The Bruschetta Bug

About once every two weeks, I come down with the bruschetta bug. I can sometimes stave off a full-blown attack by serving bruschetta at dinner parties. Little do the guests know that the bruschetta course was designed specifically for me. This particular instance which I set out at a chocolate tasting party a year or so back kept me healthy for a few months. Yes, those are mountains of capers, tomatoes, goat cheese, raw almonds, olives, roasted peppers, and sopprasetta. Over the course of the evening, we conquered those mountains.

But because I can't manage to host a dinner party every time I start feeling symptoms, I must turn to the bruschetta dinner to cure myself of the ailment. As you might assume, the bruschetta dinner makes an entire meal out of what generally serves as party food or the prelude to something else. I've been cured by canellini and arugula in the winter, tomato and fresh mozzerella in the summer, and pureed fava beans in the spring. And now I have another recipe to add to the medicine cabinet: prosciutto and basil. Try this for acute bruschetta bug - it requires just about no chopping, sauteing, or food processoring-ing.


Bruschetta with Basil and Prosciutto
featured, with a few minor differences, in the most recent edition of Martha's Living

one baguette, cut on a diagonal into into 3/4 inch slices
1 garlic clove, peeled
a large bunch of fresh basil leaves (enough to cover top of each slice of bread)
thinly sliced prosciutto (one slice per piece of bread is a good estimate)
olive oil
salt and ground pepper

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Arrange bread slices on rimmed baking sheets. Lightly brush tops of slices with olive oil. Season with salt and pepper. Toast in oven until golden, 7-10 minutes. Remove from oven and swipe garlic clove across the top of each toasted bread slice.
2. Top each slice of bread with basil and folded slices of prosciutto. Drizzle with a bit of olive oil, and season with pepper.