BRUSCHETTA

Making your own bruschetta and serving it to your guests shows that you care and the company is special. What do most hosts or hostesses do? By fancy crackers but no matter how fancy they are they never match homemade (even if the results are not up to your standards).

They take a bit of time to make as you need to check them constantly in the oven. It’s very hard to slice them perfectly evenly, and they finish toasting at somewhat different times.

You need a thin baguette or two, and it may be a day or two old. In fact, day-old baguettes are perfect for bruschetta. White baguettes are good, whole wheat baguettes are just as good too. With a serrated bread knife slice the baguette into thin slices as possible, trying to make slices even and discarding the two dried out heels.

Place the slices on baking sheets and brush tops with olive oil. Turn each slice over and repeat with olive oil again. You may also sprinkle them with a little coarse salt for extra flavor.

In the meantime preheat your oven to 400 degrees and toast the baguette slices for 13 to 15 minutes. Depending on the kind of bread you used and how dry they were, the baking time varies so watch closely. As soon as some are getting a bit colored and dried out, remove them with a pair of tongs into a storage container. Continue baking the rest until all done—this is the time-consuming part of bruschetta baking.

Any topping is a fair game on bruschetta—these are just like crackers. Here are a few of my suggestions:

1. Tomato-garlic. Cut garlic cloves in half and rub on bruschetta. Top with thinly sliced tomatoes, sprinkle with salt and pepper. This is easy and good.
2. Pesto.
3. Parmesan-walnut. 1 oz Parmesan or Romano, 1 oz chopped walnuts, 4 tsp olive oil, 1 tsp minced garlic. (This amount is enough for six servings.) Process all ingredients. Spread on bruschetta and top with tomato slice; may sprinkle with more grated cheese.