Tomatoes are coming into season here and in our Community Supported Agriculture(CSA) box we got about 5 lbs of red tomatoes, 3 lbs or orange and green tomatoes. My family loves tomatoes, thankfully. Plus, there is something totally different about tomatoes fresh off the vine versus the grocery store tubes. They cannot even be compared other than they are both reddish and roundish.
These organic tomatoes weren’t perfect looking but the way my family ate them up you would never know.
TIP: If you have never roasted a head of garlic before it is so simple and helps mellow the garlic flavor out. It becomes almost buttery by the time you are done roasting it so that you can spread it in bread. To roast the head of garlic slice off the top of the garlic to expose the cloves underneath. Drizzle with olive oil and wrap the entire head in aluminum foil. Bake at 400 degrees for 30-40 minutes until garlic has soften and turning brown. Remove and allow to cool. Remove cloves from head and use in your favorite dishes.
Verdict:
You put balsamic reduction on just about anything and my family will eat every drop of it. I have learned to make extra for them to dip their bread in. The great part of this dish was they we also got purple basil (you can use green) in our CSA box and a head of garlic.
Everyone loved this although my son said would like soup salad or an additional meat with it next time. He is a 13 year-old boy.
I served this with a side of cucumber salad for our meal.
Caprese Garlic Bread
Ingredients:
- 1 extra long loaf of Italian bread (I prefer the long thin Italian loaf not the French baguette which can be too thin)
- Olive oil
- 1 head of garlic, roasted (use as many cloves as your family likes)
- 16 oz. mozzarella cheese, sliced
- 2 – 3 very large tomatoes sliced
- fresh basil, cut chiffonade
- 1 cup balsamic vinegar
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Cover a rimmed baking sheet with aluminum foil.
- Slice bread horizontally and then vertically if needed to make 4 large pieces to fit on the baking sheet.
- Drizzle the bread with a good amount of olive oil.
- Spread roasted garlic on the bread. Use an amount your family will like. I generally use 2-3 per section but we like garlic.
- Place cheese over the bread.
- Bake for 10-15 minutes until cheese melts.
- While bread is baking bring balsamic vinegar to a light boil in a small saucepan, over medium heat. Stir the vinegar and reduce heat to a simmer. Allow the vinegar to simmer until it has reduced by at least 1/2. You may boil it a bit more if you want it to be thicker. Remove from heat once desired consistency is reached.
- Remove pan from oven. Lay the tomatoes over the top of the cheese. Return to pan to oven to just warm the tomatoes (if desired) for 2-3 minutes.
- Remove pan and sprinkle with chiffonade basil and balsamic reduction.
What's for Dinner Moms? 
Love those tomatoes!! Have a great weekend. xx
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Thank you! You too!
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xx
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Looks beautiful!
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Thank you!
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I love tomatoes from my garden! I can eat them all day! This recipe looks really good!
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Thank you so much! The rest of my family loves them but I think it is a texture issue with me. I like tomatoes slightly cooked just not raw.
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That’s so interesting because I’m the opposite. If I’m cooking a meal with tomatoes, I wait till the end to through them in because I don’t like them cooked. I feel the same about sweet peppers. Texture deal for me.
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I’d eat this all by myself! Balsamic vinegar…I love it and have been known to have a 1 finger shot of really good balsamic vinegar more than once. Miam, miam!
I found some really delicious raspberry balsamic at a local shop and I swear I could just drink the bottle! 🙂
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Yumm…
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Wow you totally scored on the tomatoes! Do you plan on eating all those now or are you going to can or freeze some? The garlic bread looks so delicious!
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I am hoping to make some sauce with the red tomatoes and eat the rest! The garlic bread was really good. The balsamic reduction drizzle makes it amazing.
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Wonderful! happy Friday!
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Yummy.
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Thank you!
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YUM. caprese is perfect anyway you slice it. 🙂
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Thank you. Tomatoes are so good right now!
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Everything is. I wish I had a huge freezer😊it would be full of a lot of good stuff
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Hi Koolaidmoms: I have nominated you for the One Lovely Blog Award! Check it out in my new post on The Recipe Hunter @ https://cookandenjoyrecipes.wordpress.com/2016/09/25/one-lovely-blog-award/
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Thank you so very much. That is incredibly sweet!
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Hope you will be able to accept and pay it forward. 🙂
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