Tomato Basil Garlic Bruschetta

Instead of eating out, my family decided on a fancy homemade dinner to celebrate Fiza (my big sister) and Hazri's (my younger brother) birthdays; we had these fat, juicy steaks with roasted potatoes and roasted vegetables as side dishes.

Rina (my younger sister) had been wanting to eat bruschetta for weeks after she watched—and re-watched—Julie and Julia. Since she couldn't stop talking about bruschettas, I, in turn, craved them, too. So we took the matter into our own hands to satisfy our craving and whipped up these simple bruschettas, piled with tomato, basil and garlic before dinner commenced.

Read on for the easy recipe!

Ingredients:

• 1 long baguette
• About 20-30 cherry tomatoes
• 3 cloves of garlic
• 10 basil leaves
• Extra virgin olive oil (EVOO)—or olive oil if you prefer that; I don't discriminate!
• Salt
• Pepper

Instructions:

1. Cut baguette into thick slices. Or thin. Really, whatever your palate prefers!
2. Brush EVOO on one side of the slices and toast them on a pan with the EVOO side facing downwards first. Then toast the other side. Put aside toasted slices.
3. Chop cherry tomatoes into small pieces and place them in a bowl. I wish I have the expertise to dice tomatoes into cute little cubes but I always end up mushing them anyway, so I always go for the rough and hardy route.
4. Mince garlic cloves and add to the bowl. 
5. Slice basil leaves thinly and add to the bowl as well.
6. Pour in about two tablespoons of EVOO, season with salt and freshly cracked black pepper (I do discriminate ready-made packaged black pepper now though—eep!) and stir all these ingredients around.
7. Pile tomato-basil-garlic mix on top of baguette slices.
8. Eat!

Photography by Hazrina Aris; taken with iPhone 5S

These tasted really good and were so unbelievably easy—I can't wait to make my next batch of bruschettas.

If you try out this recipe, do let me know what you think!