When we were in Iceland, we ate at a tomato farm, in the most beautiful café! The only way you would know you were on a farm was by look into the next building a few feet away, where tomatoes are growing! 😂

Oh, and the grape growing in the ceiling.

I mean, tell me, that is not beautiful!?!

What was just as beautiful to my mouth was the bruschetta on their menu. Came for the tomato soup, stayed for the bruschetta. Ooh la and la. A feast for the eyes as well as the stomach.

I’ll tell you more about Iceland and the tomato farm in another post but in the mean time, I’ll show how to make this delectable bit of loaded calories.

You need:

• thick sourdough bread slices
• basil pesto
• olive oil
• stracciatella cheese
• tomatoes, cut into bit sized pieces
• fresh basil leaves
• ripe olives
• balsamic vinegar reduction (optional)
• cracked salt and pepper (optional)

I named this “irreverent” because it may be too decadent for Italian cuisine from the old country, and if you look at my pictures, my components were not quite on par.

For example, when I made this, I happened to have thinly slices cheddar jalapeno sourdough on hand. Anyone who knows real bruschetta, knows that is messed up on several levels. The café had very thickly sliced bread, at least 3/4″ thick, crunchy on the outside but still soft on the inside. Iceland has good bread, among other delicious foods! Our bruschetta in Italy was crunchy the whole way through, sliced not more than 1/2″ inch and only 1 or 2 toppings, not 5 or 6!!

Also, when I made my pesto, I blanched the basil before I made it, so that the leaves would stay green (that’s what THEY say you should do). For some reason it wouldn’t puree like normal. I must not have blanched it correctly.

So this is what I have, visually:

Toasted Sourdough. Check

Add poorly blended pesto (I also forgot to mention that I underestimated how much basil I had on my plant and had it blended before I realized that I should have had 2 cups more leaves. My plant already was looking like Peanuts’ poor little Christmas tree).

That’s some sad looking pesto! Throw on some stracciatella cheese (the soft, mushy inside of burrata).

Next comes the tomatoes and olives:

Top with fresh basil leaves, little itty bitty bite sized ones if you have it.

Drizzle with olive oil. Crack some salt and pepper over it. Add balsamic vinegar reduction if you want, and enjoy! Trust me, half of the toppings will fall off before you get it all eaten, but that’s okay.

Here is what I used for the cheese.

I got it at Aldi. It has a very short fridge life so keep an eye on the “best by” date when you buy it and even when you use it. It is not aged at all so will spoil quickly in the fridge after opened. I think it tells you to use within 4 days after opening. It is also delicious in a fresh tomato & basil sandwich. I haven’t looked for it at Publix or Kroger so not sure if they have it.

Anyway, that is the recipe I thought you should know about! Let me know if you make it and what you think of it!!