Balkan Bruschetta Trio

I don’t know about you, but I am ready for summer. For ice cold drinks, dining outside, and lots and lots of watermelon. Another thing I associate with summer and warm weather is light fare. Salads, small bites, and appetizers using fresh, in-season ingredients.

Tomatoes always taste best in the summer. After all, it’s their time to shine. Because we are currently a two-person household, I can’t justify stocking up on tomatoes from the farm. I don’t can (yet!) and we don’t have much pantry space. So, I always buy tomatoes on the vine from the grocery store which are always really good, in my area at least.

I’ve been making these bruschetta bites for a few years now, and we went from eating them as appetizers during the summer to making a meal out of them all year round. I’ve even taught my husband to make them from start to finish. They are a little different than your usual bruschetta as they have a creamy, feta cheese spread under the tomatoes, shallots, and basil.

Recently, while enjoying some of these, I thought about what I could add to make them a little more interesting. But honestly, why fix something that’s not broken? So instead, I came up with not one, but two new variations. And one of them is sweet!

These truly are perfect for a party or a get-together and are packed with flavor, regardless of which one you choose.

If you know anything about Šumadija, or Serbia, in general, you know a lot of meat is consumed there. So naturally, if I was going to name something after Šumadija I had to include a least one meat product. Šumadijski Raj, or Šumadija’s Heaven, is sure to delight any meat lover.

The Šumadijski Raj is bursting with smoked, salty, bacon flavor, but creamy and fresh at the same time with the light milky cheese. The Creamy Feta Bruschetta is honestly Šopska Salata on a piece of bread. Freshness from the shallots and basil come together so well with the tomatoes and the feta spread is just divine in combination with it all.

And let’s not forget the timeless combination of Nutella and bananas. Here, I decided to top it all off with some finely chopped walnuts as I didn’t have any hazelnuts on hand (my preferred choice).

Below I will be providing the recipe for the Creamy Feta Bruschetta, but I don’t really have a recipe for Šumadijski Raj or the Banana Nutella Dream because, well, it’s so simple with so few ingredients that you practically simply assemble it. However, the Creamy Feta Bruschetta does require some specific preparation, so I’ve outlined that recipe below.

For Šumadijski Raj you will need:

• French baguette, sliced diagonally
• Ajvar (red pepper spread)
• Freshly fried thick bacon, recommended, but you use another smoked meat such as smoked meat (suvo meso), or even hard salami
• Feta cheese, farmer’s cheese, or goat cheese

Slice a French baguette diagonally and toast the bread on a sheet pan for 5-10 minutes on 350F (200 C). Spread each slice with ajvar, top with the bacon, and sprinkle with cheese.

For the Banana Nutella Dream you will need:

• French banquette, sliced diagonally
• Nutella
• Banana, sliced
• Finely chopped walnuts or hazelnuts

Slice a French baguette diagonally and toast the bread on a sheet pan for 5-10 minutes on 350F (200 C). Spread each slice with Nutella, top with the sliced bananas, and sprinkle with chopped nuts. Drizzle Nutella over top.

I hope you give these a try soon, and if you do, please use the hashtag #thebalkanhostess so I can see!

Creamy Feta Brushetta

Recipe by The Balkan HostessCourse: AppetizersCuisine: Italian, Balkan

Servings

8

servings

Prep time

30

minutes

Cooking time

10

minutes

Ingredients

• Feta Cheese Spread

• 3 tbsp (50 ml) lemon juice

• 1 cup (250 g) feta cheese

• 1/2 cup (125 g) of cream cheese

• 1 large garlic clove

• 3 tbsp (50 ml) oil – I use sunflower

• Salt to taste

• 4 medium tomatoes, diced

• Tomato Topping

• 1 medium shallot (or 2-3 green onions), diced

• 1/4 cup (5-10 g) of basil, sliced into thin ribbons

• 3 tbsp (15 ml) olive oil (or any oil)

• Salt to taste

Directions

• Preheat over to 350F (200 C). On a baking sheet, arrange diagonally cut French baguette slices. Drizzle lightly with olive oil. Bake for 5-10 minutes. Remove from the oven and set aside.
• In a food processor, combine the cheese spread ingredients. Pulse until nicely combined and stop every 5 seconds or so to scrape down the sides. Once nice and creamy, stop and set-aside.
• In a medium bowl, place diced tomatoes, shallots, basil, and oil. Mix well to combine and season with salt to taste.
• Using a butter knife, spread each baguette slice with the cheese mixture. Top with tomato mixture.
• Serve immediately.

Notes

• If your bread is on the smaller side (meaning narrow), your bread slices may be smaller and you may end up with a lot of cheese spread and tomato mixture left over. For this recipe, try to buy wider baguettes or use regular french bread instead and cut into smaller sections.