Recipe: Grilled Bread with Roasted Tomatoes, Capers and Basil

I created this dish as a chunky topping for crunchy toast appetizers, but I have to tell you that it makes for an amazing pasta marinara sauce as well.  Sweet, tangy, and slightly smoky, these tomatoes are really quite exceptional no matter how you choose to serve them up.  Here’s how I serve them as an appetizer:

Grilled Bread with Roasted Tomatoes, Capers and Basil Recipe

• 2.5 pounds tomatoes, halved
• 2 tablespoons capers, chopped
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• ½ teaspoon kosher salt
• Cracked black pepper
• ¼ cup chopped Basil
• French Bread Loaf, sliced 1” thick

This recipe is best with home grown tomatoes, but any will do.  Place the halved tomatoes in a BBQ grill pan.

Sprinkle the chopped capers over them, and then drizzle with the olive oil and season with salt and pepper.

Roast tomatoes in grill pan over indirect heat, roughly 450°, with grill lid closed, for 40 minutes.

Remove from heat and set aside.

How to Grill Bread

Drizzle the sliced bread on both sides with olive oil, and season with cracked black pepper.

Turn grill burners on medium high and toast bread, roughly 3 minutes on each side.

Remove bread from heat and set aside.

 

How to Assemble Grilled Bread with Roasted Tomatoes, Capers and Basil

Coarsely chop the tomatoes and place in a serving bowl along with all their juices (or alternately just chop in the bowl with kitchen shears).  Add chopped basil and stir to combine.  Season with salt and pepper if needed.

Have guests assemble their own by spooning tomato mixture on a piece of grilled bread.  Optionally, you can garnish with a basil leaf, shaved Parmigiano-Reggiano, or roasted garlic.

Recipe by Jothan Yeager, August 2010

 

The Bald Gourmet uses fresh home grown ingredients to make delicious Gourmet Appetizers and more.

 

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