A Lesson In Bruschette

Bruschetta is a lovely, lovely Italian food. It's basically grilled bread rubbed with garlic and topped with olive oil, seasoning and various other toppings, a kind of open sandwich.

What you need is some nice round, rustic style bread that is stale (fresh, moist ones won't work). If you can get Italian sourdough bread, that would be perfect. Otherwise, feel free to use any kind of stale bread - including baguettes which you can turn into crostini (similar to bruschette but they're smaller slices).

The best way to get good bruschette is to toast it, 1cm thick, on a barbecue. You can of course do it on a griddle pan at home. Once they're nice and done, with wonderful black char marks across them, take them out and rub them gently on the top side with a halved clove of garlic, then drizzle it with good quality extra virgin olive oil and sprinkle some sea salt and pepper to taste.

Now, on to the topping. You can make it either very simple or lush and rich - it's up to you. You can just add chopped herbs, or tomato and basil, or vegetables (cooked or fresh), or cheese, or prosciutto, or sea food, or... There are no rules - except that you should always use fresh food.

Now, here are a few of my favorite toppings:

My Classic Tomato Bruschetta

This is, in my opinion, the basic bruschetta. This is a stepping stone to the more complicated ones and it's a good basic recipe to master. All you need is your crostini or bruschetta (crostini are smaller slices), a couple (or more, depending on how many people you serve) ripe tomatoes, fresh or dry basil - fresh works better though) and the usual other ingredients. Toast your bread and in the meantime chop the tomatoes and the basil, add them in a bowl with s&p and extra virgin double O and mix them up. If you like it more rustic, chop the tomatoes in larger pieces and scrunch them up with your hands while dressing them. Then add to the garlic-rubbed warm crostini or bruschette, and serve immediately.

Alternatively, you can also grate some parmesan or tear up some mozarella on top and pop them in the oven for a couple of minutes (or nuke em in a microwave) until the cheese melts. Top with some more basil or double O if you like it flashy. It's simple and always gets the job done. Try it for breakfast or before a comfort lunch.

Aubergine Bruschette

You're going to need the usual ingredients plus some white wine vinegar, a handful of parsley, mint, 1 clove of garlic and 2 medium firm aubergines, which you have to slice lengthwise decently thin (a few mm). Grill the aubergine slices on the griddle pan or barbecue and put them aside in a bowl until all are done. Meanwhile, grab another bowl and add the about 8 tablespoons of double O, 3 tablespoons of vinegar with the chopped parsley mint and garlic and season it with s&p. When the eggplants are done, toss them in with the dressing then divide on among your bruschetta or crostini slices. Be sure to push them into the bread with your fingers. Enjoy!

Peas, Broad Beans and Cheese Crostini 

Get yourself some fresh peas and broad beans, together with a handful of mint and mash them up in a pestle and mortar (or food processor), then add a handful of grated Parmesan or Pecorino (or any salted, sharp cheese), double O and a little lemon juice and s&p. Spoon it on your crostini and (honestly, i just do this for looks) grate some more cheese on top. Totally delicious.

Spicy Mozarella, Red Chilli and Basil Crostini

This one's easy and delicious. Tear some mozarella balls or pieces into smaller chunks, then top the crostini with them. Chop a red chilli and sprinkle it on top, add some s&p and double O. To finish it, grab some basil leaves and tear it over the crostini - or chop it up and sprinkle it. Try it x

(Sometimes i add dried oregano or grated lemon zest to flavor - you could give that a go too)

Love, S x

(some pics taken from jamie's website, btw)

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Basic Cooking - Egg Noodles

Now, these aren't the typical egg noodles you'd expect - that is to say, fresh pasta made with egg. These are actually egg noodles - made entirely from egg.

You start them out as your typical omelet - whisk a few eggs in a bowl until homogeneous, add salt and pepper to your liking, and you may even thin it with water or milk. The reason you need to do that is that you'll cook this like pancakes, pouring one thin layer at a time in the frying pan. 

 You should get a few egg pancakes in the end, wafer thin and nice and round.

Roll them up together, like a cigar, then grab a knife and cut it in 1cm roundels.

This is what you should get - wonderful roundels of egg noodles - break them up with your hands and add them to your salad, sandwich or breakfast.

Enjoy!

Quick Rosemary Pork

What you'll need:
 - 2-3 pork cuts (shin, sirloin, really whatever is to your liking)
 - 2-3 sticks of rosemary
 - salt and pepper
 - olive oil

Turn on the hub and put your grittle pan on the fire, and let it heat up while you prepare the meat. It needs to get screaming hot so you won't burn your meat and smoke up your kitchen - and don't oil it!

Get your cuts of meat and sprinkle them with a good amount of sea salt and pepper, on both sides. Break off your rosemary on top of the meat so you cover the top side, then throw in a few swigs of olive oil - then go on and rub the seasoning into the meat. Use your hands, don't be afraid to get messy!

Cook the meat to your liking. I usually prefer mine medium-rare but be sure to turn the meat on each side. Give it one minute on the side without rosemary, flip them, add rosemary to the bottom side now turned up, and repeat until cooked. It usually needs 1 minute per cm of thickness.

After you've cooked it, let it rest on a wooden board and add a few more swigs of olive oil. Leave it for about 2-3 minutes, then cut or serve directly. Gather up the juices and oil on the board, mix it up with your finger then pour it on top of the meat.

Brilliant!