Strawberry Basil Bruschetta – Greek yogurt, fresh strawberries, basil and balsamic reduction over a French baguette gives you perfection.
For the past few months my husband Remus, a.k.a. the hand model has been obsessed with growing herbs. In case you don’t already know we live in Calgary, Alberta where we have 2 seasons: winter and July. So to actually grow anything in this uncanny weather, is quite a challenge.
I’m not sure what prompted this obsession, perhaps it was my grocery list every weekend, that consisted of 10 different kind of herbs, weekend after weekend after weekend. Perhaps it was his love of basil and mint. The actual reason is unknown. But when my husband takes on a challenge, he likes to do it the hard way.
Instead of already buying the herb plants and just planting them he had to buy seeds, and lots of them and grow them the hard way. Any herb you can think of. We must have 3 or 4 different kinds of basil, mint, parsley, lovage, thyme, rosemary, oregano, coriander, you name it. So his herb growing journey began.
I must say he has been quite successful and the herbs look beautiful and smell amazing. Nothing better than fresh herbs from your garden. The only thing that didn’t quite grow is the chili pepper plants, and I must say this is what I wanted the most. You will see quite a few more recipes in the near future with our fresh herbs.
So having said all that, this is what prompted me to make this gorgeous strawberry basil bruschetta with fresh basil from our garden. Nothing spells summer to me more than strawberries. And there’s just something special about strawberries, basil and balsamic vinegar together, and my friends if you haven’t tried it, you must. But I went a little further here and made a balsamic reduction. Balsamic reduction is a concentrated version of balsamic vinegar and is very easy to make. All you have to do is slowly boil balsamic vinegar and as it slowly boils it thickens and turns into this almost honey like consistency and the flavor is out of this world.
If you happen to have a few extra strawberries and you don’t know what to do with them, this recipe is a must. Not only is this bruschetta beautiful to look at but it’s delicious and I must say, the perfect summer appetizer.
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Strawberry Basil Bruschetta
Ingredients
- 1 French baguette sliced
- 1/2 cup Greek yogurt
- 1 1/2 cups strawberries sliced
- 1/2 cup fresh basil chopped
- 1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
- 2 tbsp almond slivers
- freshly ground black pepper
Instructions
- Pour the vinegar in a small sauce pan and bring to a boil over medium heat. Lower the heat and continue cooking, stirring occasionally for about 10 minutes or until vinegar thickens so that it’s close to a honey consistency. Let cool.
- Bake the French baguette slices until toasted. I actually placed mine under the broiler for about a minute on both sides, make sure you don’t burn them.
- Spread some yogurt over each slice, then top with strawberries and chopped basil. Drizzle a bit of the balsamic reduction over each slice and top with slivered almonds for a bit of crunch. Finish of with some freshly ground black pepper.
Nutrition Information:
Just made these today for Mother’s Day brunch – delicious!! The basil at my grocery store was looking a little sad, so I substituted mint, and it was perfect. Thanks for the recipe inspiration!
Glad you liked it!
So impressed that he managed to grow so many herbs! I live in CA where the whether is conducive to growing, but I managed to kill my parsely, sage, and rosemary. Sigh.
These bruschetta look amazing! Strawberries + balsamic + basil = a party in my mouth. Gorgeous photos too, Jo!
Thanks Sarah!
Where does your husband grow all of his herbs? Outside? Will you be bring them in the house for the winter?
I tried herbs in pots last year (we live in Calgary too) but we were not very successful. My tarragon seems to be happy to grow back, but again not very well.
To grow inside I would need to put up a shelf on the wall near the kitchen window that our cats could not access. They will eat all of the greenery.
Your Bruschetta looks so fresh. But I would not use pepper, I have never liked pepper. I do like balsamic vinegar. I use it a lot. Thank you for the recipe.
Well he started in the house in smaller pots and as it finally warmed up outside, June sometime, he moved them outside and planted most of them in bigger planters. We have talked about what we’re going to do with them once it gets cold again, and it seems like we don’t have a lot of options, we’ll probably bring the smaller pots inside the house, though they don’t really do very well. It’s tough here to grow anything. 🙂
yeah you put pepper on it!!!!!
Yeah!!!