Bruschetta That Changes Everything
I love to make bruschetta and when I traveled to Tuscany to research this novel, I was amazed at how many varieties that Tuscans serve. I had a Chianti-tasting at Casa Emma, an organic winery that served bruschetta with freshly-roasted peppers, which changed everything. So I modified my own recipe and call this one Bruschetta That Changes Everything.
INGREDIENTS
- Six peppers, of all colors. I use red, yellow, green, and even orange because I love the way they look together, and the yellow and orange taste sweeter.
- Six tomatoes, either beefsteak or Roma
- Italian bread or any other rustic bread
- Three cloves of garlic
- Malden Salt, to taste
- Fresh pepper, to tase
- Fresh basil, to taste
PREPARATION
Get a loaf of Italian bread or any kind of rustic bread that you like. Cut it into thick slices and broil it on a cookie sheet at about 400 degrees for ten minutes on each side.
Wash the peppers and cut them in large slices, which will make them easier to handle during sautéing.
Sauté the peppers in a large pan with extra-virgin olive oil. Cover them to make steam, which softens them. Turn them so they don’t burn, but if they get a little charred, it only adds to the taste. It takes an hour, so plan ahead.
Take the sautéed peppers from the pan and place them in a bowl with their pepper-infused oil. Don’t drain them, just let them sit in in the olive oil, which you will spoon onto the bruschetta (like liquid gold.) When they’ve cooled a little, chop them and return them to their bowl.
Take the six tomatoes and chop them up, and then add three cloves of garlic, minced fine.
Take the chopped tomatoes, chopped peppers, and the minced garlic, and combine them in a bowl.
Spread a tablespoonful of the pepper-infused olive oil onto each slice of toasted bread, then mound the tomato-pepper mixture on top of that.
Add Maldon Salt and grind some fresh pepper onto each one, too.
Add a sprig of fresh basil to each, too.
Featured recipe in THIS CHANGES EVERYTHING by Lisa Scottoline
“She was preparing her family’s favorite appetizer, bruschetta with roasted red peppers in garlicky olive oil, and eggplant rollatini baked in the oven, warming the air with the aroma of bubbling mozzarella.” – Chapter 1
In this “riveting, deeply felt and empowering thriller” (Laura Dave) from #1 bestselling author Lisa Scottoline, who “always delivers the fastest, twistiest reads” (Lisa Jewell), a woman risks her life to help her best friend find justice for a tragic crime–and realizes she has more power than she ever knew.
Julia Pritzker loves her new life as a wife and mother in beautiful Tuscany—except that she misses her best friend Courtney, back in the States. One night, Julia calls Courtney and reaches her as she’s arriving at her grandmother’s farm in Pennsylvania. A dreadful premonition overwhelms Julia moments before Courtney enters the house—and makes a heartbreaking discovery. Her beloved grandmother has been murdered, and the killer is escaping out the back door. Rushing to support Courtney, Julia flies home the next morning.
The local police believe the murder was a botched burglary, but the women suspect something much more sinister and enlist Bennie Rosato, the hotshot Philly lawyer, to assist. In addition, Courtney entreats Julia to trust her psychic intuition to point her to the missing pieces of this dark puzzle.
But in a town filled with explosive secrets, events take a deadly turn, and Julia becomes the target of a murderous conspiracy. She ends up fighting for her life, with no one to save her … but herself.
Only a blockbuster talent like Lisa Scottoline can tell this gripping and layered of a story, combining a woman’s search for truth with the revelation of her own empowerment, as well as the enduring strength and joys of female friendship.