Italian bread is too soft and will turn to mush. A proper slice should support the tomatoes without collapsing.
- •Your olive oil is exposed here with nothing to hide behind. Use the best you have. A grassy, peppery Tuscan oil is traditional, but any high-quality extra virgin will serve. You should be able to taste the olives.
- •Do not refrigerate your tomatoes. Ever. Cold destroys the volatile compounds that give tomatoes their flavor. Store them stem-side down at room temperature and use them within days of purchase.
Advance Preparation
- •The tomatoes can be diced and salted up to one hour ahead. Keep them at room temperature. Do not refrigerate.
- •The bread must be grilled just before serving. There is no way around this. Soggy bruschetta is not bruschetta.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 175g)
Calories
235 calories
Total Fat
11 g
Saturated Fat
2 g
Trans Fat
0 g
Unsaturated Fat
9 g
Cholesterol
0 mg
Sodium
460 mg
Total Carbohydrates
30 g
Dietary Fiber
3 g
Sugars
5 g
Protein
6 g
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