Bruschetta

Everyone has a different way of topping it, but variety is the spice of life, right? Regarding the bread, I've got two GF methods I like.

One, I bake up one of those par-baked baguettes, slice it, drizzle on olive oil, and grill it (under the broiler today). When they come out, I of course rub on lots of freshly peeled and cut garlic cloves, and I don't miss an inch! (I love my garlic!)

For toppings, I'm partial to either dipping the slices into a good red sauce, or topping them with a mixture of crushed garlic, finely-chopped fresh basil, olive oil, salt, and pepper.

But when I can't get my hands on a baguette, a GF pizza shell is just as good, and stands up to my garlic-rubbing better than bread, which means . . . I get more garlicky flavour on my bruschetta(!). Just brush the pizza shell with olive oil, grill both sides, and then slice into wedges (or tear it up, if like the rustic look).

I once served the pizza-base style bruschetta as the starter at a grill party in the U.S. (do they have the par-baked baguettes there? Never seen them) and even though my guests were all non-coeliacs, they couldn't get enough of it! The raves went on all evening. After dessert, they went back inside, scrounging my kitchen cupboards for more bases to grill. And since guests love getting involved, in this case it wasn't much more than oiling, tending the grill, and continuous re-cutting of the cloves for a fresh edge, but everyone loved the hands-on atmosphere.