Wednesdays with Donna Hay - Baked Mozzarella and Tomato Dip

This is my week to pick a recipe.  With its proximity to Passover, I wanted something quick and easy so I selected the dip. Instead of Lebanese breads, I used white bread because, it is what was in the the house.  This is the end of the bread, other than gluten-free, until after Pesach.  


I was right about this being an easy recipe although, the recipes, we have made in our group, have been generally easy to make.  This was an oven dish, through and through.  I baked the sauce and of course the bread was toasted in the oven.  Instead of drizzling olive oil, I sprayed with cooking oil (olive).    The cheese did not melt, nor brown, easily so I upped the heat to 500 degrees for 1 minute and that did the trick.


This would have been good with garlic bread and actually, it could translate into a pasta sauce.  I did add just a smidge of sugar to the sauce.  It needed something and I was hoping that something was sugar.  It was.  Since this was not for hubby, I was able to include the garlic.  A real treat......

Sorry about the color on the photo.  I can't figure out what happened and I can't improve upon it.

Baked Mozzarella and Tomato Dip

Ingredients:

1 can crushed tomatoes (16 ounces)
1 clove garlic, crushed
sea salt and cracked black pepper
1 x 140g buffalo mozzarella or brocconcini, halved
olive oil, for drizzling
oregano leaves, to serve (I forgot and I have them growing in my garden, still.)

4 slices white bread without crust
spray olive oil

Method:

Preheat oven to 390°F. To make the crisps, spray the bread with olive oil and sprinkle with salt. Cut into strips and place on baking trays. Bake for 5 minutes or until crisp. Set aside to cool.

Divide the tomatoes, garlic, salt and pepper between 2 x 1½ cup-capacity  ovenproof dishes and stir to combine. 

Top each with a piece of mozzarella and bake for 15–20 minutes or until the cheese has melted. Drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with oregano leaves and serve with the crisps.


The original recipe can be found here.


Please check out the rest of the group Margaret, Kayte and Gaye to see variations of the recipe.