Julie & Julia's Bruschetta

Ever since I saw the movie Julie & Julia, I've wanted to make bruschetta (pronounced 'broos-ketta', by the way) like Julie did in that one scene in the movie where you could literally taste it yourself. The bread crunched, the tomatoes dripped...I swear, I could almost smell the fresh basil right through the movie screen. A couple of weeks ago, my local farmers market had some lovely tomatoes (mine are still green on the vine, I fear), so I gathered my ingredients and got to work.

I chose sourdough bread, because I like it, but really, any rustic-type bread will do. Slice your bread and then fry it in some olive oil in a cast iron skillet, over medium heat. Next time, I will fry mine until it is nice and crisp...I was much too impatient and I'm afraid my bread had little to no crunch to it at all. Waaaa!

Next, chop up 4 tomatoes, throw in a generous pinch of kosher salt, a nice drizzle of olive oil, and approximately 4-5 large basil leaves, cut in a chiffonade. Stir together and let flavors meld.



When your bread is done, rub each slice with a half of a fresh garlic clove. I forgot to do this part, so no picture. Then, spoon the tomato~basil mixture generously over each slice of bread. Feel free to moan and groan while you eat it.