C – The tomatoes are ripe, finally!
Thanks, Jim, for good gardening. I have been craving homegrown tomatoes for few months, now. They are finally here. I am so excited. To celebrate this great fruit in all it’s glory, we thought we’d devote an entire week to it. First off, bruschetta with homemade ricotta.
This is one of those appetizers that really shows if you understand tomatoes. It’s such a simple recipe with only a few ingredients, so everything really shines … and really makes a difference. If you have unripe tomatoes, the bruschetta will be sour and horrible tasting. Overripe tomatoes can leave the bruschetta a mushy mess.
The perfect bruschetta is one that has sweet, perfectly-ripe tomatoes and good olive oil on the best crostini you can find. When you make bruschetta correctly, it’s so addicting that none will be leftover.
This recipe did just that. Luke requested homemade ricotta. But, fresh store-bought is fine, too. Our homemade ricotta recipe post follows tomorrow.
Creamy ricotta topped with fresh, sweet, quartered grape tomatoes, with fresh herbs from the garden and good olive oil was incredible.
| Tomato Week: Bruschetta with Ricotta |
- 1½ cups small tomatoes, cut into quarters, or smaller.
- 1 gypsy pepper, small dice
- 1 shallot, small dice
- 1 Tbsp fresh basil, chiffonade
- 1 Tbsp fresh oregano, chiffonade
- Enough ricotta cheese to spread on each slice of toast
- Baguette, sliced thinly on a bias
- Good quality olive oil
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
- On a baking sheet place sliced bread on top and drizzle with oil. Bake until toasted. About 5-8 minutes.
- Combine tomatoes, peppers, shallots, basil, and oregano into a bowl.
- Add salt and pepper to bowl. Mix well. Let mixture sit for 30 minutes to macerate.
- Once bread is toasted, spread ricotta cheese over each piece of toast.
- Top with tomato mixture.
- Serve.
- Enjoy!
It’s one of those many times I wish Luke had made more. Although, I felt bad that I asked him to use cherry tomatoes for this dish, instead of larger tomatoes.
It took him a while to cut a few dozen of them. The larger ones would have been a bit faster.
I just liked how pretty the bruschetta turned out. I hope you try it.