Cheese and Pears

Bruschetta Recipe: Brown Bread Bruschetta

Posted on Aug 18, 2009 04:20:27 PM

My huge fan base has been complaining that I haven’t been posting for a while. The truth is I haven’t been cooking a lot recently, but this is only temporary, you’ll see. In the meantime, check this super quick bruschetta recipe: brown bread bruschetta.

I’m stretching the concept of bruschetta a lot here, as I didn’t use the classic Tuscan bruschetta bread, but Irish brown soda bread. The topping is 1 ball of mozzarella cheese, and zucchini with bacon bits.

This is actually three recipes in one. But first things first. For the Irish soda bread:

• 500g (1lb) whole flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp of salt
• between 350 and 500 ml (12-17 fl oz) buttermilk

Preheat the oven at 180°C ( 350° F). Combine all the dry ingredients, then add the buttermilk. I don’t have a specific quantity, but whole flour tends to make a hard bread, so I like a very very sticky dough, I won’t say liquid, but almost.

Stir just enough to mix all together, pour the dough in a cake tin and bake in the oven for 40-45 minutes. For the best result you want to make the bread the day before, as it’s more taste after a day.

For the zucchini topping:

• 2 finely chopped zucchini
• a clove of garlic
• a tsp of olive oil
• ½ pint of stock, heated
• ½ a glass white wine
• 2 tbsp of bacon bits

Heat the olive oil in a pan and suteé with the garlic and the bacon bits. Add the zucchini and stir until they’re all coated with oil. Turn on the heat and pour the wine. When it has evaporated turn down the heat again and add the stock, a little at the time. Let it absorb before adding it again (like you would do in a risotto recipe). When the zucchini are tender set aside.

Preheat the oven at 100° C (210° F) , cut 4 slices of brown bread and leave them for 30 seconds in the toaster. Slice the ball of mozzarella cheese and cover each slice of bread, put some zucchini on top and stick the bread in the oven until the cheese is melted. The remaining zucchini will be your side dish.

As I said, this is not the real recipe for bruschetta, but if you have non-Italian guests at your table, you can show off a little bit and say that this is how they do it in that secluded Tuscan village, it’s just a pity you can’t remember its name right now…

Zucchini Recipes: Baked Stuffed Zucchini (zucchine ripiene)

Posted on May 21, 2009 10:39:31 PM

(the URL is wrong, I know…) This is ons of my favorite zucchini recipes: baked stuffed zucchini. It’s a perfect mid-week dish: scrape, stir-fry, fill, bake. Facile, isn’t it?

For two people:

• 2 zucchini
• ½ onion, chopped
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 50g bacon bits
• 1 tin of chopped tomatoes
• salt and pepper
• 1 ball of mozzarella cheese. diced
• parmesan (optional)

Score the zucchini length and width-wise, making sure you don’t tear the skin. With a spoon, scoop out the pulp, dice it and set aside.

In a frying pan, heat the olive oil and add the onion and the bacon. Let it sweat at low heat for about 10 minutes until the onion is tender and lucid and the bacon is a bit crispy.

Add the chopped tomatoes and the 3/4 of the zucchini pulp and let it simmer for 10 minutes and take off the heat. Let it cool and mix in the mozzarella cheese.

Preheat the oven at 180°C 356°F.

Lay the zucchini shells in an oven proof pan and fill them with the stir-fried mixture. Grate some Parmesan on top if you  like.

Bake the stuffed zucchini in the oven for 25-30 minutes and serve hot. Easy zucchini recipe…