My Tomato Obsession - Basil Pesto Tomato Bruschetta

  Quite often, I find myself geeking out over food. Usually, it's when I have tried something for the first time and it turned out well. Sometimes it's when I have eaten something so delicious that I can hardly contain myself. On a very special occasion it is both.

  As you know, I have a love affair going on with the tomato. I have seven tomato plants in my garden. They have been slow to produce fruit. But thankfully, my friend (and boss) has kindly been supplying me with her overflow of tomatoes. And I have happily taken every last one! Every now and then I feel a little greedy. I imagine myself as Gollum, rubbing my hand together and chanting "My Precious". Then I take a bite of the sweet fruit and the vision dissipates. I am once again at peace with my tomato fixation.

  Tomatoes are fabulous. But tomatoes and basil pesto... now that, my friends, is a glorious combination! As I was toting home my newly acquired tomatoes from work, I began dreaming of how I would prepare them. During the work week, I like to prepare simple dinners. So I had settled on tomato bruschetta. But then I remembered that I had a lot of basil that I trimmed off of my plant as well. So why not make pesto? 

  Basil Pesto (as I am sure you know) generally has lots of fresh basil, olive oil, Parmesan cheese, garlic, lemon, pine nuts, salt and pepper. I did not have pine nuts so I used peanuts ( which worked well...very rich). I also used roasted garlic olive oil. My advice - Begin with basil and olive oil in the processor. Add the other items to taste. 

  Choose some good bread. I made bread earlier in the week, so I sliced some. Then pan fry the pieces in a combination of olive oil and butter. You can broil or bake the bread but frying it is so yummy! And everything else you are going to eat is super healthy, right?

 

  Once you have fried the bread spread the pesto on top of it. Don't be shy with the pesto. Load each slice with a rather thick layer. You will not regret it!

 

  Next add diced tomato (I used two tomatoes tossed with sea salt), shaved Parmesan cheese and fresh basil to each slice of bread.

 There you have it... the best tomato dinner ever. Well, maybe not ever. But certainly a geek-out worthy fresh tomato dinner that you can eat with your hands...Bonus!