Bruschetta

The other day at work a friend of mine Michelle suggested that I should do a blog entry about bruschetta because she had an awesome bruschetta the other day that had grilled eggplant on it. Ever since we had this conversation I have been craving bruschetta, so this evening I decided to take Michelle's advice and make bruschetta - Rikki style. Part of this is traditional Italian style, part is stolen from Nathan's mother and the other part is that I just really like ham and always put it on my bruschetta. You can basically make bruschetta with whatever ingredients you like, essentially it is a glorified toasted sandwich. Though I really do think that it needs to have tomato and basil on it to actually be able to call it bruschetta. Here is my recipe:

Ingredients ~ 

• vienna loaf, cut into slices (feel free to use whatever crusty bread you feel like)
• 2 tomatoes, diced (really shiny red ones are best)
• basil
• feta, in slices
• ham
• garlic
• chilli
• balsamic vinegar
• olive oil
• sea salt
• pepper

To Make ~

• Put the diced tomatoes in a bowl and drizzle with oil and balsamic vinegar. Sprinkle with salt and a few grinds of pepper. toss to combine and set aside.
• Lightly toast the slices of bread under the grill.
• Drizzle a bit of oil over the hot bread.
• Cut the end off a chilli and rub over the slices of bread, do the same with the garlic.
• Put a layer of ham then feta on the bread. Top with tomato mixture and put bake under the grill until the feta is slightly melty and the tomatoes are heated through.
• Top with basil leaves and serve.