Bruschetta

Bruschetta

There was this one scene in Julie&Julia, where Julie is in conversation with her husband while cooking dinner. She dices tomatoes, a little later she flips a few baguette slices on the griddle turning them golden brown. Next thing you know, the tomatoes are nesting on the baguette and she’s garnishing them with fresh basil. I must have rewound and gone through the scene like 7 times at one go. It looked absolutely beautiful and it definitely helped that her husband loved it. So many months have gone by and now is when that scene would come to life in my kitchen. Technically in Upasana’s kitchen. Did it exactly how I played it in my head. But of course by now you should know we do bend the rules here and there. So we added a little extra for some zing. Cheese! Straight from Paris.

5 slices

Ingredients:

5 slices of baguette (you can use any other kind of bread slices)

2 chopped tomatoes

½ yellow capsicum finely chopped (green or red would also do just fine)

1 basil leaf for each slice

A pinch of fresh thyme for each slice (substitute with dried Italian seasoning)

Grated cheese to top the bruschetta (we used gouda)

1 clove of garlic

1 tbsp olive oil for toasting baguette

Salt and pepper for seasoning

Method:

Sauté the finely chopped yellow capsicum and keep aside. Toast baguette in olive oil on both sides. Rub garlic on each slice to infuse the flavor into the baguette. Top it with the chopped tomatoes, approximately 1 tbsp for each slice and the capsicum. Sprinkle a pinch of thyme and season with salt and pepper. Now add basil finely chopped or the whole leaf. Top this off with cheese and serve.

It works really well as an appetizer for a dinner party. Yes, you can show off. I would ;)

Veeks & Thomas

My dad had picked up the menu couple of weeks ago and stuck it on the refrigerator. When I asked dad, he mentioned that it is a hop skip and a jump away. Browsing through the prices, my jaw dropped to have seen a crostini priced at Rs. 69! Either they are here to stay or each piece is priced at that. After a pleasant walk, we entered Veeks and Thomas. The dining area was neat and they had some brilliant Jazz and Blues playing. Well, our mood was set. They have a good selection of dishes in the appetizers and main course. For soup we tried one of each; the french onion and the tomato basil soup. They are priced at Rs. 30 each. I preferred the french onion to the basil but P and Ed loved the latter. Amongst the appetizers, I we recommend the bruschettas, stuffed tomatoes and crostinis. They taste brilliant as a vegetarian dish too with the sundried tomato toppings. For the main course, I went safe with the Chicken Lasagne while P ordered a Portuguese Chicken and Ed went with a Chicken Stroganoff and leaving us quite impressed and satisfied. They serve your dishes in beetle nut husk plates (bio degradable) and water from a tall jar with mint leaves in it, giving it the perfect tinge for summers. For desserts we tried the caramel custard but were a little disappointed with its grainy texture. But make sure you grab a bite of the brownie. It was a perfect brownie but whatever that gooey little piece was, it perfectly melts in your mouth. In all, yes we do recommend this place for a good lazy lunch with friends where the numbers of appetizers keep increasing with the prolonged hours of chatting. It certainly is not heavy on the pocket for a guilt free leisure meal.