Last April, Steven and I moved into our brand new home in Fairfield County Connecticut. We fell in love with so many aspects of the home, but one element that was in desperate need of TLC was the very bare yard. Steven quickly got to work filling the yard with not only trees, shrubbery and flowers that would create more dimension and interest, but constructing planters and raised beds brimming with fruits vegetables and herbs that have taken our everyday recipes to the next level.

Being that it’s officially the beginning of summer, I wanted to share our recipe for bruschetta, which we created multiple times last year with tomatoes and herbs from Steven’s garden. This recipe uses Early Girl tomatoes: quite apropos for the start of the season.

Steven also fetched us basil and parsley from his herb garden.

When it came to the bread for our bruschetta, we knew we wanted to choose a loaf worthy of our fresh garden ingredients. So we went with a loaf of white bread from Virgilios, a local bakery we love in Gloucester.

Full Recipe

Servings: 14 Pieces

Ingredients:

4 tomatoes (We used Early Girls)
1 loaf of bread of choice
1 small bunch of basil
1 sprig of parsley
2 garlic cloves (thinly sliced)
Extra virgin olive oil
Balsamic vinegar
Salt and Pepper

Directions:

First prep the bread. Start by preheating your oven to 425°F. Then slice the bread into half inch thick pieces. Our bread was relatively wide, so I halved those slices. But if you have something narrow like a baguette, you don’t have to halve them.
Place the slices on a tray lined with parchment paper, spray or lightly drizzle them with olive oil, and season with salt and pepper. When you are about halfway done making the tomato salad, place the bread into the oven and set a timer for 7 minutes.
Next we’ll make the tomato salad: Dice the tomatoes, thinly slice the garlic Goodfellas-style, mince the parsley and chiffonaud basil leaves. Combine in a bowl with salt, pepper, a dash of olive oil and a splash of balsamic vinegar. Be sure to leave a few chiffonaud basil leaves behind for garnish.
Once the bread is nice and toasted, remove from the oven and place on a platter. Then carefully spoon your mixture onto each slice and garnish each piece with more basil.

The tomato juices will be nicely absorbed by the center of the toasted bread, while the crust will maintain its crunch. This is one of those simple dishes that when made with fresh and quality ingredients, absolutely soars. We can’t wait for the return of our tomatoes this year.

Thanks so much for checking out this recipe. Please let me know if you end up trying it out! Until we meet again!