My kids went back to school recently and I celebrated/mourned the peace and quiet by going to see Julie and Julia. I was totally and happily entertained by the movie–Julia Child is a long time hero of mine, and I think Nora Ephron’s screenplays are always smart and witty and soul-satisfying.
The scene that inspired today’s recipe was when Julie is pondering her future and cooking dinner for her husband Eric at the same time. She is frying bread in her saute pan in her tiny kitchen, and then mixing up a tomato mixture and serving him a lovely bruschetta and a glass of wine for dinner. The way Eric (Chris Messina) wolfs down the buttery bread, with tomatoes falling out of his mouth–and sips of wine in-between–conveys perfectly the message that Julie is already a good cook. This was the first of many gorgeous food scenes in this movie.
And so I got hungry for bruschetta (summer comfort food par excellence) and had to have some.
Here’s what I had for lunch
today–make this soon–you won’t be sorry.
Bacon, Arugula and Tomato Bruschetta
Serves 2
Ingredients:
2 ripe tomatoes, cut into bite-size chunks
1 cup of arugula, washed and torn into pieces
4 slices of good bacon, cooked and torn into pieces
1 oz of goat cheese, crumbled
Salt and pepper
3 slices of good quality, crusty bread–cut in half–(leftover bread is fine)
2 tablespoons of olive oil
1 tablespoon of butter
Preparation:
Put the tomatoes, arugula and bacon into a bowl, salt and pepper to taste and set aside. Heat the olive oil and butter together in a skillet. Put the bread slices into the skillet and saute the bread until golden and crisp on each side. Put 3 bread halves on each plate and spoon the tomato mixture over. Garnish
with the goat cheese.
