Fettunta - or the Best Garlic Bread You'll Ever Have

There are many ways to make garlic bread and I certainly make it different ways.  But this way is by far my favorite.  In Italy, to celebrate the first olive oil of the season, they make this simple fettunta - or "greased slice".   It's simply grilled bread, rubbed with a garlic clove, drizzled with the best olive oil you have, and then sprinkled with coarse sea salt.  You won't believe how great it is.  There is a very unique taste you get if you use a raw garlic clove on a slice of fresh bread.  If you want, you can add a topping to make bruschetta, but this is my favorite way to make garlic bread to accompany dinner.  Many times I buy a whole grain or multi grain loaf to make this with and it's delicious.  As always, with simple recipes with few ingredients you need to use the best ingredients you can - a good, fruity extra virgin olive oil and some outstanding sea salt.*

This grilled bread is a must to accompany dishes that have a nice broth or sauce to sop up, like a cioppino or a ragu sauce.

Fettunta

for a printable recipe, click here

1 loaf good quality bakery bread

1 or 2 whole garlic cloves, cut in half
extra virgin olive oil
coarse sea salt

Have all ingredients ready for the grill.  Slice your bread into 1 inch slices.  Grill on each side. While hot, rub each slice on one side with the cut side of a garlic clove.  Drizzle olive oil over the slices and sprinkle with a generous amount of sea salt. 

Rub the cut side of the garlic clove  on the hot bread.


Brush with lots of good olive oil.

See this wonderful gadget?  My lovely and thoughtful sister-in-law, Deb, gave this to me and I love it.  I used to pour some olive oil into a little bowl and use a pastry brush to apply the olive oil, but now I use this thing.   It's called an Oil Wand and I use it for many things.  It always has olive oil in it and I can grab it quickly when I need it.  Thanks, Deb!

* The salt I use is my favorite salt - it's an Italian sea salt from the Adriatic Coast sold by Casina Rossa.  It's a great finishing salt.  I love good salts - they add so much to your cooking.  Rick Bayless said that most home cooks make two common mistakes:  they don't cook over high enough heat and they don't use enough salt on their food.


 If you love to try new salts, head on over to The Meadow.  The Bittermans sell gourmet salts, exotic chocolates and wine in Portland, Oregon.  Doesn't that sound like a great place?  We are making a trip out to Oregon next month and I plan on stopping by and loading up on salt, for sure, and whatever else we can't do without.  I can hardly wait.  Jump on over there and check out their beautiful web site.

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