Category: Lifestyle & Hobbies

I’ve had some request to post up my cooking experiments on my blog and so here’s my first. I’ve decided to call my experimental cooking series Singaporean Style, Western Flavour since I tend towards ingredients that are easily found in neighbourhood supermarkets. Looking for western ingredients can be quite a chore as these small supermarkets don’t carry such a wide variety. If the ingredients aren’t found easily, then I’ll use ingredients that you’ll find at larger supermarkets but can be kept for a long time (such as herbs and oils).

I ate Bruschetta in a restruant at Tampines today afternoon and decided to go home and give it a try. Ideally, Bruschetta is served on Baguette but I used a loaf of white bread instead.

Ingredients

• 6-8 slices of thick white bread or baguette
• 2-3 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
• 1-2 cloves of garlic, chopped in half (for rubbing on bread)
• 1 teaspoon of balsamic vinegar
• 2-3 ripe tomatoes
• Extra virgin olive oil
• Basil, salt and black pepper
• Smoked salmon (optional)

Where to Get Them

• If you want to use baguette, Delifrance sells pretty decent ones.
• White bread, garlic and tomatoes can be had at any neighbourhood supermarket.
• Olive oil, balsamic vinegar and smoked salmon can be bought at Cold Storage or larger NTUC outlets such as those in Jurong Point. Buy a good bottle of olive oil and balsamic vinegar and keep them – they can be kept for a long time.
• I use dried Basil from MasterFoods. They come in small bottles that costs around $5 and can be found similarly at Cold Storage or larger NTUC outlets. You may use fresh basil but they can’t be kept for more than a few days.
• If you absolutely must, then buy pre-ground black pepper from MasterFoods. I use a cheap Ikea pepper grinder and grind the peppers when I need.

Preparing the Tomato Topping

• Optional – put the tomatoes in boiling water for about one minute and remove them. Remove the skin
• Cut the tomatoes in quarters and remove the stem, seeds and juice from the center.
• Optional – lighly fry the chopped garlic in some olive oil, otherwise it may taste too raw.
• Chop the tomatoes then put them in a bowl together with the chopped garlic, balsmic vinegar and 1 tablespoon of olive oil. If you have smoked salmon, add them as well. Sprinkle in some basil, then a little bit of salt and pepper to taste and mix. (I tend to use less salt and more pepper.)

• If you’re using baguette, slice them as you normally would diagonally about half an inch thick.
• If you’re using a loaf of white bread, cut the slices in half to make them smaller.
• If you’re using baguette, toast the bread, then rub the garlic on the slice and drizzle half a teaspoon of olive oil on each half-slice.
• If you’re using white bread, it would be easier to chop the garlic and then fry them with some olive oil for about a minute on low heat, then place the bread on top.
• Either serve the bread and tomatoes separately or immediately before serving otherwise the bread will turn soggy.

Serving Size

• Serves 2 to 3 not-very-hungry adults busy playing Wii.