Preheat oven to 375 degrees
Prepare your oven toasted bread.
Use a long narrow loaf (baguette) of french bread. I prefer a loaf that is a bit chewy with more moisture and body than one with thin crust on the outside and fluffy bread on the inside. But either style will work.
Slice the bread into ovals about 1/2 inch thick by slicing at a slight angle using a bread knife.
Liberally coat the bread with extra virgin olive oil. I place the olive oil in a small dish and use a small basting brush to really get olive oil all over the bread. My favorite style is a silicon brush because it does not shed hairs and is easy to clean.
Place slices on a baking sheet
Prepare your roasted plums
Use golden plums or pluots for this recipe. The plums should be just slightly tend to the touch but still crisp. These plus are not eaten soft, but are sweet and ready to eat like apples.
Slice the plums. Layer them on a baking sheet brushed lightly with extra virgin olive oil
Bake the plums and bread for about 5-7 minutes and check them. Bread should be slightly golden and plums should be turning slightly gooey until slightly crispy on the edges. If plums are done, pull them, if not leave them in for the next 5-7 minutes. For the bread/toast, flip each slice and bake the other side also for 5-7 minutes until slightly golden.
Once plums and toast are finished baking, make your twisted bruchetta as follows.
Place 2-3 slices of roasted plums on each piece of toast.
Top with some grated Romano and 3-4 chunks of blue cheese
Place back in the oven for a few minutes to melt the cheese and then remove from the oven.
Drizzle each slice with dark chocolate balsamic vinegar.
Serve warm!
Epilogue:
After making this I realized there were many themes on this recipe that I could easily achieve with simple substitutions. Here are some suggestions:
Figs, Strawberries and Apples all work as great substitution for the Plums. They each need different levels of roasting so watch for this.
Fresh and flavorful Extra Virgin Olive Oil makes amazing toast, but you can also add some great flavor by using a flavored olive oil. Citrus olive oil like lemon or blood orange will always work. But you can try some fun herb combinations if you want to get super creative. Some suggestions are:
basil olive oil with strawberries,
rosemary olive oil with figs, and
garlic olive oil with apples.
Chocolate balsamic works great with all of the fruit, but matching balsamic vinegar flavor to the fruit is a good idea, i.e. using
plum balsamic with the plums,
fig balsamic with figs,
dark strawberry balsamic with strawberries, and
apple cinnamon balsamic with the apples.
I especially recommend using a matching balsamic if you add the complexity of an herb flavored olive oil.
Blue cheese works with every substitution because it goes well with fruit, but not everyone loves blue cheese. A great substitution that always works is chevre goat cheese. It will melt quickly though so watch carefully when melting when you use this substitution
Bottom line; this is a crunchy, cheesy, sweet and savory treat- all in one bite.
