The Julia Child Bruschetta recipe that's so good it brought my guests to tears. Olive Oil fried rustic bread topped with marinated tomatoes and basil.
If you're the kind of person who likes to cook, you know the satisfaction you get from serving someone food and having them smile at the end of eating it. If they actually mumble out a "Soooo goood" as they're eating it even better. Betty does that all the time when I feed her, (but she doesn't count because she makes the same sounds eating a TV dinner or a pistachio she swept up from behind the fridge.)
So the MMMMMMmmmmmm sounds are good, but the Holy Grail of feeding someone is bringing them to tears. Reducing a human being to a quaking, sobbing mess whose greatest fear in life is no longer death ... but the thought of never eating this delicious food again.
On August 22nd, 2014 such a miracle occurred in my kitchen. And then it happened again.
I thought it was just a fluke, like when people see Jesus in their Cream of Wheat, but when it happened a second time I knew I'd stumbled upon something pretty spectacular. Definitely more spectacular than a hairy fridge pistachio.
Do you want to know what this miracle food was? Bruschetta. But you knew that already if you read the title of this post.
This isn't just any bruschetta though, it's bruschetta inspired by the movie Julie & Julia which if you don't know, it's a movie based on Julie Powell's blog in which she chronicled her (successful) attempt to recreate every recipe in Julia Child's "Mastering the Art of French Cooking". GREAT premise for a blog.
In the movie the bruschetta looked and sounded so goooood. And if you watch the scene from the movie, Julie's husband does exactly what you want people to do when they eat your cooking. He says, "This is GOOOOD!"
Also I love whatshisname. Whatshisname is my favourite character on The Mindy Project right after Mindy. And the other guy who is so funny. You know. The nurse.
The Bruschetta Recipe
So you want to learn how to make this bruschetta? Want to learn how to bring someone to tears with your food? Here we go.
First of all a few tips:
1. Use fresh, crusty bread. Whole slices! Not a baguette.
2. FRY in olive oil. I mean it. You fry it.
3. Don't even attempt this if it isn't summer and you don't have fresh tomatoes.
Let's get started ...
You need bread, olive oil, tomatoes, basil and salt.
Dice a few fresh, local tomatoes. Extra points for heirloom and homegrown. Even if the home wasn't yours.
Tear up a handful of fresh basil and add it. Add lots if you love basil, little if you don't. I used this sized bunch for around 5 small-medium tomatoes.
I know you're alarmed that there's no fresh garlic in this recipe but there isn't. I'm not going to second guess Julia Child. It's is 100% delicious without the overpowering flavour of garlic. If you want to add garlic you can but I BEG you to try it without first.
Drizzle the tomatoes and basil with a good amount of olive oil and let stand for 30-45 minutes.
After 30 minutes, sprinkle with salt and pepper (I actually don't use pepper but go nuts if you're a pepper person) let sit for another 10 minutes or so.
Cover the bottom of a pan with olive oil until it's approximately 3mm deep. Just glug it in there. Heat pan over medium/low. Not too hot or your bread will burn, not too low or it'll just soak up a bunch of oil and get gross.
FRYING TIP
To test if your oil is hot enough to fry place the end of a wooden spoon in the oil. If the tip forms bubbles right away, it's at the right temperature to fry.
While the pan is heating, slice your crusty bread. I make my own bread using the master recipe from this cookbook, The New Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day but you don't have to make your own bread. Just use a fresh, dense, crusty loaf.
Fry bread slices in oil until browned or your tongue falls out of your mouth. Whichever comes first.
Remove bread from the pan and generously spoon the tomato mixture over the top. But first, maybe, just look at the golden brown, toasty, olive oil drenched goodness. Smell it. Love it.
O.K., NOW you can top it with your tomatoes and basil. Just spoon it right on there. Lots of it.
And now you eat it.
Bruschetta from the movie Julie & Julia
Ingredients
- 3 medium tomatoes heirloom and a variety of colours if you can get them.
- 3 large stems basil
- ½ cup olive oil good quality
- salt
- 4 slices bread hearty, crusty bread is best.
Instructions
- Dice tomatoes.Shred basil leaves.Mix tomatoes and basil in bowl with ¼ of olive oil, reserving other ¼ cup for frying.Let this mixture sit for 30 minutes.When the 30 minutes is up, add a generous sprinkling of salt to the mixture and let it sit for another 10 minutes.Now is when you can heat up ¼ cup of olive oil (your goal is to have 3mm of oil in the pan) over medium/low heat.Once hot, fry your slices of bread until golden.Remove bread from pan and top with tomato mixture.
Notes
Nutrition
I've listed this as a snack, but in the summer this could easily be a meal. Especially if you round it out with a big bowl of ice cream.
Serve the bruschetta HOT. With a box of Kleenex.
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Heather (mtl)
Oh, my word was this ever good! Right some good!
I was Mom-sitting this w/e and after a big lunch of delicious fish and chips (oddly, not easy to find!) I knew I wanted something light for supper. Your recipe was just the ticket. I, too, wish I had never fried my bread cos there will be no going back now. I followed your directions (sans garlic) and used an array of my own garden Toms, good olive oil and fresh bread. Honestly, Mom and I both swooned. So sweet and amazingly hearty. I'm sure I could have polished off several more slices.
Thanks for the inspiration! Now to try that bread recipe.... but not in 41 deg heat, thank you.
Karen
So glad you liked it Heather! And even more glad you made it as instructed without garlic, lol. Garlic takes OVER when you add it to something and with this it's only the tomatoes, oil, basil and salt you want to shine through. Glad your mom liked it too. The heat will be gone in a few days but for now I'm glad it's here because this huge burst of heat and humidity will increase the size of my sweet potato crop by a LOT! ~ karen!
Gillian
Just used this as the veggies with our "popcorn chicken and taters" (a picky 2 year old and that's all he ever wants, it was breaded and baked turkey and mini potatoes, mmmmmm) it was excellent! I added a few different spices but this was the inspiration.
Thanks for the yummy supper!!
Linda J Howes
So, ever since reading this I have been hankering for bruschetta, in part because I had forgotten just how delicious it can be and in part because I am overrun with tomatoes. I finally got around to it tonight, but I used my recipe, sans garlic, like yours although I do have a few extras. Similar but not, it is a fam fav my daughter concocted. Thanks for the reminder of this simple yet elegant treat and now I will go and enjoy!
helen
So. Okay. I got the smoking pan outside where it could cool off. I wiped the walls clean of black smoky oil residue that the range hood could not keep up with. How do I get the smell of seriously (!) burnt toast out of the house?
Yeah, the bruschetta was good, but it still needed the balsamic glaze drizzled on. And it would have benefitted from garlic. :-)
Karen
If you did it right with the right ingredients it really doesn't need balsamic and garlic, lol. That's a completely different recipe with a completely different flavour profile. I'm sure it would be good but it isn't the flavours this particular recipe is supposed to have. Kind of like adding raisins to chocolate chip cookies. Same same, but different. ~ karen
Ei Con
Made this tonight. No garlic as instructed. Cherry, Juliet and grape tomatoes from my garden. Basil from same. Was heavenly. I cut my bread a wee bit too thin. But did not burn it. The 'bubbles from the spoon handle' tip did not work for me. No bubbles. None the less ( does anyone under 50 still use this phrase?) it was heavenly. Thank you dear Karen.
Karen
I love Juliet tomatoes! Grew them for the first time this year. If the bubble trick didn't work it's because your oil wasn't hot enough. A wood spoon always, always forms bubbles when put in hot oil. Your bread still would have fried but it would have absorbed way more oil than it would have if you'd heated the oil up a bit more. I had it for dinner tonight as a matter of fact. And as another matter of fact, I ate TOO much. ~ karen!
m'liss
I use garlic all the time, love it. I have Italian relatives from Sicily who "never" use garlic in their cooking. The best Italian food you'll ever taste.
Marti
Excellent! I love making that hot crusty bread, although this seems like the stuff to make the day after when that bread is hanging about and needs a little something extra. Perfect!
LazySusan
We'll be trying this, sans garlic, just as your recipe calls for. Sounds delicious!
Shel
With tomatoes and basil in my garden, I picked up a loaf of artisan bread to make this for a late dinner tonight It was out of this world good.
I'm deeply ashamed to admit this but I couldn't help adding a sprinkling of granulated garlic (YES, I know, but I thought raw garlic would be far too strong) on one piece of toast before adding the tomatoes. Authentic Italian cooks will curse me for this but I honestly did think that, the garlic made it even better.
Karen
And you SHOULD be ashamed. On so many levels, lol!! Not only garlic, but granulated garlic?? Honestly. ~ karen!
Edith
Hi Karen,
I made this bruschetta tonight and it was delicious! Hubby ate 6 slices. I'm sure he would have cried, but he can't chew and cry at the same time.
Karen
Six slices? SIX SLICES, LOL? That's impressive. Like competitive eater impressive. I'm glad he/you liked it. ~ karen!
charlotte tataryn
Karen and others, I appreciate the info re the linen towel and to the question is linen as absorbant, etc., as say cotton, the answer is yes. It's THE most amazing fabric on the planet, it's utterly beautiful in it's most wrinkled and frequent condition and it's still cool to look at.
I have linen bedding and I can't say enough. One night (and only one) in a very posh European hotel made me a linen lover, in that I was now going to sleep in it as well as wear it as often as is humanly possible. There is no linen after September long rule in my home - linen rules.
I have made the website a favourite Karen, so thanks for that, and for everything else. You take all those photos yourself - self trained (of course you are)/it's my latest reinvention but the new digital cameras are a bit more complicated than I'm accustomed but you are always SO encouraging.
TV is a great and evil thing - you can learn so much, but lose so much time; there must be a balance but I've not found it yet. We have Netflix , for 6 months now but have never actually USED it but winter is coming.
Thanks again - Charlotte
Karen
Hi Charlotte! Well if you need any tv recommendations I have an entire series dedicated to the shows I watch that I think you should also be watching, lol. And I'm not self taught with photography! I took 2 semesters of digital photography, plus a private lesson from the woman who often photographs my house for magazines. :) ~ karen!
Kiara
And to the Garlic Army ... I'm one of you, Komrades. But you can leave it out here.
IRS
Never! You will pry the bulb out of my cold, dead hands. And as you lean over to do so, my dying breath will kill you.
Kiara
You posted this yesterday morning. I drooled all day at work. I went home and got tomatoes and basil out of my garden. I fried bread. I wish I never tried fried bread. Life will never be the same.
My life now has two distinct chapters. Pre-Best-Bruschetta and Post-Best-Bruschetta.
Ayla
Que ricas esas tostadas, las he de probar, las he hecho a veces parecidas, pero no con albahaca, asi que tomo nota pra probar, jejeje
Besote!!!
Karen
Oh, sí ... prueba el albahaca. ~ karen!
Mia
I am not a cook at all, so I probably won't ever taste this. But I can just about feel the sunshine coming from the tomatoes in those gorgeous photos. I teared up from those, a little.
Jebber Jay
Garlic.
Mel
Okay so you want to know how to get someone to not just cry but to propose to you? Add a bit of crumbled feta and a drizzle of balsamic reduction on top. The salty sweet just compliments the tomatoes perfectly.
I've never fried the bread or left out the garlic though, so I'll try it fresh and simple your way next time I make it.
I giggled at all the times you had to say "no garlic!" heh.
Mike
Yep, went back and looked at the recipe. "You need bread, olive oil, tomatoes, basil and salt." Didn't see "add garlic" in there anywhere. Seems like to me that would mean don't use garlic, but I'm not a master chef or anything like that so what would I know?
Mike
Ok, maybe it's just me, but I got the impression in your blog that you clearly stated "no garlic". What is with these readers who have to argue this?? I mean, so you think the recipe would be better with garlic? Then write your own dang blog!!! I think the recipe is super just the way it is and I can't wait to try it and I am sure beyond doubt that it will be so good that I'll use a whole box of tissues in tears of unspeakable joy and satisfaction. Great stuff again, Karen!!!
Charlotte Tataryn
Hi Karen, I unfortunately deleted a LOT of emails recently and one of them was where you'd mentioned, and shown, the 100% linen bath towel (mentioned aprox $25) so I remember it was gorgeous, you coveted it as did I and that large a chunk of linen, finished for $25, I should have just made a note. With that said would you mind just letting me know where the towel is available, and you are definitely my favourite blogger; you are so real and that's not easily found these days. Thanks for all the enjoyable emails - your the last thing I read before I go to bed and you take EXCELLENT photographs BTW.
Thanks Karen - Charlotte
IRS
Charlotte, unless I am mistaken, all of Karen's favourite linen items come from her sponsor, Rough Linen Bedding. You should see the icon for the shop at the top of this page. I have clicked on it many times, and I want to order the pinafore apron. It looks practical, comfortable, and I love the look and style of it. I'm curious if a linen bath towel is as absorbent as a thick cotton towel is, and also if linen sheets are smooth and not too rough. I have always preferred cotton over most other fibres, so I would be curious about what linen sheet and towel owners have to say.
Karen
Hi Charlotte! All of the linen stuff I mention (and own) is from Rough Linen, my sponsor. You can always find her ad on the righthand sidebar of my website. But here's the bath towels link specifically. She has either bath towels or bath sheets. :) ~ karen!