DIY Wedding Bruschetta Bar

I'm a big fan of action stations at weddings. They give guests something to do. And that's important because your cocktail hour can get a little boring. You and your bridal party are off taking photos while the rest of your guests are quickly running out of small talk and crudités. An action station gives them both something to do and something to talk about. This DIY wedding bruschetta bar is perfect for your big day.

DIY Wedding Bruschetta Bar

The really fun thing about bruschetta is you can top it with pretty much anything. Your limit is your imagination. You can create spreads, top it with meat, or (my favorite) a nice piece of cheese.

Now, I'm writing this with the notion that you are creating this for your own wedding, shower, or rehearsal dinner. We had three types of bruschetta at our wedding, and our venue handled it. This post, though, is if you are planning on handling it.

And a big thanks to Gifts.com for help with the post. The site provided the photos to us and helped with the pairing ideas. You can check out the site's blog for other how to posts or the site itself for gift ideas (I have a few that I just put on my Things I Need list).

What You'll Need:

• Italian or French bread
• Bruschetta spreads:
• Tapenade
• Hummus
• Pesto
• Tomato salsa
• Bruschetta meat pairings
• Bruschetta cheese pairings
• Additional toppings (beans, olives, almonds, fruit, etc.)

What You'll Do:

Slice your bread into 1/4 inch slices and toast it. Bruschetta is known for its crispy toast, so you want to crisp yours up.

Create your spreads. Make whatever you like best, but if you need examples, I have recipes for my four favorites. Put each in a separate bowl and label it so your guests know what each spread is.

Bruschetta spreads recipes:
Tapenade:
In a food processor, combine 1 cup olives (pitted), 1 tablespoon capers, 2 cloves garlic, 1 tablespoon lemon juice, and 2 tablespoons olive oil. You can also add salt and pepper to taste.

You can choose any kinds of olives you want. Make it half green and half black, make a batch of each, whatever you like.

Hummus:
In a food processor, combine 1 can chickpeas or garbanzo beans (drained and rinsed), 4 cloves garlic, and 2 tablespoons olive oil. This is your base. After this, you can stir in anything your guests might like: hot sauce, chopped olives, red pepper flakes, etc.

Personally, we roast our garlic first to give the hummus a little bit of a smoky flavor. It does add a little more time to your hummus, so it might be something you want to do for yourself but not for your wedding.

Pesto:
My favorite pesto is Pete's kale and walnut pesto. I think it's a lot better than pesto made with basil and pine nuts, plus it's a lot more cost effective because kale is a lot cheaper than pesto.

To make it, put 2 cups kale, 1 clove garlic, 1/3 cup chopped walnuts, 2 tablespoons lemon juice, 1/2 cup olive oil, 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese, plus salt and pepper to taste, in a food processor until combined. With this one, we toast the walnuts first but you can skip it.

Tomato salsa:
This is the most common bruschetta topping. And it's the easiest. Okay, they're all pretty simple, but this one doesn't even need a fancy food processor. Just some knife skills.

Finely chop 6 Roma tomatoes, 1 small red onion, shallots, and your favorite herbs (I suggest fresh parsley). Stir in 1 tablespoon of olive oil and a splash of lemon. Combine them.

Bruschetta meat pairings:
Gifts.com suggests coppa, pancetta, prosciutto, salami, and smoked salmon.

You'll want to set these out on platters or serving boards and be sure to label them. People may not be exactly sure what each meat and what it pairs with. Create cute flags with the name of the meat, affix them to toothpicks, and stick them into the meats.

Bruschetta cheese pairings:
Gifts.com suggests brie, burrata, feta, goat cheese, Gorgonzola, mascarpone, mozzarella, Parmesan, and ricotta.

Personally, I would buy a large chalkboard slab and write the names of the cheese on it.  You can also make our DIY chalkboard serving tray.

What you'll want to do is give your guests suggestions on what spreads, meats, and cheeses to pair together. Sure, they can do whatever they want, but suggestions are helpful.

My favorite suggestions: pesto, mozzarella, and panchetta; tapenade, salami, and Parmesan; and tomato salsa and prosciutto.

To set up your DIY Wedding Bruschetta Bar, start with a long table. Put small cocktail plates and napkins on one end of a table. In the middle, put your spreads, meats, and cheeses, plus serving spoons. Everything will be served buffet style, which is a good way for your guests to get up and move around.

BRIDAL BABBLE: What would you add to this DIY Wedding Bruschetta Bar?