It’s official. It’s going to be a Bruschetta Bar kinda summer. It’s my latest and most favorite way to entertain and I’m 100% sure that you’re all going to love the concept. Are you on board? Great… here’s the deal...
Throwing a dinner party can be a lot of work! Am I right? And sometimes you want to have everyone over for a little impromptu bash and not spend the entire day slaving away in the kitchen. Bruschetta Bars are the answer. It’s essentially the best of the best when it comes to tapas style eating. Grilled bread, tons of vegetables, different kinds of sauces like basil vinaigrette and tomato confit, meats, various cheeses…. and voila… your dinner party is done.
Last month I cooked the inaugural Bruschetta Bar party at my best friends house. It was a mega success and I can promise it will be one of many this coming summer. (and they may all be at his house, because I'm quite excellent at inviting myself over for meals!)
It all starts with a few key ingredients – and one of the most important is grilled bread. This is essential! From there, we can build it up with any kind of assorted toppings you’d like. I’m currently loving an assortment of: Basil Vinaigrette, Tomato Confit, Pea Pesto, fresh arugula, charred corn, caramelized onions, caramelized mushrooms, Burrata, ricotta, goat cheese, prosciutto and thinly sliced salami. Obviously you can mix and match different toppings with different sauces and go to TOWN!
Here’s the best part – you can assign some of these topping bowls to friends! So while you might make the grilled bread and the sauces, you can have people bring over caramelized onions, sautéed mushrooms, different kinds of cheeses and meats, etc. How brilliant is that?
Then when it comes time to eat you can all make your own personalized concoction from the Bruschetta Bar and dig in. It’s an interactive dinner, which makes for the best kinds of dinner parties if you ask me!
Stuck in a dinner rut? Looking for new delicious dinner ideas? Check out my roundup of 50+ easy dinner ideas here.
Bruschetta Bar
Ingredients
- 1 large loaf of bread sliced into ½ inch pieces
- olive oil for drizzling
- 2 cloves of garlic
- 1 recipe Basil Vinaigrette
- 1 recipe Saffron Tomato Confit
- 1 recipe Red Pepper Sauce
- 1 recipe Spring Pea Pesto
- 1 handful fresh arugula
- 1 cup charred corn you can take an extra shortcut and grab a bag of frozen charred corn at Trader Jpe's
- ½ cup caramelized onions
- ½ cup sautéed mushrooms
- assorted cheeses
- assorted meats
Instructions
- Heat a grill over medium high heat.
- Generously drizzle the bread with olive oil on both sides. Using a pair of tongs, transfer the slices of bread to the grill and grill for a few moments until grill marks are present. Flip and continue to grill the bread on the other side for a minute more. Remove and set aside.
- Remove the garlic from it's paper and carefully rub the garlic on the toasted bread to give it an extra layer of flavor.
- Arrange the toppings on a large platter or table and serve with the grilled bread.
Notes
Photo Credit: Matt Armendariz
Food Styling Credit: Adam Pearson
I'm loving this idea! Perfect party for making things ahead of time and then actually enjoying everyone's company! We host a lot of potlucks, and this is wonderful inspiration! Thank you!
I love this idea! What kind of board did you use for presentation and can you recommend items for a "winter" bruschetta bar?
I just use an old reclaimed wood paddle for this one! Found it at a flea market. You could also do it on a marble slab!
Winter Bruschetta Bar coming your way soon!
Beautiful! Any idea what type of wine you served?
we usually do a rosé because it's our favorite!! any variety would work 🙂
This is absolutely stunning.
Fun, Delicious & Great Colors to whet my Appetite!
Brilliant!!!
Love this!! Looks amazing!!
Brilliant!
One of my favorite BARS to do doing a party!
Taking inspiration from this post, I made a similar spread for a 50-person party this weekend and everyone raved!! Costco had small trays of cured Italian meats which went perfectly. Can't wait to make this again!
I'll be right over. This is brilliant.
Oh holy smoke, this looks amazing! And yes, bruschetta bar sounds like the answer, as whenever my friends and I arrange pot-luck dinner, we always end up with tonnes of food! Whereas here, here things are in control, and there are so many nifty and tasty little components, the perfect indulgence over catching up with near and dear ones 🙂 x
This looks delicious, trying to figure out how to replicate for a large event this fall. Looks lovely
What type of soft cheeses are shown in the picture?
ricotta + burrata!!!! and goat cheese!
love this idea as a part time private chef this would work out great for for appetizers courses and that way i could concentrate more on the main course. cant wait to try it out on the next job/party..