Tis the Season For Bruschetta…fa..la..la..la..la.

We’re loving all the fresh tomatoes from the garden. I know it’s so last year to talk about Julie and Julia, but one of the best things I walked away with from that movie was the simple bruschetta recipe that Julie was preparing at the beginning of the film. A slice of toasted French bread, swiped with a clove of garlic and topped with fresh chopped tomatoes and basil. I’ve been serving it alongside everything for the past week.

So, wanting to be a good steward, I decided to embellish the bruschetta idea and use up some of those waning items loafing around in the fridge.

When my science project was complete and I announced that dinner was on the table, Hubs walked into the dining room and exclaimed “What the hell is it?!” Well here’s what the heck it was! 

• A thick slice French bread toasted and smeared with Boursin cheese
• Topped with a flattened, seasoned and grilled chicken breast which was glazed with sweet chili sauce towards the end.
• Slices of grilled Rocky Ford Cantaloupe (about an inch thick and grilled just until grill marks appeared on one side)
• Assembled, then popped under the broiler to melt some fresh mozzarella cheese for a oozie topping.
• An addition of  any type of greens.  This happens to be beautiful and slightly nutty flavored mache.

This little open-faced sandwich ended up to be really good. We love Boursin cheese, so I knew I couldn’t go wrong with that. The addition of our deliciously sweet Rocky Ford Cantaloupe was a coup. And by the way, last Sunday at our Farmer’s Market I asked the grower why this was an exceptionally good year for our melons. He replied that lots of early heavy rain made for an impressive growing season here in Colorado.

I really love sweet chili sauce from the Asian isle. If you’ve never tried it, you’re missing out. It added an additional sweet kick to the sandwich not to mention a pleasantly flavored heat to spice things up a bit.  And of course that curly elegant maiche turned a “leftovers” open-faced bruschetta style sandwich into an elegant “what the hell is it” presentation. 

I had planned to add some chopped tomato, but just couldn’t find room.

Grilled Chicken and Cantaloupe Bruschetta,

It’s What’s For Dinner.