This juicy strawberry bruschetta is made with with balsamic vinegar and fresh basil. Serve on toasted baguette slices for a delicious summer appetizer.
I finally started my vegetable garden this weekend. I discovered that I know even less about what I'm doing than I thought. I started my tomato and pepper plants in my house a while ago. They are doing great. As for the rest of the plants, well, the seed packets told me to start them outdoors, but then I heard that May was late to get started, so a couple of weeks ago I freaked and started everything else in pots. When I tried to transplant my little seedlings the other day they looked very sad. Then it occurred to me that maybe normal people just buy plants rather than starting everything from seeds. What do you guys do? I am so clueless.
Hopefully by next year I'll have a better idea of when to plant my food, at least I will if gardening is anything like blogging. In the slightly over a year that I've been blogging I've done a pretty good job of learning when to eat my food. Take strawberries for example. Strawberries are just coming into season in my neck of the woods, and I am right on it! I'm pretty eager, strawberry lover that I am. If only strawberries tasted good all year round. I could eat those things for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Unfortunately, I can really only get good ones a few months out of the year. So I have to make up for lost time by squeezing in more strawberries. Strawberry appetizers always help with that, like strawberry bruschetta!
This was the first batch of strawberries of the season that tasted really good to me. I got pretty excited and jumped on this recipe, as I've wanted to try something like this for a while. A friend told me about a strawberry bruschetta she had at a romantic wine bar in Philly a while back. I love sweet and savory dishes, and I love strawberries, so I thought it sounded perfect, and it really was! Take this to your picnics, make it for Memorial Day...eat it all summer long. The flavor is something like an extra tangy caprece, with a little kick from all that black pepper...the pepper is important. Please don't skip or cut back on the pepper.
June is peak strawberry season in Pennsylvania, which means things will only get better. Consider this my own personal strawberry teaser. This is just the beginning, which is perfect because it is an appetizer.
Strawberry Bruschetta
This strawberry bruschetta is the perfect summer appetizer! Made with juicy strawberries, fresh basil and balsamic vinegar, it's delicious, refreshing, and easy to make!
Ingredients
- 12 ounces fresh strawberries
- ½ cup finely chopped fresh basil
- 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
- 1 teaspoon olive oil
- ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper, or to taste
- Pinch salt, or to taste
- 1 teaspoon organic granulated sugar (optional, plus up to 1 additional teaspoon)
- 1 baguette, sliced and toasted
- Spreadable vegan cheese (such as cashew cream cheese), optional
Instructions
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Clean, hull, and finely dice the strawberries so the pieces are ½ inch or smaller, preferably close to ¼ inch.
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Add the diced strawberries to the bowl and stir in the basil, balsamic vinegar, olive oil, salt and pepper.
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Taste-test the bruschetta and add sugar if you'd like it to be a bit sweeter. You can add more salt and pepper at this point as well if you'd like.
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Serve the bruschetta over toasted baguette slices, optionally slathering each slice with a bit of spreadable vegan cheese first.
Recipe Notes
- Nutrition information is for the bruschetta only and does not include cheese or the baguette.
- This recipe makes about 2 cups of bruschetta.
Sounds so refreshing. Definitely on my menu soon.
It was very refreshing! Thank you and enjoy!!!
This looks amazing! Strawberry season is just around the corner here in NH and I will be making this as soon as I can get my hands on some of those beautiful berries!
Thank you! I'm always super anxious for good strawberries when spring rolls around. I hope you enjoy this as much as I did!!!
Oh my.... Am I the only crazy person who would have this for breakfast? Perfect way to brighten up a monday morning!
The thought never crossed my mind, but now that you mention it, I'd totally do that (and probably will)! Thanks for the idea!
Love this recipe! Everyone loved it. Light and refreshing.
Thank you for sharing.
Yay! I'm glad it was a hit!
I’m trying this tonight for a garden party to celebrate my exploding rose garden. First blooms of the year. I have 30 rose bushes all budded out!
I am also serving melon slices wrapped in prosciutto and grapes soaked in Prosecco (laced with a little vodka). Can’t decide if I will roll the grapes in sugar - as the recipe suggests. Also suggested to freeze the grapes. My sister in law used to take wine soaked frozen grapes on her dinner parties aboard her sailboat.