Accountants Who Cook

Our Cooking Challenge Begins

This is our first month of the 2023 Monthly Cooking Challenge. Each week we’ll bring you different recipes to experiment with and learn from. This month we’re going to have an appetizer, main course, desert, and cocktail. We’re starting with the appetizer, also called the Antipasti in Italian, because that’s where all meals start. You can learn more about the 2023 Cooking Challenge on our introduction post and see other posts related the January theme of Italy here.

Appetizer – Antipasti: Bruschetta

We chose Italy as our focus country for January Cooking Challenge because we’re Italian and excited to share our heritage with you. Our appetizer is Bruschetta. It’s can be as simple as good bread, olive oil, and garlic. However, chefs and home cooks can easily add toppings to personalize this dish and create some wonderful flavors to start your meal with flavorful treats.

How do you pronounce Bruschetta?

If you’re not in the Italian or Italian-American community, you probably haven’t given much thought to how this word is pronounced in English. If you want to impress your Italian friends, learning to say it correctly will bring a smile to their face. Here’s a great demonstration from Learn Italian with Lucrezia about the pronunciation of Bruschetta. Don’t worry, it starts in Italian with subtitles but she quickly switches to English for her explanation.

Background of Bruschetta

Bruschetta is a traditional Italian appetizer consisting of grilled bread rubbed with garlic and topped with tomatoes, olive oil, salt, and basil.

The word “bruschetta” comes from the Italian verb “bruscare,” which means “to roast over coals.” The dish is thought to have originated in the 15th or 16th century in the Umbria region of Central Italy, when peasants in Italy would roast slices of bread over an open fire and then rub them with garlic and drizzle them with olive oil.

Over time, the dish has evolved and various toppings and ingredients have been added to the basic recipe. Today, bruschetta is often served with diced tomatoes, basil, and mozzarella cheese. Creative cooks also top them with a variety of other ingredients such as prosciutto, olives, peppers, and more.

In addition to being a popular appetizer, bruschetta is also often served as a snack or light meal. You can find bruschetta as a common offering at Italian restaurants and cafes around the world.

Italians have a similar dish called Crostini. Crostini and bruschetta are similar Italian appetizers that are made with slices of grilled or toasted bread. The main difference between the two is in the type of bread and the toppings.

Crostini are small, thin slices of grilled or toasted bread. The toasted bread is typically topped with a variety of ingredients, such as cheese, meats, vegetables, or spreads. Crostini make a great snack or appetizer.

Bruschetta, on the other hand, is made with thicker slices of toasted bread that are rubbed with garlic and drizzled with olive oil. It is typically topped with diced tomatoes,

Recommendations

If you can find a 2022 Harvest (October/November) First Pressed Olive Oil, use that for this dish.

First press olive oil presses the olives only once to create the olive oil. The first pressing of the olives produces the highest quality and also goes by the name of “extra virgin” olive oil. This olive oil has a strong, pungent flavor and aroma, and it is popular in salad dressings, marinades, as a finishing oil for dishes, and it’s also a popular choice for dipping bread.

Here is a link: https://oliveoillovers.com/collections/novello-and-nuovo

Cooking Challenge: Bruschetta

Here is your January Cooking Challenge for Italian appetizers: go make some bruschetta.

We have included a few recipes for you to use in this challenge. However, feel free to use any recipe you want. Once you’ve made it, take a picture and share it on social media. Please make sure to tag #AccountantsWhoCook and @AccountantsCook so we can find it!

The recipes below start with a very simple recipe and move onto more advanced preparations of bruschetta.

Garlic & Olive Oil Bruschetta – Simple

Tomato and Basil Bruschetta – A Little Advanced

Mozarella and Prosciutto Crostini/Bruschetta – More Advanced

Chicken Liver Pate Bruschette/Crostini – For the culinary adventurous