Bruschetta

The bruschetta inspiration: Postinos

 OK, FINALLY we have made and purchased alllll of the necessary pieces in order to put together a pretty amazing bruschetta board (or plate, in my case).  As I mentioned in my previous post, K and I had date night at a local wine bar called Postino that is known for it's bruschetta.  We decided to recreate this at home, and admittedly 4 kinds of bruschetta requires lots of different ingredients.  It would be all well and good to just make one or two of these.  But if you are serving it as a meal instead of a little snack, or if you are having a party, it is nice to have the variety.  Although prepping the ingredients can take a little while, once you have everything prepped these come together pretty quickly, which is what makes them a great food for entertaining.  The four kinds of bruschetta we attempted were:

Brie and Apples with Fig Jam
Prosciutto with Figs and Mascarpone
Roasted Red Pepper and Goat Cheese
Salami with Pesto

What I bought (prosciutto not pictured)

Start out with a couple of loaves of good French or Italian bread (I make my own, but you can also buy it)
Slice into about one inch thick slices, brush both sides lightly with olive oil and season with salt and pepper.  Lay out on a cookie sheet and place in a 350 degree oven for 3-4 minutes.  Flip them all over, and then put them back in for another 3-4 minutes.  You want them a little toasty.  After this, you can start assembling the different bruschetta.

Toasty

Brie and Apples with Fig Spread

Ingredients:
Brie (I used double cream)
Granny Smith Apple, very thinly sliced (we used a mandolin slicer)
Fig Spread (Make your own, or you can usually find it in the fancy cheese section of the grocery store)
Honey

After taking the toast out of the oven, spread with a thin layer of fig spread, and then top with a slice of brie. Put it back in the oven for a few more minutes, until the brie is a little melty.  Remove from oven and top with  thin slices of apple.  Drizzle with honey.  DONE!

Prosciutto with Figs and Mascarpone

Ingredients:
Mascarpone Cheese
Dried black mission figs, sliced
Prosciutto
Fresh ground pepper

After toasts come out of the oven, allow to cool for a few minutes.  They can still be warm, you just don't want them too hot when you spread on the cheese.  After they have cooled down, spread with mascarpone, top with slices of figs and then a slice of prosciutto.  Sprinkle with just a tiny bit of fresh ground pepper.

Mascarpone and figs, just top with Prosciutto 

(This was the easiest one because this is the only one that I didn't have to make any of the ingredients for.  I also thought it was the most bland.  It might be that the mascarpone was not the best brand, I have not worked with that type of cheese before.  but in the future I might even replace the mascarpone with goat cheese)

Roasted Red Pepper and Goat Cheese

Ingredients:
Soft Goat Cheese
Roasted Red Peppers, diced (Make your own, or buy)

After toasts come out of the oven, spread with goat cheese and then top with the diced roasted red peppers.  Done!  So quick and easy.

I failed to take a close up of the Goat Cheese and Red Pepper - So this is the best I can do!

Salami with Pesto

Ingredients:
Pesto (Make your own, or buy in refrigerated section)
Salami, thin slices

After the toasts come out of the oven, spread with pesto.  Top with 2-3 slices of salami.  Done!

Finished Prosciutto and Fig on the left, just need to top the Pesto with Salami

Transfer all the bruschetta onto a large serving platter or two and serve to your dazzled guests.  Best served with wine.

 I personally think that making many of the ingredients from scratch improved these bruschetta.  Because they are very simple, the ingredients are all major stars.  If they are only mediocre, your bruschetta will probably also be mediocre.  Make sure that the ingredients you do buy are the highest quality!

Casual Happy Hour

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