Family Bruschetta

This delicious bruschetta is a wonderful appetizer. Unfortunately, it is not, repeat not, a low calorie or low fat recipe.

Well, actually that depends.

If you serve the bruschetta with a slotted spoon, and let the liquid drain off, you'll eat very few fat calories. If you dip your bread into the olive oil based marinade, you'll eat a lot of fat. At least it's the good kind of fat.

I tried first tried this recipe on August 12, 2002. My family gobbled it up. Almost everyone used spooned the Bruschetta up with a slotted spoon. (One family member did pour the juice straight on the bread.) After we ate, the bowl was still full of liquid. I refrigerate the liquid; the next day I chopped up 6 tomatoes, some basil and garlic and tossed them in the same marinade. So, I 3/4 c of olive oil really stretched over nearly 2 full recipes.

But you know what? Everyone still used the slotted spoon and now I'm going to use the rest of the marinade as a salad dressing. So, the 2/3 cup of oil isn't really eaten.

Naturally, it's impossible to estimate how many calories per serving. If you family doen't use a slotted spoon, there are at least 1300 fat calories in the full recipe. I served 6, so that would be over 200 fat calories each serving. But my family didn't eat all the juice, and I used it again. So, I the fat was really spread over at least 12 servings. That's about 100 fat calories in each serving.

Heck, there is still some juice left in the bowl! I'm pouring that on salad today. So, I figure, if you use the slotted spoon, you can eat 1/6th of this recipe and consume between 70-120 calories from the dip. How many calories you eat depends on how well you drain the tomatos. You'll get additional calories from the bread.

If you dip your bread in the juice, well.....

I would avoid this recipe while counting calories and trying to lose weight quickly. It's a great treat once you are on maintenance. If you know your family is prone to pigging out on oil, drain the Bruschetta slightly before putting it on the table. I'd just scoop it out with a slotted spoon. Don't over drain though, the oil does provide some of the taste.

Bruschetta Recipe

8 plum tomatoes, chopped.
1/4 cup red wine vinegar.
2/3 cup olive oil.
3 cloves garlic, minced.
1/4 cup chopped fresh basil.
Salt and pepper to taste. ( I use about 1/4 teaspoon each.)

Mix all ingredients in a bowl. Refrigerate at least 1/2 hour. To serve scoop mixture on toasted french bread.

Lucia