For the past few months my husband Remus, a.k.a. the hand model has been obsessed with growing herbs. In case you don’t already know we live in Calgary, Alberta where we have 2 seasons: winter and July. So to actually grow anything in this uncanny weather, is quite a challenge. I’m not sure what prompted this obsession, perhaps it was my grocery list every weekend, that consisted of 10 different kind of herbs, weekend after weekend after weekend. Perhaps it was his love of basil and mint. The actual reason is unknown. But when my husband takes on a challenge, he likes to do it the hard way. Instead of already buying the herb plants and just planting them he had to buy seeds, and lots of them and grow them the hard way. Any herb you can think of. We must have 3 or 4 different kinds of basil, mint, parsley, lovage, thyme, rosemary, oregano, coriander, you name it. So his herb growing journey began. I must say he has been quite successful and the herbs look beautiful and smell amazing. Nothing better than fresh herbs from your garden. The only thing that didn’t quite grow is the chili pepper plants, and I must say this is what I wanted the most. You will see quite a few more recipes in the near future with our fresh herbs. So having said all that, this is what prompted me to make this gorgeous strawberry basil bruschetta with fresh basil from our garden. Nothing spells summer to me more than strawberries. And there’s just something special about strawberries, basil and balsamic vinegar together, and my friends if you haven’t tried it, you must. But I went a little further here and made a balsamic reduction. Balsamic reduction is a concentrated version of balsamic vinegar and is very easy to make. All you have to do is slowly boil balsamic vinegar and as it slowly boils it thickens and turns into this almost honey like consistency and the flavor is out of this world. If you happen to have a few extra strawberries and you don’t know what to do with them, this recipe is a must. Not only is this bruschetta beautiful to look at but it’s delicious and I must say, the perfect summer appetizer.
