Toasted Baguette with Melty Mozzarella, Prosciutto, Peppadew Peppers & Basil
The past week or so has been pretty crazy and I've gotten behind on my posts. That doesn't mean I don't have a whole host of great recipes in my arsenal just waiting to be posted, though! And it certainly doesn't mean I haven't been cookin' up a storm in the kitchen. I've even explored some new markets, so you'll just have to stay tuned for all that and more.
Today's recipe requires little-to-no skill in the kitchen, which is amazing, because the sandwich you're about to make will look like you ordered it from some fancy lunch locale. At the same time, it will be substantial enough to call dinner and delicious enough to eat any time of the day. Wins all around.
This recipes seems like the ideal Thursday night meal to me. Over the weekend, I generally plan my meals for Monday through Wednesday and then Thursday is often a wildcard. I usually want to take it easy, though, and leave time for any of those last-minute end-of-the-week tasks that often seem to arise on Thursday night (e.g., laundry, cleaning for weekend house guests, running errands, etc.), and then slide into the weekend. The weekends I like to reserve for fun meals out and long days of cooking hearty meals that take more time and preparation...in case you cared to know my cooking schedule. :) Whichever day or night of the week it is, though, you'll be glad you made this toasty, melty, scrumptious sandwich.
Toasted Baguette with Melty Mozzarella, Prosciutto, Peppadew Peppers & Basil
Serves: We got about three sandwiches from one baguette
Preparation Time: 10 minutes
Ingredients:
your favorite baguette (my husband got this sourdough baguette from The Wedge)
small block of mozzarella cheese, sliced, or 2-3 pre-cut slices from the deli per sandwich
2-3 slices prosciutto per sandwich (picked ours up from the Kowalski's deli...yum!)
1-2 peppadew peppers per sandwich, drained and sliced (you can also get these off most olive bars at grocery store, but my favorite are the jarred ones at Trader Joe's)
handful of fresh basil leaves
Method:
1. Preheat your oven to broil. Cut your baguette into however many sandwiches you'd like to make. We got about three sandwiches out of ours. Then slice each mini baguette length-wise, cutting all the way through. You'll want to toast the sandwich open-faced, so you'll want to separate pieces of bread. Place bread on baking sheet.
2. How you layer your ingredients (and how much of each ingredient you use) is up to you, of course. I find having cheese interspersed between ingedients helps it all stick together. I placed cheese slices down first on one half, then basil, then prosciutto (this allows the prosciutto to toast and get a little crispy, too). On the other half, I placed the peppers first with cheese on top.
3. Once you have constructed each half of the sandwich, place them in the oven and broil until the cheese is lightly browned and melty. This will only take a few minutes, so watch closely! We served ours with a simple side of roasted balsamic brussels sprouts and delicata squash.
