Tuesday, November 21, 2017

Freshness perfected on a piece of toast

Somewhere about late summer, we start getting somewhat overwhelmed with tomatoes. So far we’ve made bruschetta, salsa, pasta sauce, pizza sauce, canned tomatoes, every dinner dish we can think of with tomatoes. This time – I tried something new. Caprese Garlic Bread.
Imaging garlic buttered bread toasted with fresh mozzarella cheese, fresh tomatoes and basil, and balsamic reduction on top. Wow. Andy and I decided we could just eat the bread for dinner and be happy. Our kids, of course, looked at that and said… ahhh no. Which is fine – they got to have plan old boring french bread. Honestly – how does that compare to the yummy goodness of what we had? It surely does not.
Try this one – I bet you could even get grocery store veggies and be happy with it.

Caprese Garlic Bread
1 loaf ciabatta bread, horizontally cut in half
4 tablespoons salted butter
3 cloves garlic, minced
12 oz. fresh mozzarella cheese, sliced
1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
2 medium tomatoes, sliced
Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
1/3 cup chopped fresh basil

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Place both sides of the baguette on a large baking sheet with the cut side up.
In a small bowl, combine butter and garlic and spread evenly on bread halves. Place the mozzarella cheese slices on top of the bread, making sure the cheese covers the bread completely. Bake the bread for 12-15 minutes or until the cheese is melted.
While the bread is in the oven, make the balsamic reduction. Place the balsamic vinegar in a small saucepan. Bring the vinegar to a boil, decrease the heat to low, and simmer, stirring occasionally, until the mixture is reduced by about half. This should only take about 5-7 minutes. Set aside.
Remove the bread from oven. Top the bread with tomato slices. Season with salt and pepper, to taste. Add the fresh basil and drizzle with balsamic reduction. Cut into slices and serve.

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