Pesto Bruschetta

Last night we celebrated our anniversary with dinner at home. The big celebration was our getaway to Charleston, and after a trip it is so nice just to be back at home. I thought that having an appetizer and bottle of wine ready when Charles got home from work would make the meal a bit more special. I decided that bruschetta would be fun to leisurely eat over wine and while I prepared the rest of our meal, plus I could incorporate many of Charles’s favorite foods.

This build your own bruschetta platter looked impressive, but was simple to prepare. I used store bought pesto – I used Rana brand and my husband loved it. Use a high quality pesto (from the refrigerator section), it definitely makes a difference. Then I chose some of our favorite toppings: heirloom tomatoes, fresh mozzarella, and prosciutto. If I was making this for a larger group I would have added in roasted red peppers, manchego, ricotta, sautéed mushrooms and marinated artichoke hearts.

I don’t blog about everything that I cook, so when Charles really loves something he get really excited and tell me that I have to write about it. This pesto bruschetta falls into this category. Charles insisted that I share this simple recipe with you, and I hope that you enjoy it as much as he did.

I am not going to get into exact proportions here – it is really personal preference. This appetizer is easily scalable and would be great for parties.

You will need:
Fresh French Bread
Pesto
Tomatoes
Fresh Mozzarella
Prosciutto
or any toppings you like

Step 1:
Slice the bread into pieces 1 inch thick. Then top with a generous amount of pesto (about a tablespoon per slice of bread). I let this sit while I prepared everything else for the bruschetta. This allowed the bread to absorb some of the oil from the pesto which helped the bread to toast up nicely.

Step 2:
Place an oven rack at the top of your oven. Turn your oven on to low broil. Place the bread on a baking sheet and toast the bread for about 2 minutes, until the edges of the bread are slightly browned.

Step 3:
Cut the slices of bread in half, and place them on the platter with the toppings.