Bruscetta: slack summer food option

Bruscetta is my favorite summer food. It's perfect on days when it's too hot to bother cooking, and you need something flavorful to tempt you into eating.

Recipe: Chop up tomatoes into small cubes. I prefer roma tomatoes, just on the edge of over-ripe, with the seeds scraped out and the skin still on. Feel free to vary according to your personal tomato preferences. Chop up spanish (red) onion as finely as you can stand (I'm a wuss, and usually stop cutting when I start crying), ideally finer than the tomatoes. There should be equal quantities of tomato and onion, or if you want to be sociable, use less onion. Finely chop one-three cloves of garlic (depending again on sociability, and the type of garlic you use - less if it's fresh, purple garlic, more if it's the tasteless, white, imported stuff). Tear up a handful of basil leaves (my garden is currently exploding with basil, so I'm using more at the moment in a vain attempt to stop the plants going to seed), add a generous flavoring of salt and pepper, and a dash of olive oil (enough to moisten all the ingredients). Mix it all up, then spoon onto a slice of bread (crusty Italian style bread is good, sourdough is best) and place in the grill until golden on top (not burnt). For variations, add a final topping of goats cheese or torn-up proscuitto.

If you're still in summer holiday mode (or attempting to recapture that feeling), serve with a chilled, quaffable (but decent) red wine.