Artichoke and Basil Bruschetta

This weekend my Grandmother and I celebrated our birthdays! I still have 2 weeks until I reach the milestone age of 30, but since I can remember we've always celebrated our birthdays together, as they are so close together. Hers is the 2nd and mine, the 17th. This year we are both celebrating big birthdays- my 30th as I said, and her 80th!! It was a great party- lots of delicious food (of which I unfortunately got no pictures). We had a surf and turf feast- London broil, seafood chowder, paella, oysters... It was all delicious! We had cheesecake and a chocolate-hazelnut cake to finish the evening.

I brought an appetizer- this artichoke and basil bruschetta! I made it in the summer for a birthday party and loved it so much I just had to make it again, and then I had to make more for a light dinner tonight as I didn't eat my fill yesterday! This is such an easy appetizer to make- the assembly is the only thing that takes a little time, but it is so worth it. This comes from one of my favorite blogs- Shutterbean- go check it out if you haven't heard of it! And if you are into podcasts, I heartily recommend the Joy the Baker Podcast, which Tracy from Shutterbean and Joy the Baker of course do. It's hilarious, sometimes informative, and always entertaining!

Artichoke and Basil Bruschetta

Makes about 20

Ingredients:

1 Baguette, thinly sliced on the diagonal

1/3 cup olive oil

1-2 cloves garlic

12 oz. jar marinated artichoke hearts

1 1/4 cups ricotta cheese (I used part-skim)

10-20 Basil leaves

20 shavings of Parmesan cheese

Fresh lemon juice

salt and freshly ground black pepper

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place baguette slices on a baking sheet, and brush with olive oil. Bake about 5-10 minutes until lightly crispy. 

2. When the slices are toasted, remove from oven, let cool slightly, and then rub with a garlic clove.

3. To assemble, spread each baguette slice with about 1/2 tablespoon ricotta, then lay on a basil leaf (if large, tear in half), then an artichoke heart (again, if large, can be halved), then a shaving of Parmesan. Squeeze a little lemon juice on each bruschetta, and sprinkle with salt and pepper.

Source: Shutterbean