It has been a wonderful staycation week with my boys. We have gone on many fun day trips, rediscovered our yard that was buried under mounds of snow, and basically just thawed out together. Now, to get cooking!
I have to enjoy the rest of this beautiful baguette before I’m stuck making croutons! With parsley being the herb of the hour, I decided to try a bruschetta, replacing the traditional basil and seeing what happens…
I’ll tell you what happens. Fresh deliciousness is what happens.
I started with 2 tomatoes, and de-seeded them (eating the seeds as I went, they were quite yummy) before dicing them up. I finely chopped about 2 tablespoons of the parsley to mix in with the tomato. I sprinkled in a bit of shredded Parmesan and a sprinkle of salt and freshly ground black pepper. A drizzle of olive oil and a good stir and my bruschetta topping was ready to go. Sometimes I add balsamic vinegar but my other half is not a fan so I omitted it today.
I thinly sliced the baguette and brushed on (ok, I drizzled, but in retrospect, I wish I had brushed) a bit of olive oil and another sprinkle of Parmesan cheese before sending them for a quick trip through the oven. (The toaster oven would have worked fine as well.)
I made a pasta sauce with some canned Summer 2014 tomatoes and the Italian sausage, tossing in some parsley along with a basil pesto cube. For my recipe on sauce, feel free to check out this previous post – it’s a very flexible recipe.
The sauce was served on penne with a side salad of Springdell mixed greens tossed with Our Favorite Raspberry Vinaigrette. My two year-old was trying to drink the pasta sauce!
I hope you enjoy this take on a traditional meal, and please know that comments are always welcome. We’d love to know how you are enjoying your parsley, baguette and tomatoes as well!