It’s just garlic bread, folks, but it’s garlic bread with an upgrade! There are tomatoes, mozzarella and basil! After running across this recipe at Two Peas and their Pod,  I decided I needed to make it—now! I quickly sent texts to a few friends and invited them to come over for a light supper and four replied “Yes!”  I served this bread, a platter of cold shrimp, some sliced melon, iced tea and lemon meringue pie. It’s  great having friends who are good with spur-of-the-moment things 🙂

The bread was good, very good!  The balsamic reduction highlighted the simple tomato, cheese, and basil topping.  I made a few changes to the original recipe:  I used my own garlic bread base, I adjusted the cooking time for the balsamic reduction and I baked the tomatoes on the bread instead of laying them on after cooking.  BTW, do not skip the balsamic reduction, it’s fabulous!

I hope you have some backyard or farmer’s market tomatoes on hand, because store bought tomatoes just aren’t invited to this party! And the photo above shows a bit too much cheese. I bought fresh mozzarella from Costco and it came pre-sliced, so I just went with it.  Turns out I used double the cheese!  Oooops!  No one complained though 🙂 The recipe below has the correct amount of cheese listed but if you want to up it a bit, that’s up to you. One other piece of advice, the tomatoes shrink when baked, so pile them on.  I think I could have added another slice of tomato to each row!

Caprese Garlic Bread

AKA: Garlic Bread with Tomatoes, Mozzarella and Basil

INGREDIENTS

• 1 loaf sourdough bread, horizontally cut in half—French bread would work, too. The original recipe called for ciabatta, but I am in the SF Bay Area and sourdough rules around here 🙂
• 4 tablespoons salted butter, softened
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• ¼ cup grated Parmesan cheese—plus an extra tablespoon or so for garnish
• 3 Tablespoons dried onion, if you have it
• 2 teaspoons dried basil or 2 Tablespoons fresh
• 2 teaspoons dried parsley or 2 Tablespoons fresh
• 12 oz. fresh mozzarella cheese, sliced
• ½ cup balsamic vinegar
• 2-3 medium tomatoes, sliced
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
• 1/3 cup chopped fresh basil

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 400°.

1. In a small bowl combine butter, garlic, dried onion, basil, parsley, and parmesan cheese.  
2. Cut the loaf of bread in half horizontally. Place both sides of the loaf on a large baking sheet with the cut side up.
3. Spread the garlic butter mixture over both sides of the cut bread.  Spread to all the corners and completely to the outer edge of the bread.
4. Place the mozzarella cheese slices on top of the bread, making sure the cheese covers the bread completely.
5. Top the cheese with the sliced tomatoes.  Sprinkle tomatoes with salt and pepper, to taste. If desired, sprinkle a bit of parmesan cheese over the tomaotes.
6. Bake the bread at 400° for 12-15 minutes or until the cheese is melted.
7. While the bread is baking, 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.
8. Remove the bread from oven.  Sprinkle fresh basil over the top of the bread and drizzle with balsamic reduction.
9. Cut into slices of heaven and serve!

That’s all there is too it!  Enjoy the last of your summer tomatoes!  They are special, aren’t they? And thanks for dropping by today!