It’s here. It’s here. The last statutory holiday before Christmas is here and we’re thrilled to have this three day weekend. Oh how I wish every weekend had three days. Can you imagine?!
Well, no time to waste. Let’s start with brunch, shall we.
Fun and food at Bar Lisa Marie
These suburbanites went to the big city this morning. We’re such a wild bunch. Haha
The truth is, we don’t live too far from Toronto; just North, actually; but we rarely go into the city. When we do, it’s likely got something to do with food (shopping or dining).
We’ve been fans of Matt for a while now – since his “Rebel without a Kitchen” season 1 appeared on Netfilx. He’s this hard-working young guy who’s full of energy and determination.
He’s the creator of the Toronto-based street food brand, Fidel Gastro’s, which started off with pop-ups.
Before long he puts some wheels on his kitchen and hit the streets in his Fidel Gastro’s truck. Among other things, he also opened a restaurant (not on wheels), named Lisa Marie, where we enjoyed an awesome brunch today.
It was cool to meet Matt. He signed a copy of his latest book (Brunch Life) and took a pic with us before we rolled out with our bellies stuffed… stuffed like the turkeys that many Canadians will be preparing to serve this Thanksgiving weekend. (but not us)
No turkey this Thanksgiving?
What’s that? Liz and Nelson are not feasting on turkey this Thanksgiving? Have we become rule-breakers? Do we not conform to cultural norms? Are we not well?
I don’t need to be so dramatic. We’re food bloggers. So it’s actually more like, “been there, done that”.
The reality is that as food bloggers, we sometimes have to (or at least try to) get ahead of events so that we can share recipes in advance for you. Check out our Thanksgiving Rotisserie Turkey post to see the golden bird we feasted on… like… 2 weeks ago. It was seriously delicious and tender, and worthy of repeating.
But as delicious as it was, we’re going to do something different this Thanksgiving; and it’s going to start with this scrumptious appetizer.
An appetizer for your feast… an appetizer for any reason!
An appetizer is meant to stimulate one’s appetite before a main course. Well, I guess I really am a rule-breaker, because I made a meal of this… and I’m not apologizing. I mean, how could I have just one? uh… or three (ish)? These beauties were so good… I couldn’t resist.
Pesto… how do I love thee… let me count the number of pieces of pesto and goat cheese bruschetta I ate. Can you resist?
Whether you’re preparing a feast or a snack, always eat well, friends.
Fresh pesto, creamy goat cheese, sautéed cherry tomatoes with garlic and balsamic vinegar reduction... need we say more? Your guests will thank you!
Prep Time15mins
Cook Time10mins
Total Time25mins
Course: Appetizer
Cuisine: Canadian, International, Italian, World
Servings: 14slices
Ingredients
141/2 inch thickdiagonal slices of French bread
1lbswhole cherry tomatoes
3tbspolive oil
2clovesgarlic, sliced very thin
1/2tspsalt
1/2tspfreshly ground black pepper
1/2cupwhite wine
1/2cupcreamy goat cheese, at room temp. to make it easy to spread
1/2cupfresh pesto (store bought or try our recipe)
Balsamic vinegar glaze, for drizzling over the bruschetta
8 to 10 basil leaves, chiffonade (sliced very thin)
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 350 ºF.
Heat a wide pan on medium high.
Pour in the olive oil and let it heat up a bit.
Add the cherry tomatoes and let cook for about 6 to 8 minutes or until the tomato skins start to shrivel. Make sure to stir the tomatoes every couple of minutes.
Lightly press each of the tomatoes with a wooden spoon until they start to break.
Add the salt, black pepper and white wine, and stir. Continue to cook for about 4 minutes or until the wine reduces a bit.
Set the tomatoes aside.
Place all the slices of bread on the baking sheet, with a little space between each slice.
Place the baking sheet in the oven on the middle rack and bake for 5 minutes or until the edges are a little crispy.
Remove the baking sheet from the oven.
Spread a layer of goat cheese over each of the slices.
Spread a thin layer of pesto over each of the slices.
Use a soup spoon to place 2 to 3 of the seared tomatoes over the pesto on each slice of bread.
Drizzle a little balsamic vinegar glaze over each piece of bread.
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