As a child we often made bread with cheese in the oven. This was called “ahju juustusai” or oven cheese bread. The cheese melted and the bread turned crispy. Discovering the Italian food later in my life it turned out that they like to crisp their bread with some olive oil in the oven as well and call it bruschetta. I am sure that in other countries there is something similar: slices of bread with a topping cooked in the oven.
Having just some bread that may be even a few days old, some garlic and olive oil or a piece of cheese you have the ingredients for a crunchy savoury snack.
Judging by the local supermarket choice it looks like November is the season for persimmon kaki. The orange fruit is called “hurmaa” in Estonian. As this fruit does not grow in Estonia or in Switzerland I do wonder in my brain cells that focus on etymology why the Swiss have borrowed the name persimmon kaki and the Estonians hurmaa? Must be related to the country of origin where this fruit first came from, I guess.
Cut bread into slices
Drizzle some olive oil onto them
Cut 5mm thick slices of persimmon kaki and place them on bread
Cut slices of hard goat cheese and place on top of the fruit
Or grate the hard goat cheese and place on top of the fruit
Preheat the oven to 190-200C. Cook for 10-15 minutes until the cheese melts, becomes slightly brown and the bread becomes crispy.
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| Goat cheese and persimon kaki & pear bruschettas |
Variations:
a) As an alternative to the persimmon kaki you can use pears in the same way.
b) You can also grill the fruit first on the grill pan and add the visual effect of the grill stripes on the fruit slices before adding the cheese on top and cooking the bread in the oven.