I recall the first time making bruschetta. There were five of us bridesmaids at my friend’s apartment getting getting ready for her wedding.
A clove of garlic in hand, I rubbed the still warm faces of the toast. It was fascinating watching the garlic clove disappear and the bread surfaces taking on an aromatic, glittery sheen.
Since then, I think fondly of the satisfying sensory experience of making bruschetta. Little rivals the perfect combination of tomato, basil and mozzarella. However, my other half does not care for tomatoes and it hardly seems worth the effort to make a batch of bruschetta for one.
That is where this recipe comes to the rescue – no tomatoes. Yet, this combination maintains the tastiness of fresh toasty bread, olive oil, aromatic garlic, fresh herbs and the tenderness of…sweet peppers.
Cutest lil helper “painting” the breads with olive oil
Toasty bread getting all dressed up for the party
Serves 2-3 slices
Yields about 10 slices
10 minPrep Time
15 minCook Time
25 minTotal Time
Ingredients
- 1 loaf French baguette, sliced into ¼-½ inch slices
- ⅓ cup olive oil
- 2-3 Tb, heaping, finely chopped parsley
- 4 large sweet peppers (mine were 4-5 inches, or 10 small/medium sweet peppers), finely chopped
- Extra oil for roasting
- ¼ tsp salt
- 2 Tb finely chopped basil
- 1 Tb lemon juice
- ¼ tsp black pepper
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.
- In a small bowl, mix the ⅓ cup of olive oil and chopped parsley.
- Place sliced bread in a baking sheet and brush each side generously with oil/parsley mix. Set aside.
- Place finely chopped sweet pepper on another baking sheet, drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with salt and toss to coat the peppers. Place the baking sheet of bread and peppers in the oven until bread is toasted and peppers are softened - approximately 10-15 minutes. Turn the toast over half way through the toasting process.
- While items are in the oven, mix the remaining ingredients in a medium bowl (lemon juice, basil and black pepper). Once the sweet peppers come out of the oven softened, add them to the bowl of basil mix.
- Carefully heap the pepper basil mix on each slice of toasted bread and serve immediately.