I'm having company tonight for a simple Italian meal. I have to work to keep simple the operative word when it is time for me to have company, so I usually limit myself to an entree, two sides and a salad. My guests usually bring their specialty. Tonight's guest's specialty is BRICK OVEN BREAD! She has this contraption I've never seen that goes in her regular oven. All I know is that it is probably some of the best Artisan-style bread I've ever had. She brings these little bowls and olive oil and spices and it's all I can do to keep myself from eating only bread.
So I am going to make Bruschetta to serve on her bread. It starts with tomatos diced up so tiny you can spoon them. There's chopped garlic, olive oil (of course) and basil. To me, oregano is too strong for this, but if you want, oregano works. A little bit of balsamic vinegar and it's done.
You'll need to peel the tomatoes. That can be done by LIGHTLY scoring the skins, dipping them in super boiling water for a count of somewhere around 30 seconds. You'll see the skins begin to recede.
Don't cook the tomato. I hold onto them with tongs or these things in the picture:
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| This is what I use to hold on to the tomato in the boiling water. |
I learned how to do that when I worked the dining room at a Holiday Inn. Yes, Holiday Inns used to be
very upscale. This particular dining room was the nicest restaurant I've ever worked at. There was a man that came in every evening for tomatos and burnt toast. The hotel was on a golf course that was surrounded by an upper class community. Funny how we remember these things. I also learned how to fold napkins in a really fancy way for their dinner seating. Maybe we'll hit on that some other day.
Anyway, back to the tomato peeling. The man liked his tomato peeled and sliced and that's how I learned.
