Easy Italian Appetizer: Fabio's Bruschetta with Cherry Tomato Tapenade

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With dinner party guests set to arrive in just 20 minutes, Chef Fabio whips up a flavorful and impressive ten-minute bruschetta appetizer with time to spare.

Culinary Tips:
--Fun Fact: While this appetizer is often called bruschetta, the name actually refers to the toasted bread, while the toppings can vary.
--Cherry tomatoes are often one of the most abundant harvests from the home garden. Use this recipe to help use up some of your biggest crop!
--While almost any tomato will work for this recipe, cherry tomatoes are not only the easiest on your food processor; they're also the sweetest, with plenty of juice to help keep your tapenade smooth and moist.
--Kalamata olives are a fruity, meaty olive, which makes them perfect for this recipe: they can stand up to the food processor and still retain their texture, unlike some other olives. Just make sure you get the ones without pits!
--Rub your bread with Fabio's Easy Roasted Garlic for even more great flavor!



BRUSCHETTA WITH CHERRY TOMATO TAPENADE
Recipe by Fabio Viviani
Yield: 6 servings

Ingredients:
2 cups cherry tomatoes (we used red and yellow)
1/2 cups kalamata olives, pitted
6-8 green onions, chopped
1/3 cup pine nuts
fresh ground pepper and kosher salt
8-10 leaves fresh basil, torn, plus more for garnish
½ cup extra virgin olive oil, plus extra for drizzling
2 oz. block Parmesan cheese, cubed, plus additional Parmesan for grating
1 Italian or French baguette

Method:
Preheat a grill pan over medium-high heat.
Place the tomatoes, olives, green onions, pine nuts, pinch of salt and pepper, basil, olive oil, and Parmesan cubes into the jar of a food processor.
Slice the bread in generous, uniform pieces, and top with olive oil and a light sprinkle of salt.
Place on the preheated grill pan and cook, until grill marks appear.
Meanwhile, using the pulse button on your food processor, combine and chop the ingredients until well combined. Be careful not to over-process!
Remove the tapenade to a medium-sized bowl. Drizzle with a touch more olive oil as needed, and combine.
To serve, top each warm slice of grilled bread with a generous amount of tapenade. Garnish with chopped basil, fresh ground pepper, a drizzle of olive oil, and freshly grated Parmesan.

MANGIA!

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