Description
Simple Eggplant Bruschetta Bites are a great party food or tapas night dish with friends, more so, it makes for a nice light summer or fall meal with the family, that is vibrant delicious and aromatic. All the essentials to an enticing appetizer!
Ingredients
Scale
- 1 medium eggplant, sliced in circles better than 1/8 of an inch or approximately 1/2 cm thick
- 35 cherry tomatoes, halved (1/4 them if they are larger)
- 3/4 tsp dried oregano
- 1 tsp fresh basil chopped
- 1 tsp fresh chopped parsley
- 2 Tbsp evo oil
- 7 bocconcini, hand torn
- sea salt
- black pepper
Instructions
Tomatoes:
- Place halved and quartered tomatoes into a bowl. Drizzle in 1 tablespoon of the olive oil and sprinkle in the dried oregano, chopped basil, and chopped parsley. Season with salt and pepper and toss well. Set aside.
Eggplant:
- Take eggplant and cut into rounds at a thickness of better than 1/8 of an inch or approximately 1/2 cm thickness.
- Place rounds on a parchment lined (11"x16" 28 cmx40cm) baking sheet . Brush with the remaining olive oil on both sides and also season with salt and pepper.
- Heat grill to 450 degrees F and rub grill with some olive oil. Place rounds on hot grill and cook for one minute a side. Just enough to get those lovely grill marks.
- Take off grill and place back on the parchment lined baking sheet.
Assembly:
- Pre-heat oven to 395 degrees F.
- Take the bocconcini and tear into small morsels. Place 3-4 morsels on rounds depending on the diameter of the round.
- Top with the dressed tomatoes again using 3-4 depending on the size of the eggplant round.
- Place eggplant bruschetta bites into the oven on the middle rack. Bake for 7-8 minutes. Take out of oven and serve!
Variation for eggplant:
- Pre-heat oven to 395 degrees F.
- If you want a simpler recipe you can just brush the eggplant rounds with the olive oil. Season with salt and pepper and place on a parchment lined baking sheet.
- Place the bocconcini morsels onto the rounds along with the dressed tomatoes.
- Into the oven it goes for 13-15 minutes. Take out of oven and serve!
Variation for tomatoes:
- If you want to elevate the tomatoes with sweetness and lusciousness, this is how you could do it. Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees F. Dress the tomatoes with the olive oil, salt, pepper, basil, oregano, parsley and toss. Place those on a parchment lined baking sheet and into the middle rack of the oven they go. Bake for 30 minutes, then take out of oven and let cool. Then follow the steps of assembly for the bruschetta bites. Get oven to 395 degrees, and place on middle rack and bake for 5-7 minutes if you are doing the grilled eggplant version, or 13 minutes f you are doing the raw eggplant variation.
Notes
Either way you go, grilled or baked eggplant, baked or confit tomatoes, all these variations will give you flavorful end results with unique simple differences. It all depends on how much time and work you want to put in!
- Prep Time: 15 minutes minutes
- Cook Time: 45 minutes
- Category: appetizer
- Method: grilling/ oven
- Cuisine: Mediterranean
Keywords: eggplant, bruschetta, bocconcini, Italian appetizer, cherry tomatoes, basil, oregano, parsley,