Sunday, October 5, 2008

After a brief hiatus, I’m back with something fresh, beautiful and delish; rustic bruschetta. (The Vegan Lush has been going through some big life transitions, but now things have settled down, and I’m ready to blog about fabulous vegan food and wine again!) Yes, it is the end of tomato season, but some markets are still carrying sweet and juicy little heirloom cherry tomatoes, and they make a really lovely bruschetta. For this version I chopped up a couple pounds of tomatoes, a handful of basil, and about a half cup of pitted olives. I tossed it all with a couple tablespoons of olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Lastly, I topped it with sea salt and freshly ground pepper, et voila! The croustini is just sliced French bread that I brushed with olive oil and broiled for a couple minutes. It is so easy and makes a great party food. I took this to the Vegan Brunch Cartel meeting in San Francisco last month.


This is a refreshing dish, so I definitely recommend a zippy wine. The tomatoes are so sweet and tart that they would do nicely paired with a California Sauvignon Blanc with a good amount of acid, or you might even try a nice dry Rosé with some fruity watermelon notes.