Bruscetta is one of those things I figured I’d never eat again. And I always loved it. So I was quite happy to find the other day in the frozen foods section, some gluten free ciabatta (with the brand Fria – most of their bread seems pretty good actually). And also some lovely looking colourful cherry tomatoes.
Colourful cherry tomatoes
Serves two as an entree or a light lunch
- 500g of cherry tomatoes (sounds like a lot for two people but once cooked down there’s not much left of them)
- a small onion
- ciabatta (or some other attactive looking bread that toasts well)
- olive oil
- balsamic vinegar (watch the sweetness as other some are quite sweet and in that case you’ll end up with chutney – which is lovely but not really what we’re looking for here)
- salt + pepper
- Preheat the oven to 200C.
- Halve the cherry tomatoes and squeeze the seeds out of them to leave just flesh (it’s a personal thing but, especially when roasted I think the seeds are bitter and you want the salsa to be drier so removing the moisture helps there).
- Finely dice the onion.
- Add about 3/4 of the tomatoes (it’s nice to leave some fresh), the onion, a decent helping of salt and freshly milled black pepper to a baking dish/tray and add a touch of olive oil (just to stop them sticking too badly).
- Put the tomato mix into the oven and check after 15 minutes or so.
- Whilst the tomatoes are baking, toast the bread. It’s a bit nicer to do this in a pan with a touch of olive oil, but the toaster works too if you can’t be bothered.
- When the tomatoes look baked, remove them from the oven, add the remaining fresh tomatoes, optionally some balsamic vinager and mix.
Approximately how the tomatoes should look when they're ready.
- Serve the salsa on top of the toast.
The finished article.
The salsa will also keep fine for a couple of days in the fridge if you having for a party (for example with crackers). I served this before for a party and it was pretty good. It’s also easy, and can be prepared ahead of time so pretty much a winner.
Wrap your laughing gear around that.