Tomato Bruschetta
Delicious Italian food fairly new to the US, but fantastic to eat.
Tomato Bruschetta
Ingredients:
1 loaf Italian bread, halved length wise then cut crosswise diagonally, into 1 inch slices.
1 garlic clove, minced
2 tbsp olive oil
2 large tomatoes, peeled, seeded and chopped
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1/2 cup chopped fresh basil
Directions:
Toast the bread under the broiler until lightly browned. Combine the garlic and olive oil and brush over one side of bread. Spread the tomatoes over the bread. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Broil for about 30 seconds to heat the tomatoes. Sprinkle with basil and serve.
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Well, the Ollieburger seems very close. I spent most every weekday for 4 years at Ollies on Miami Beach – went to lunch there probably 4 times a week. Ollie screamed at Terry and she cursed at him and this is nothing new to those who witnessed it. Ollie retired shortly after 1975 and sold his recipe to Lums. Word has it they paid him $1 million. He was friends with my grandfather but wouldn’t share his secret with no one. Having watched these burgers and fries prepared for years, I can tell you this. THERE WAS NO BUN SAUCE – EVER. As most recall “It don’t need nuttin’” and if you ask for catchup, he would throw you out of his 4 booth 6 stool resturant.
And on the preparation, the 1/3 pound burgers WERE NOT marinated. They were tossed on the grill and the liquid sauce poured on, dry seasoning shaken on, turned in a couple of minutes with a repeat of the wet and dry and served medium rare. And the fries – just the dry seasoning.
And that gave me an idea. I would take the seasoning left over in the fry basket and head to the grocery store. Day after day I would try to replicate the recipe. My best guess was that I hit about 60% of the dry and 30% of the wet. I could only get the worstshire sauce.. But the dry, I had close. Over the years I hit about 90% and 70%. People love my burgers, but I know in my heart, they were not “exact”. this recipe appears to be closer than mine. Ollie died in the late 70’s and the recipe went with him. I have searched for 30 years for refinements to my recipe and paid for crap “copy cat” recipies from people I went to high school with who claimed they “knew”. Yuh. This really looks like the ‘real thing’ and thanks for posting it.
John - January 4, 2008 at 11:36 pm
Thanks for the comment, John. As I pointed out, after Ollie got involved with Lum’s, they had to come up with a more efficient way of preparing the burgers than Ollie had, hence the freeze dried bricks, combining all of the ingredients. Just add water, stir and marinate.
As for the other so called recipes on the web, I was strung along for awhile too. But, having worked for Lum’s and knowing Ollie, I knew they were bogus.
Myself and the late Rich Loy put our heart and souls into this recipe, so I hope a lot of people enjoy it.
ollieburger - January 5, 2008 at 12:36 am