Bruschetta & Herbs (c)2011 LaDomestique.com

It’s Friday! Let’s celebrate with antipasto, also known as an appetizer. According to the Deluxe Food Lover’s Companion, the word, antipasto, means “before the meal” in Italian. Bruschetta is an Italian appetizer made with grilled bread and pretty much any topping you can think of. It can be simple, like grilled bread rubbed with garlic and tomato, or more involved, topped with a handful of ingredients like a pizza. In the Babbo Cookbook, Mario Batali writes when making bruschetta, “let your imagination run wild.” Today I prepared three different types of bruschetta inspired by three different herbs: rosemary, thyme, and mint.

Choosing the right bread and cooking it on a grill is very important to authentic bruschetta. Look for handmade loaves with a hard crust. Day old bread from a local bakery is perfect. I picked up a small Italian loaf. Slice the bread thin, about 1/2 inch or less, so it’s easy to eat. Brush the bread with olive oil and cook on a hot grill until it’s a bit charred with good grill marks. This method results in a crunchy outside and soft inside. You gotta have good bread to make good bruschetta, people.

For the toppings, I thought carefully about perfect pairings- the magic that occurs when two ingredients compliment each other in such a way that the flavor is imprinted on your memory. Eggplant, which is in season right now and it’s great for bruschetta, either grilled and served in chunks or puréed like hummus. I chose mint and crushed red chili pepper to flavor the eggplant bruschetta. The combination may seem strange- refreshing mint with hot pepper? Hot mint oil, a traditional Persian recipe, is made with these ingredients and used as a condiment in the Middle East. I simply sliced an eggplant into round discs and threw the discs onto a hot grill, no oil or seasoning (just like the ladies at London River Cafe do in Italian Two Easy). After a couple of minutes, once the eggplant was charred, I turned it over to cook the other side for a couple minutes more. Then I removed the eggplant from the grill and tossed it in lemon juice, olive oil, chopped mint and crushed red pepper flakes.  To serve the bruschetta, place the eggplant discs atop the toasted bread and drizzle with olive oil.

Grilled Eggplant Bruschetta with Mint (c)2011 LaDomestique.com

The second bruschetta focused on the beauty of savory thyme with sweet, juicy, summer peaches. I spread creamy ricotta cheese over the grilled bread, then topped it with sliced peaches and thyme leaves. Heaven!

Bruschetta with Peaches & Thyme (c)2011 LaDomestique.com

The last bruschetta was inspired by a recipe from Mario Batali’s Babbo Cookbook, Ceci Bruschetta. Ceci is Italian for garbanzo beans (chickpeas). I simplified the recipe in Babbo, choosing to focus on rosemary as the star. The can of garbanzos was tossed with olive oil, balsamic vinegar, red pepper flakes, garlic, and chopped rosemary; then served over the grilled bread. Balsamic and rosemary are fantastic together, and the garbanzos make for a satisfying antipasto.

Bruschetta with Garbanzo Beans & Rosemary (c)2011 LaDomestique.com

I hope you have a wonderful weekend and maybe this post inspires your own version of bruschetta! Making bruschetta at home is a great way to use fruits and vegetables picked up at the farmers market or from your CSA box. Ciao!