Grilled Bruschetta

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Our love affair with the crostini knows no bounds.  So much so that we have ventured into the realm of the close cousin to the crostini – grilled bruschetta. Crostini means toasted bread in Italian and Bruschetta comes from the Italian word buscare with means to, “toast over coals.” So very close cousins indeed. Any closer and they would be kissing. 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.  For this grilled bruschetta recipe 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 on his Big Green Egg, although you don’t have to have a BGE to do it…

Grilled Bruschetta Ingredients:

1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
2 tbsp honey
4 roma tomatoes
4 green onions
1 cup mascarpone cheese
2 tsp olive oil
1 tsp basil
1 loaf French bread 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 by dropping the place setter in the Big Green Egg or by putting the coals on one side and no coals on the other. 

For this recipe, we did the latter much like a more conventional grill.

The fire needs to be medium high to high. 

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.  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:

They require 3-4 minutes of grilling 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 for the grilled bruschetta:

Cut bread into one inch slices.  Brush with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper:

Place bread directly onto the Big Green Egg and cook for two to three minutes on each side, or until bread turns golden brown. Don’t walk away for more than a moment while they are grilling 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 of the Big Green Egg.  Cook for another couple of minutes until the cheese is melted:

The cheese will look a little like butter when it melts:

Remove the grilled bruschetta to serving platter, top with tomato / onion mixture:

And drizzle with the balsamic reduction sauce to complete the grilled bruschetta:

***Editor’s note ~ I was in attendance the night Tom and Tracy made this recipe 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***

If you have any questions about the grilled bruschetta, feel free to leave a comment below or shoot me an email.

If you want to see the other bruschetta or crostini recipes we’ve done, click here.

Print Recipe

Grilled Bruschetta

Toasted bread topped with grilled scallions and tomato, mascarpone cheese and a balsamic reduction

Prep Time40 minutes mins

Cook Time20 minutes mins

Total Time1 hour hr

Course: Appetizer

Cuisine: BBQ

Servings: 10 -12

Ingredients

• ½ cup balsamic vinegar
• 2 tbsp honey
• 4 Roma tomato
• 4 green onions
• 1 loaf French bread
• 1 tsp basil
• 2 tsp olive oil
• salt and black pepper
• 1 cup mascarpone cheese

Instructions

• 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 indirect/two zone cooking by putting the coals on one side and nothing on the other
• Place vegetables on the hot side of the grill
• The veggies should smoke instantly when placed on the grill
• Try to keep the thinner ends of the onion away from the heat as they will cook much faster than the thicker, white ends
• Grill 3-4 minutes on each side (you want a nice char on them)
• After both sides have a nice char, remove from the BGE 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, basil and olive oil
• Toss until combined and let this rest at room temperature
• Cut bread into one inch slices, brush with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper
• Place bread directly onto the BGE grill and cook for 2 to 3 minutes on each side, or until bread turns golden brown
• Check the underside frequently to ensure they do not burn
• Remove bread from grill and spread a teaspoon of mascarpone cheese on each slice
• Return bread with cheese to the side of the BGE that has no coals and close the lid
• As the cheese melts it will look like butter, remove from the grill
• Place the grilled bruschetta on a serving platter, top with tomato / onion mixture and serve

Tom Jones

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This article was initially published on: September 27, 2010