Recipe: Lazy Bruschetta

I have been off work for a few days this week with a stomach bug. It was grim. I won't go in to too much detail, but it was my first 'adult' experience of having any form of gastric horridness, and it happened to be whilst on a course. In Stirling. Not Edinburgh.

And so, I have been feeling sorry for myself, sorry for my stomach, and mostly sorry for my appetite. While I have consumed epic amounts of flat Coke and hot Ribena, the food element of my diet has been lacking this week - sad times (although on the plus side, I've lost the 3lbs I put on over Christmas. Pro's and Cons, eh?).

When I am tired, stressed, or under the weather, I think I want stodge. Macaroni cheese, pie, sausage and mash. What my stomach actually wants is 'clean' food with a decent nutritional value, what my brain and hands want is to do the minimum amount of cooking needed. This week, my body realised it was going to have to compromise - and so we arrived at Lazy Bruscetta.

The easiest, laziest bruschetta. 

Serves 2.

Small onion, very finely chopped (red ideally).

1 small garlic clove.

5 tomatoes (plum if you have them, but any will do, especially slightly over ripe. You could also use 10-15 cherry tomatoes, chopped in half).

10 olives (preferably a mix of green and black).

2 teaspoons of capers, drained.

Glug of decent quality olive oil.

4 pieces of bread (crusty is great, but any form of receptacle - including rice cakes - will do).

Salt and pepper.

Finely chop the onion and garlic - really finely - place in a microwavable dish with a lid, and add a glug of olive oil. Steam in the microwave for 2-3 minutes, until they begin to soften and become transluscent.

While they're cooking, roughly chop the tomatoes. Add them in to the onions, along with roughly chopped olives and the capers, and stick in the microwave again for a minute to soften the tomatoes, and warm up the rest of the ingredients.

Serve straight away on crusty bread (if you have it) or toast (if you don't). Or, shove it in a pitta bread for a vague attempt at recreating the marvellous Greek salads from holidays. However you have it, sprinkle liberally with salt and freshly ground pepper. 

Great for modifying - mix in an anchovy, drizzle with balsalmic reduction, add some fresh basil along with the tomatoes, sprinkle with leftover mozarella or parmesan, or place on top of parma ham. 

It'll also last a day in the fridge - perfect if you're tight for time, lazy, or feeling under the weather.