Tomato and Basil Bruschetta - with balsamic reduction - fresh flavours.

Italian food is my all time favourite - easy, healthy, lots of vegetarian options to choose from. And I always like to add a bit of red chilli flakes to most tomato based recipes. Tomatoes and red chilli is match made in heaven (for me at least)

Now, there are two ways I do bruschetta. One is the quick way when I don't have fresh ciabatta on hand but I still want to eat bruschetta with pasta or soups. Other is of course with ciabatta on hand. So, let's see how I do it n you can pick and choose. 

No Ciabatta on hand Bruschetta. 

8-9 slices of garlic bread 

10-12 ripe cherry tomatoes

Handful of basil

Balsamic vinegar reduction 

Good quality extra virgin olive oil

Salt and pepper

Preheat the oven at 200 degrees 

I like to line up the baking tray with kitchen foil if the tray has holes in it

Bake the garlic bread slices for 5-7 mins 

Slice the tomatoes into halves or depending on the size you like. If you have a lot of time and patience, scoop the seeds out. I just leave them in as cherry tomato seeds are quite small n flavourful 

Roughly chop the basil leaves 

Once the bread is ready, place the tomatoes on the slices, sprinkle the basil leaves, olive oil, balsamic reduction and a bit of pepper. You can add salt and chilli flakes if you like. 

Bite into it and enjoy 

2) Bruschetta with Ciabatta on hand

If I have ciabatta at home, I like to cut it in half, opening up the bread from the middle. 

Heat up a griddle pan or a normal pan. 

Once the pan is nice n hot, I put a dash of olive oil to it and also put the oil on the bread slices.

Place the bread on the pan and press it down quietly firmly. That makes such a difference to the texture. Turn it over, press it down again and cook for 2-3 mins until the bread is golden n crunchy. 

Rub the bread with crushed garlic, top it up the tomatoes, basil, balsamic reduction, pepper and good lug of olive oil. Voila. It's ready to dig in. Nom Nom.