This concoction was born the day after a dinner, via the combination of a stale baguette, leftover bruschetta topping and a bag of grated gruyere. It brought the baguette back to life and has become a regular Sunday afternoon thing.
It’s serious comfort food.
What to use – serves 2 (fairly greedy) people
- 200g cherry / small heritage tomatoes
- 2 large cloves of garlic
- 3 table spoons of olive oil
- a big pinch of sea salt
- a bunch of fresh basil
- approx 170g grated gruyere
- 2 part-cooked baguettes (250g in total)
How to use it
Set the oven to 200C fan and when hot, put the baguettes on a baking tray into the oven. They take 10 mins to bake fully so set a timer for 8 minutes so they’re a bit underdone.
Put the tomatoes, olive oil, garlic (cut into chunks), salt and basil leaves into a blender. Pulse the mixture a few times until it’s broken down but not blended.
When the 8 minutes are up, take the baguettes out and slice in half vertically, and then in half horizontally – carefully so as not to squash the bread. I do this wearing oven gloves.
Lay the baguette on the baking tray cut side up, and spoon over the tomato mix, spreading it out to the edges. Drizzle over a bit more olive oil and a sprinkle of salt to taste.
Pile on the gruyere and don’t be stingy – a big heap will shrink down to nothing.
Put the bread and topping back in the oven and bake for another 8 minutes.
As tempting as it will be, try to wait for a few minutes before biting into it. . .
eatburpsleep 