Italian/ Spanish Food

As I mentioned before, Gian Luca and I love tapas. Last week, as we were eating at Solera, we both commented that we could probably make tapas at home. So yesterday, we tried.
I bought Gian Luca a tapas cookbook for his birthday and browsing through we realized that Italian food is very similar to Spanish food. One easy similarity we found were tostadas, or as we say in Italian, bruschetta.
Traditional bruschetta is actually just toasted bread with fresh garlic rubbed right on it, though the most popular version of bruschetta is done with diced tomatoes, garlic and basil. Today, we see more and more variations of bruschetta and why not, I mean, who doesn't love toasted bread topped with delicious ingredients.
Obviously, the Spanish love this too because they have a variety of Tostadas in their repertoire.

Gian Luca and I made two kinds: one with prosciutto and gorgonzola ( a trend in our kitchen nowadays) and the other with porcini mushrooms and mozzarella. As we were eating we both agreed that these easy crowd pleasers would be great for large cocktail parties. Now if we only had a bigger apartment...


Prosciutto and Gorgonzola Bruschetta
8 slices long thin crusty bread ( we used a bagette)
8 slices of Prosciutto
8 teaspoons of gorgonzola
extra virgin olive oil.

Place bread on a baking sheet and grill under the broiler for 5 minutes ( flipping the bread over once while cooking). Drizzle olive oil over the hot bread.
Top with prosciutto. Place a teaspoon of gorgonzola on each piece of bread. Fold the prosciutto over the cheese. Place under the broiler for 3 minutes.
Serve warm.
Serves 4



Porcini Mushroom and Mozzarella Bruschetta.
8 slices of long thin crispy bread
1 cup dried porcini mushrooms ( Chopped)
1 1/2 cups button mushrooms( chopped)
1/2 cup water
2 tablespoons chopped Italian parsley
1 clove of garlic, chopped
7 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil.
1/2 cup grated mozzarella cheese

Soak the dried porcini mushrooms in 1/2 cup of water for 30 minutes. Strain and set aside.
Place bread on a baking sheet and grill under the broiler for 5 minutes ( flipping the bread over once while cooking). Drizzle 2 tablespoons olive oil over the hot bread. Set aside.

Heat 5 tablespoons of olive oil in a medium saucepan. Add garlic and sautee until golden.
Add chopped all the mushrooms to the oil and cook until all the oil is absorbed. ( about 5 minutes). Remove from heat and spoon the mushrooms on top of the grilled bread. Sprinkle with parsley and mozzarella. Place under the broiler for an additional 5 minutes ( or until cheese gets golden brown). Serve warm.
Serves 4