Bruschetta

Summertime sandwiches should either celebrate the grill and/or celebrate fresh produce. Tomatoes are the perfect star for most summertime sandwiches, so let’s start with the iconoclastic bruschetta.

It’s super easy to pull together and you can use whatever ripened tomatoes you have on hand. In this case, I’m making use of a bowl of juicy cherry tomatoes.

I’m going to add minced onion and garlic to give it depth of flavour.

And a generous amount of homegrown basil.

I quarter the cherry tomatoes, mince 1/4 of a red onion and 2 generous garlic cloves. I take a few sprigs of basil leaves and chiffonade the works.

I add a generous drizzle of olive oil, juice of half a lime, salt & pepper to taste. Mix it thoroughly and let those flavours mingle from 1/2 hour to 3 hours, room temp.

Now for the baguette. You could slice the baguette into crostinis or, if you’re like me, you’ll slice the baguette in half horizontally then cut it into thirds so you have a hefty piece of bread to soak up those sunny flavours.

You can brush olive oil on the inside of those baguette pieces and grill them, cut side down, before serving but I want this to be as simple as possible, so I’m serving the baguette as is. I like to leave the bowl of bruschetta out beside the baguette pieces and a small bowl of shaved parmesan (use a carrot peeler for this) and let everyone serve themselves. Add Maldon salt if you have it.

It’s messy, it’s juicy, it’s summertime on an open-faced sandwich. Always a treat.

— Trish Hennessy