Bruschetta

Traditionally, bruschetta is just char-grilled stale bread rubbed with tomato and garlic and drizzled with olive oil. This is a jazzed-up version: we have the char-grilled stale bread, but it's topped with tomatoes, basil and mozzarella, dressed with olive oil and a pinch of finely chopped garlic. There are two stars of the show here. The first is the olive oil, Merula, from Spain (perhaps I should be using Italian olive oil, but I'm not claiming this is an authentic bruschetta). This is a light and fruity olive oil, slightly peppery but not at all bitter. It's good enough to drink straight from the can. And you'll find it in Waitrose. The second star is the mozzarella, a buffalo mozzarella from Laverstoke Park Farm. Wow! This is smooth and rich, slightly salty, and so soft. It's a new discovery for me, appearing only recently on the Riverford extras list. Madalene over at The British Larder posted recently about the same thing, only she goes on to tell you how to make fresh buffalo curd - something for another day.