Alright so real talk between you and I real quick.
Of all the bruschetta videos I've ever made, I keep getting the same annoying question
which is:'Why do you call it brus-ket-a?'
Well, because Captain obvious, I was born in the great old land of Italia, and that
is what you call it, you call it brus-ket-a, but hey if you want to call it bruschetta,
by all means call it bruschetta, nobody cares as long as it's delicious, but how about you
leave me alone and you leave my girl Giada alone if you want to call it bruschetta or
ricotta or spaghetti, let me live!
Let me live!
It's the same thing.
Ricotta, ricotta.
Spaghetti, spaghetti.
Brus-ket-a, bruschetta.
It's fine, it's good just eat it.
Hi guys, I'm Laura Vitale and on this episode of Laura in the Kitchen I want to show you
an updated version of my bruschetta, brushcetta, whichever you want and my roasted pepper recipe.
Now, I asked you on Instagram a couple weeks ago, I was thinking about doing, not a series,
but like starting to share updated versions of recipes that I have shared with you many
many moons ago, because I have changed a lot of the recipes, I do things a lot differently
now than I did years ago, and I had an overwhelming exciting response saying how much you would
enjoy the updated versions, you know, so I'm going to start with the very first which was
the very first video I ever made which was brushetta, bruschetta whatever you call it,
and also roasted peppers because I don't really ever make one without the other, and since
Summer weather, Spring weather whatever you want to call it is officially here, you will
be seeing these a lot on my Instagram if you follow me so it will be a great way for me
to send you to the recipe and you can make this exact version because it's a staple,
we can't live without it.
Let me sort of run you through what I've got here.
I've got garlic, I've go these beautiful sweet, deliciously plump tomatoes, I've got an array
of bell peppers, lots of basil, I've got some capers that I have rinsed, oregano, extra
virgin olive oil, a little red wine vinegar, and I've got a little bit of salt.
You also need some bread, of course, and that's really it but these are the best - this is
the best combo and it's the best bruschetta and the best roasted pepper recipe in the
history of ever.
For roasting the peppers, I put mine right on my gas burner, if you don't have a gas
burner, what you want to do is you want to cut them in half lengthwise, put them cut
side down on a baking sheet and pop them under the broiler to really char the skin.
I do this right on my gas burner, but like I said if you don't have a gas burner, you're
going to want to do it - you're going to have to do this however it fits on your stove,
I kind of move them around like that, and you're looking for them to - they'll start
to pop and you're looking for them to get really charred all around and I'll show you
what they look like when they're there, because these burners are a little bit big, I have
to maneuver them around but my regular stove back there fits three of them perfectly, but
once you see them like that, but all over, that's when you'll know you're ready to flip
and once they're all blackened I'm going to put them all in a bowl and I'll show you what
they look like when they are there.
Peppers are hot, put a lid on let them steam ten, fifteen minutes, twenty minutes, half
an hour, however long it takes for them to not be so, so hot so you can peel them, so
I do that so that I don't have to cover them with plastic wrap and waste anything I just
put a lid on top of the bowl, it's good to go.
Let's work on the tomatoes.
Now, you can use any tomato you want for this, I really love these little vine ripe tomatoes
here, they are so sweet and they are so fantastic, we love them, plum tomatoes really sweet beautiful
Jersey plum tomatoes would be really good here as well.
What you need to do though is you need to - you see, you cut the tomato in half, there's
a lot of seeds, a lot of water, so I just kind of squeeze that out because I don't want
that in my final dish because I want the juice of the tomato to mix with the olive oil but
I don't want the excess water and seeds, so I just squeeze them out and it makes a big,
big difference.
So, take a few minutes to do that and then we are going to chop them all really nicely
and it's going to be so delicious.
Got all my tomatoes diced, now I took a clove of garlic, it was really, really big and I
just sort of smashed it, and I'm not even going to cut it because I want the garlic
flavor to infuse but I don't actually want any small pieces of garlic running through
it because that's just the way we've been wanting it and it's delicious and I just love
that, it's a little bit more mild.
Then you take about a tablespoon of capers, and I make sure that I rinse them really well
under cold water, to get rid of as much of that vinegar taste as possible, but the capers
here add a lovely salt note to this but in a little bit of a different way, you don't
really bite on a big piece of caper or take away a caper flavor but everything together
just sort of blends into the most delicious combination ever.
So you just want to make sure that you chop the capers really, really well because you
want it to kind of mix throughout the whole thing and that's what makes them so delicious,
and the first time I had this was when I went to Tuscany last year and somebody made bruschetta
like this with capers in it and it was a game changer, and I have been making it this way
ever since and I don't think I will ever change because I'm just too in love with the flavor
combination, so.
And then I just take basil, and I just run my knife down and just slice it and give it
a chop just so that it blends with everything.
Add that right in.
A good pinch of oregano, just sort of pinch it between your fingers as you add that in
just to break up the leaves and to really expose the oils.
Pinch of salt and really good quality extra virgin olive oil.
Good amount of that.
Take a spoon.
Give all of that a really good stir and this is going to just sit aside and the flavors
will meld and be absolutely divine when you top this on some charred bread it is absolutely
life changing.
This is done, it needs to set aside so that the flavors can meld.
I'm going to go get a bowl of water - you heard that right - and I'll meet you back
here so we can start cleaning the peppers.
I'm going to take the other half of the clove of garlic, because it was pretty big, and
I'm going to add that to this bowl.
I'm not even cleaning my counter because all the same flavors are going to go in it.
So before I move onto the peppers which is going to be a messy job but I have to walk
you through it because it is important, I'm going to take another small bunch of basil,
basil looking sad but it's fine, pretty soon it'll be growing from the garden and it'll
be so pretty and happy.
And I'm going to chop together the basil with a little bit more of the capers, I am telling
you this is the way to make roasted peppers and bruschetta because it just is the most
incredible combination and Spring and Summer is here, most likely there will not be a single
week going forward until the Fall on my Instagram where you won't see one of these or both of
them because I know a lot of you follow me on there and you see what I eat day to day,
and I love that you follow me for that.
I appreciate it and if you don't then you're missing on the party.
Okay, so in this bowl I'm going to add the same suspects, alright?
But here you're also going to add a splash of vinegar.
Okay?
Couple teaspoons, not a lot.
Amazing.
Let's talk peppers.
If I catch you taking this pepper and running it through the faucet, running it through
water, I will come over there with my absolute favorite weapon which is the wooden spoon,
and I'll show you a thing or two about a thing or two.
You're washing away all the phenomenal flavor.
Now you're asking yeah but the stuff on there it sticks and it's a mess, so here's what
you do.
You have a bowl of water, this is the bowl I had the peppers in, okay?
You wet your hands to get rid of the skin, you never ever wet the pepper.
You don't want to rinse the pepper because you'll be washing off all of that charred
flavor that you worked so hard to create.
So you just take your hands, wet it in the water, and patiently take off as much as you
can and then a lot of the rest, you take off with your knife which I will show you in just
a minute, you can do this on the outdoor grill even, on a char grill, on your gas grill,
whatever you got.
It's worth it.
I know it's a step extra and I know you can buy roasted peppers in a jar, been there,
done that.
But if you want roasted peppers for your antipasti, you have to roast your own.
Nothing else needs to be said, you have to roast your own.
So you see?
We took off most of it right?
I'll take the rest of it off in a minute and I'll show you.
Set that aside and move onto the next one.
Look at that.
It comes right off.
Cut your peppers lengthwise.
Take away just the core.
And then if you have anything leftover that you don't want, I like a little bit of the
char because it adds flavor, I would never wash that off.
If there are bigger pieces like maybe that one right there, peel it right off, but you
can also have your knife kinda help you peel that off but you never want to wash it off,
so I always slice the peppers from the inside so that your knife doesn't slip because the
outside is quite slippery, but if you do it this way, your knife doesn't slip.
See that?
You add those right in, so yeah you just use your knife to help you take off any bits and
pieces that you don't want, but I'm just going to go ahead and slice the rest of these, I'll
slice some bread so we can toast it, then we eat.
Favorite time of day.
And it's beautiful outside, which means once we're done wrapping this episode, we'll be
eating this outside.
I have some ciabatta here that I'm toasting on my bruschetta pan.
I get a ton of questions about where you can get this pan, this pan gives you the most
delicious char grilled flavor on your bread, it's mainly for bread it's not for anything
else.
You can find them online, but if you live in the Philadelphia, South Jersey area, go
to Fante's Kitchen in south Philly, they will have these, I've purchased backups of these,
I brought these to Italy to my nonna's house, because I love this so much it's thin it's
easy so if you live around here go to Fante's and they'll have them for you.
And they're really inexpensive too but it makes for the best bread for this type of
thing and it cooks up really really fast, so just put your bread on there, this is about
to come off, keep an eye.
To my roasted peppers, just going to add a good drizzle or two of extra virgin olive
oil, and I'm also going to add a good pinch of salt.
Give these a really good stir.
I'm going to pop them into the bowls along with the tomatoes because I like the bread
to be toasted, and kept on the board for people to make their own bruschetta, bruschetta whatever
you want to call it, so the bread doesn't get soggy.
So I'm going to do this and then we have a taste.
What you can do too, as soon as the bread comes off the grill, cut a piece of garlic
in half, rub that on there, skin and everything and it warms up that garlic and you've got
the most insane flavor ever, you can already smell it, it's just incredible.
Ah.
Listen, I've been waiting a long time.
I've been waiting a long time for this.
You know?
You know, I want to tell you something.
I do, but hold on.
I love my foods, I do, I love my foods I love them all.
This on the table tonight, outside, a little Parmiggiano Reggianio, little salami, little
prosciutto, this is going to be our dinner tonight.
And I know that you wish that you were invited.
If you lived next door, you would be.
But you can make this, have your own outdoor back yard party whatever you want to have,
it's the best, I just love Spring and Summer for this type of food, these are staples in
our household, this is how I've made them for a long time now and this is pour updated
version that I don't think is going to change for a very long time if ever LauraintheKitchen.com
for the written recipe.
You just need to make it, you just do so that you can feel the vibe with me.
I'll see you next time.
Bye.