Bruschetta

by Jim Millar

All my experiences with and memories of bruschetta have been positive, but my first are the best and most vivid. I was dating a guy I met in a program meeting and had been with out with him just a few times. He was cool, quiet, and had specific tastes, expressed in his choice of music he played (on a steelstring guitar), restaurants to take me to, and places to work. He was a closet musician—brilliant but paralyzed by public performing—and instead of pleasing people with his talents in that field waited tables, please diners with his treats and special concoctions. On one occasion, I brought my best friend to meet him while he was at work. (It was a slow day and he had prompted the invite, so don’t worry that I was crashing his professional space.) He brought an appetizer on the house. It was bruschetta. I was in love.

Some people pronounce bruschetta as “brew-shet-a,” while others make the ch- sound hard, saying “brew-sketta,” and I still don’t know which way is right or remember which way he said it—as a waiter in an authentic Italian restaurant. But I do know it is some of the most fulfilling of the crudités. Sometimes, it is enough to make a small meal, even so delicious is the mixture and bread combo and so unwilling am I to bastardize the palate afterward, if you will.

And bruschetta is easy to make. That is, it is easy to simulate the authentic Italian experience rather than supplement ingredients with fake cheeses or crappy look-alikes or whatnot, in the event of not having the money, etc…for bruschetta is cheap and is composed of most accessible ingredients:

You get a baguette. You slice it thin and slightly at an angle. You toast the rounds. You then mix together chopped plum tomatoes, finely chopped fresh basil, minced onion, and chopped fresh garlic. Then mix in olive oil, and add salt and pepper to taste. Spoon the cold bruschetta mixture onto the toasted rounds (or ovals). And eat immediately, but slowly enough that you don’t choke. I am not kidding: these babies are so tasty you might want to gulp ‘em.

Some people, chefs, cultures, or what have you add feta. Some grill the rounds again after the bruschetta mixture is spooned atop each bread piece. The nuances are yours to figure out and experiment with. And the memories, too, are yours now, also. Enjoy!

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