I just love it when a yummy dish comes together completely by accident. And I love it more when I remember how to make it again!
Such is the case with this fabulously easy and delicious appetizer. It was born in Telluride on the last night of our 2017 ski trip. As usual, we brought way too much food. Thankfully a good amount would safely travel back to Arizona with us so we girls started going through the refrigerator looking for things to pull together and get rid of the stuff we couldn’t take home. Mim and Terri put together a giant salad using all the lettuce and vegetables. We had part of a baguette roll that would not survive the drive home and I grabbed the pesto sauce and mozzarella cheese. My thought was to make some bruschetta but there weren’t enough tomatoes. This was going to be a “Mark approved” bruschetta for sure.
I cut the bread in neat uniformly sized slices. Yeah, right. I tried to get them the same width. Next I spooned some pesto sauce on top then added the shredded mozzarella. Then I popped them into the broiler set on low. I was worried about them burning quickly so I checked them every minute. The last thing we needed on this night of clearing out the refrigerator was a burned appetizer. We were in an amazing log mansion and the kitchen was gourmet with a perfectly fine tuned Viking oven. The broiler turned my experiment into a tasty treat in 3 minutes.
It was a fun sight watching us in the kitchen. Kim and Jeannie gathered up the fruit and made a yummy fruit salad. The guys grilled all the meat we couldn’t take home. We laid it all out on the big table and devoured our “clean out the refrigerator feast.” We also put the open bottles of wine out of their misery. They would not be subjected to the long drive home.
Making this appetizer at home is slightly different. My grocery store sells an already sliced baguette roll. I know, technically I’m cheating by not cutting it myself but it’s just so darn easy. And absolutely perfect when camping. The bread is laid out in neat perfectly sized slices in a matter of seconds.
Most times I make my own pesto sauce but I do love Costco’s. It’s tasty, freezes well and is oh so handy. After the slices are laid out onto a greased cookie sheet, I spoon the pesto on. No exact measurements, use as much or as little as you want.
Next up is the cheese. Shredded mozzarella is easiest. Costco sells good sliced mozzarella in a two-pack. When I want to be fancy, I’ll place a quarter of a slice on top of the pesto sauce. I pair that with a grape tomato sliced in half. Mark won’t eat it that way so I don’t make that variation very often.
I don’t have the fancy gourmet oven in my house. My Maytag does just fine though. I set the oven rack in the highest position with the broiler on low. Then I pop these in the oven for 3-4 minutes and viola! A fancy looking but super easy appetizer.
This is just as easy in the RV, whether you have a regular oven or a micro-convection one. All steps are the same, just watch it closely in the regular RV oven. The micro-convection oven may take a while to preheat, so start the preheat first.
Cheesy Pesto Bread Appetizers
- Baguette Roll, sliced evenly
- Pesto Sauce
- Mozzarella Cheese
Preheat oven to broil (or 450)
Place bread slices on cookie sheet, either foil-lined or lightly greased. Spoon on desired amount of pesto sauce then top with mozzarella cheese. Bake/broil for 3-4 minutes until cheese is slightly browned. Serve immediately.