artichoke and sun-dried tomato bruschetta

Cooking inspiration strikes me in the weirdest ways. It sometimes begins with a new ingredient — such as when I cooked with wheat berry for the first time and ended up creating this wheat berry and caprese salad — other times it occurs when I’m testing a recipe found in a cookbook, website or another food blog. A few months ago, my mom forwarded an Epicurious recipe to me for a white fish served with an artichoke salad that my dad fell in love with. That was truly a first, given that my dad doesn’t really care for fish, but the truth be told he really loved the artichoke salad… so much so that he eats it on its own without the fish! After cooking it twice, I knew there was so much more I could do with the artichoke salad besides serving it with fish. My dad was right, it’s delicious on its own, so why not combine it with bread? That’s how these artichoke and sun-dried tomato bruschettas were born.

Bruschettas are one of my favorite bites to serve at cocktail parties or as an appetizer. They’re crunchy, versatile in their toppings and start any meal on a flavorful note. Although my favorite way to prepare bruschettas is topping them with tomato, basil and garlic, I wanted to try something new for a Valentine’s Day menu I planned for What-To-Where, a fashion and lifestyle blog founded by the lovely Macha and Lydia. I always wanted to use the artichoke salad I found on Epicurious to create bruschettas, and writing the blog post for What-To-Where was the perfect opportunity to follow my inspiration.

Calling them artichoke and sun-dried tomato bruschetta doesn’t do them justice, as these bruschettas are packed with so many other ingredients, like black olives, garlic, capers, white wine, parsley and lemon juice. The topping is made by first sautéing the artichoke hearts until lightly browned, which gives them a smoky flavor, and by slowly simmering the sun-dried tomatoes, capers, olives and garlic in white wine. The topping is already zesty due to the artichokes and capers, but it then gets an extra punch with the addition of a tiny bit of lemon juice. The whole is livened up with chopped fresh parsley to bring more texture and color. The result is crunchy bruschettas with a pungent and tangy flavor.

It is important to serve these bruschettas as soon as the topping is ready, if not the lemon juice included in the mixture makes the artichoke go brown. The taste will remain the same, but they won’t look as gorgeous, which is a shame since the whole point behind bruschettas is their taste PLUS they’re elegant appearance. These bruschettas stand to show that inspiration can come in mysterious ways. Maybe your next cooking inspiration lies in the dish you’re prepping in your kitchen right now! You never know…

Other small bites to serve at cocktails: pesto rosso and olive tapenade palmiers, mini red velvet cupcakes and oreo white chocolate truffles

Love the flavor of these bruschettas? You’ll probably love my artichoke, tomato, feta and olive pie too!

Top 5 savormania recipes last week:

1. most amazing chocolate fudge brownies
2. mini red velvet cupcakes
3. wheat berry caprese salad
4. roasted cauliflower with lemon and parsley
5. chinese stir-fried vegetable rice

artichoke and sun-dried tomato bruschetta

 

Print

Prep time

10 mins

Cook time

30 mins

Total time

40 mins

 

Recipe type: Appetizer

Cuisine: Mediterranean

Serves: 8 to 10 pieces

Ingredients

• 5.2 ounces (150g) fusette or white baguette bread
• 3 tablespoons olive oil, divided
• 240g artichoke hearts, thinly sliced
• 8 pitted black olives, thinly sliced
• 1 medium garlic clove, thinly sliced
• 2 teaspoons capers
• 4 sun-dried tomatoes, thinly sliced
• 1 cup dry white wine
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1 tablespoon fresh parsley, thinly sliced

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 430°F/220°C.
2. Slice the bread diagonally into 8 to 10 slices. Pour 1 tablespoon olive oil into a bowl and brush olive oil on each bread slice. Place the bread slices on a baking sheet and cook for 10 minutes in the oven, until the sides become crispy and golden. Set aside when ready.
3. In a medium skillet, heat 2 tablespoons olive oil on medium-high heat. When smoking hot, add the artichoke hearts and sauté until lightly browned, stirring often, about 7 to 10 minutes. Add the black olives, garlic clove, capers and sun-dried tomatoes.
4. Add the white wine to the skillet and cook, stirring often, until entirely evaporated, about 10 minutes.
5. Remove the skillet from the heat and add the lemon juice, butter and parsley. Top each bread slice with 1 to 2 teaspoons of the mixture. Serve on a nice platter.

Notes

RECIPE INSPIRED BY: Serious Eats's Pan Fried Whitefish with Artichoke, Olives, and Sun-Dried Tomatoes
TIP: It is best to serve the bruschetta straight away, because the artichoke topping browns rather quickly.

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