It's been ages since we've been to the market this year.
Life, yanno?
It was a good, busy market, although there were some empty
spaces - stalls done for the year already?!?!
We brought home a big haul - country bread and olive and oregano baguette from Erwins Bakery, some small heirloom tomatoes from Thistle Farms,
as well as red leaf lettuce, red onions, green beans, zucchini, and MORE heirloom tomatoes.
I used the small heirlooms and the baguette for tomato bruschetta. After many years of being unhappy with my attempts at tomato bruschetta, I'm finally becoming satisfied with my mental recipe. I've based a couple of steps on the
Pioneer Womans recipe, and the results are so delicious.
What you do - chop up some garlic - I used just under a pound of tomatos, and used 4 garlic cloves. Chop the garlic fairly finely. Heat 1 TB of olive oil and 1 TB of butter over medium heat in a small pan. Add the garlic, and cook, stirring often, until the garlic is soft and beginning to turn golden.
Meanwhile, chop your tomatos into small pieces. Place in a bowl.
When the garlic is done, scrape the contents of the garlic/butter/oil into the tomatos and stir. Add a small splash of balsamic vinegar, and season with salt and pepper. Shred some fresh basil leaves into the bowl, or a good shake of dried. Let sit while you get your bread ready.
Cut baguette into thin slices. Butter one side of the pieces. Heat a pan over medium heat and add bread slices, butter side down. Cook until the butter has melted into the bread, and the bread is lightly crisp.
Place the bread rounds on a plate, butter side up.
Top a slice of bread with a spoon or so of tomato mixture, and a sprinkle of parmesan, if desired.
