A non-negotiable bruschetta recipe

When making bruschetta, I’d like to politely insist that you keep the following in mind:

• You will obviously use tomatoes when they are in season and acquire them from your garden or a farmer’s market
• You will not refrigerate the tomatoes because that will ruin them
• You will remove the tomato seeds but reserve the pulp by separating out the seeds from pulp with a mesh strainer and rubber spatula You can keep the resulting tomato water in the freezer and add to gazpacho or tomato sauce
• You will use fresh basil
• You will use fresh bread
• You will want a whole piece of garlic, so make sure you are able to peel it without crushing it
• You will want the garlic clove whole so you can rub it on the still-warm toasted bread, so that the texture of the toast will act as a natural grater
• You will need to use high quality extra virgin olive oil from the most recent vintage possible. The olive oil should be fresh enough so that you experience a tingling sensation in the back of your throat
• You will use white pepper so you don’t have black pepper specks scattered around

A nice 1lb+ tomato or a pint of cherry tomatoes
6 fresh basil leaves, julienned
4 slices of good fresh bread
2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
1 clove of garlic
White pepper
Salt

First, toast your bread and while still warm, rub the clove of garlic on it which will grate/melt the garlic.

Half the tomatoes and remove the seeds. Reserve the pulp by separating out the seeds from pulp with a mesh strainer and rubber spatula You can keep the resulting tomato water in the freezer and add to gazpacho or tomato sauce.

Chop the tomatoes and add to a bowl along with the basil, olive oil, white pepper and salt. Spoon the mixture on top of the toast and eat immediately.

Serves 4.