Italian Vegetarian
Bruschetta al Pomodoro
Classic Italian tomato bruschetta: grilled bread rubbed with garlic, topped with ripe tomatoes, basil and olive oil. Ready in 20 minutes.
ItalianBruschetta al Pomodoro
- Prep
- 15 min
- Cook
- 5 min
- Total
- 20 min
- Serves
- 4
- Effort
- Easy
Bruschetta comes from central Italy, where it began as a way to taste the new season's olive oil: bread grilled over a fire, rubbed with garlic, drizzled with oil and salted. Tomatoes came later and made it famous.
With so few ingredients, it's only as good as its tomatoes, bread and olive oil. Make it in season with ripe tomatoes, and skip the balsamic glaze — you won't find it in Italy.
Method
Prepare the tomatoes
Toast the bread
Assemble and serve
Tips that make the difference
- Assemble at the last minute — the tomatoes will soften the toast within 15 minutes.
- Day-old bread grills better than very fresh bread.
- Rubbing raw garlic on the toast gives a much cleaner garlic flavour than mixing chopped garlic into the tomatoes.
- Variations: finely chopped red onion, a pinch of dried oregano, or torn burrata on top.