Grilled Bruschetta
Our love affair with the crostini knows no bounds. So much so that we have ventured into the realm of the close relative to the crostini – bruschetta. Crostini means toasted bread in Italian and Bruschetta comes from the Italian word buscare with means to, “toast over coals.”
Both are toasts served with a topping of some sort, usually as an antipasto. Bruschetta is typically made of larger pieces of toast, while crostinis are typically smaller. Technically, bruschetta is toasted bread with any sort of savory topping, but the Americanization of bruschetta is that it generally has some sort of tomato topping. Here we went with tomato, onion, mascarpone cheese, and a balsamic reduction sauce. I’ll hand it over to my cousin Tom to show you exactly how it’s done…
Ingredients:
1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
2 tbsp honey
4 roma tomatoes
4 green onions
1 loaf French bread
1 cup mascarpone cheese
2 tsp olive oil
1 tsp basil
Salt & Pepper
Place balsamic vinegar and honey into a small sauce pan. Cook over med-low heat for approximately 20 to 30 minutes until mixture reduces and becomes thick. This will become thicker as it cools. Set aside for later use.
Slice tomatoes in half, drizzle with olive oil, salt and pepper. Trim green onions and place with tomatoes (leave whole until cooked).
Set up the grill for two zone cooking. Coals on one side and no coals on the other. The fire needs to be medium high to hot. Look for surface temperature of at least 400 degrees over the side with the coals.
Place vegetables on the hot side of the grill. The veggies should smoke instantly when placed on the grill like this tomato:
Place all the tomatoes and the onions down, but try to keep the thinner ends of the onion away from the heat as they will cook much faster than the thicker, white ends of the onions. The cool zone on the Big Green Egg for this cookout was at the back, with all the coals in the front. Here is my lovely wife, Tracy who came up with the recipe, putting the tomatoes and onions on the BGE:
A closer shot of the veggies. Great color:
Cook three to four minutes on each side (you want a nice char on them). Here are the tomatoes and onions flipped:
After both sides have a nice char, remove from grill. When cool enough to handle, rough chop the tomatoes and onions. Place into bowl and add the salt and black pepper to taste and a tablespoon of the balsamic reduction:
The basil:
And the olive oil:
Toss until combined and let this rest at room temperature while preparing the bread:
Cut bread into one inch slices. Brush with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper:
Place bread directly onto medium-hot grill and cook for two to three minutes on each side, or until bread turns golden brown. Don’t walk away from the grill or they will burn. Check the underside frequently:
Remove bread from grill and spread a teaspoon of mascarpone cheese on each slice:
Return bread with cheese to the side of the grill that has no coals so you don’t continue to toast the bread, and close the lid. Cook for another couple of minutes until the cheese is melted:
The cheese will melt and look a little like butter when it melts:
Remove bread to serving platter, top with tomato / onion mixture:
And drizzle with the balsamic reduction sauce:
***Editor’s note ~ I was in attendance the night Tom and Tracy made these so I can attest to how good they were. The sweetness of the mascarpone cheese and the balsamic reduction with the honey in it counteracted the bite of the onions and the tart of the tomatoes perfectly. Add in the crunchy texture of the toasted bread and this was a real hit. I don’t think anyone there that night had less than two of them each***
If you have any questions about the bruschetta, feel free to leave a comment below or shoot me an email.
If you want to see the other crostini recipes we’ve done, click here.
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Looks fan-freaking-tastic. I love the idea of the marscapone cheese with the grilled bread and tomatoes. Thanks for sharing!
This is an awesome recipe!! The pictures and directions were incredibly helpful, although I suggest being careful with the green onions on the grill (I lost a few to being charred despite following 2-zone cooking).
The appetizer was a hit at our Michigan/Michigan State football party. I doubled the recipe, and it served 12-15. It will be at the top of my go-to recipes, especially going into the holiday season!