Bruschetta with tomatoes, pancetta and confit chilli recipe

By Gill Mellor, head chef at River Cottage

Serves 4
10 minutes preparation, 30 minutes cooking
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The Dig Your Dinner campaign, which encourages people to get growing to experience the rewarding benefits of organically grown produce, is being supported by River Cottage head chef Gill Meller. Gill has devised some delicious recipes championing home-grown vegetables, such as this one.

Bruschetta with tomatoes, pancetta and confit chilli

Ingredients

4 slices of bread, preferably sourdough
200g pancetta or streaky bacon cut in to lardons
4-6 ripe tomatoes
6 fresh, fleshy chillies
250 ml olive oil
1 teaspoon of thyme leaves
1 garlic clove
Small handful of flat leaf parsley

Method

1. Slice the chillies open from tip to tail, remove the seeds with a spoon and discard, slice the chilli into strips. Place in a small sauce pan cover with olive oil and throw in a few of the thyme leaves. Bring the pan up to the most gentle of simmers and cook the chillies until soft, this should take about 25mins. Remove the pan from the heat and allow to cool.
2. Pre heat the grill. Drizzle a little of the chilli confit oil over the bread slices and toast for a couple of minutes on each side. When toasted rub them over with the chilli confit and clove of garlic.
3.Rinse the tomatoes under the cold tap. Slice them thickly.
4.Fry the pancetta for 4- 5 mins in a large frying pan. As it’s starting to colour remove from the heat, gently add the sliced tomatoes, the remaining thyme leaves, toss together and season to taste.
5.Pile the tomatoes onto the bruschetta. Scatter over the confit chilli, and parsley leaves. Serve at once.