Bruschetta

 This is  BLT Bruschetta, adapted from recipe by Chuck Hughes. Phenomenal. You must make this!

Ingredients

• 1 long peasant loaf bread
• Extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 head garlic, unpeeled, cut in half
• 1 cup goat cheese, at room temperature
• 1/3 cup 2 percent low-fat milk
• 4 large beefsteak tomatoes, thickly sliced
• Handful fresh basil leaves, torn
• Handful fresh chives, minced
• 1 large shallot, finely sliced
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 2 teaspoons white balsamic vinegar
• 8 slices pancetta
• Baby arugula leaves (few handfuls)
• Zest of 1 lemon
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Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Slice the bread in half lengthwise. Use the bottom, wrap the top of the loaf in plastic wrap and save or freeze for another meal.
Drizzle some good fruity olive oil on top the bread. Put in the oven until lightly toasted, about 10 minutes. Pull the bread out of the oven and rub with half a garlic head.
In a medium bowl, cream the goat cheese with milk to make the consistency lighter and more spreadable.
Put the tomatoes in a bowl, add the herbs, shallot, and season with salt, pepper and a drizzle of white balsamic vinegar. Gently toss to combine.
Pan grill the pancetta until it is on the softer side of crisp. Set aside on paper towels, to drain off the surface fat.
Spread a thin layer of cheese across the loaf. Lay the pancetta evenly across the cheese, and lay the tomato slices on top of the pancetta. Top with baby arugula leaves. Finish with a drizzle of olive oil and a fine grating of lemon zest over the top. Slice on the diagonal into single servings.
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This is so good, I cannot recommend it highly enough. I do not have such exotic food stuffs such as Pancetta, so I used a good hard salami. I also did not have shallots, but used scallions. Still awesome! I like to get the bread really good and crunchy in the oven, when toasting..

Schatz is not fond of the drifts that seem to hem us in. 

Same view, 4 months ago!

                                                                                        Mixed bed, June 2010 (note the split rail fence)

Same split rail fence, February 2011

The last photo makes it look like I live on the moon. When the wind blows the snow across the roads, I promise you--it looks for all the world like a lunar scene. I do not like living where it snows. I am not a fan of winter. At all. I spend most of the fall dreading the impending doom. I don't like the apple picking or the cooler temperatures, it just signals the beginning of six months of cold and wet and dirty snow. Blech!

              Winter face. Blech.