Tomato, Basil & Mozzarella=Yum!
They say the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach. Now, I don’t know how true that is, but I do like cooking and trying out ‘something new’. And Jagadish is game for anything that comes off of my stovetop or out of my oven 
While he is away working hard and finishing up his MS, I am learning and perfecting some new recipes I’ve picked up on of late. Most of these are also quick to make, as long as the ingredients are available, which is great, since I don’t have much spare time these days.
Okay, I love cheese. I’ve been trying not to eat too much of it of late, but I saw fresh mozzarella at my local grocery store and just could not resist buying some. Fresh mozzarella is very different from the hard grated variety you find in Kraft bags, or the kind used most often to top pizzas sold by commercial brands. It is very soft, very white, almost like freshly made paneer, and is usually stored in water or whey to keep it fresh. One of the easiest things to do with fresh mozzarella is eat it 
Yes, as is, it tastes great, but when combined with the flavorful herb basil, and tomatoes, it really is awesome!
After a long, hard, tiring day at work, there is nothing like being able to make a fresh meal under half an hour. Seriously, that beats frozen or instant cooked pasta any day. Here’s how you can make it too. You will need, as the title says, fresh mozzarella (although regular old mozzarella might do too, never tried it myself), tomatoes (slightly firm ones), basil leaves, fresh garlic clove, onion (optional), whole wheat bread (I prefer wheat, but white or ciabatta should do too), salt & pepper.
On a pan you can place directly into the oven, place your bread slices. Chop the tomatoes into pieces about half an inch long; top the bread with them. Add finely chopped garlic, and finely chopped onions, if you use them. Sprinkle salt and pepper. Top with basil leaves (use plenty!) roughly chopped, and slices of fresh mozzarella.
Toss this into an oven (I always forget to preheat it, although that would help it cook faster, I’m sure) at about 400F. In just under 7 minutes, this was done to perfection. The cheese was melted and the bread was toasted to a gorgeous shade of brown. One thing I will say here is to ensure the bread is properly toasted; the water content of the tomatoes will make it soggy if the bread is not fully toasted. I found that out the hard way, even though it didn’t change the deliciousness, it made it a little messy to eat!
I had a particularly strong craving for the taste of tomatoes and basil, and so I opened up� a can of Progresso’s Tomato Basil Soup and popped it into the microwave to combine with my sandwich.
Ah yes. And I used Dixie plates so I did not have to do dishes afterwards! All in all, the combination really makes for a light, yet hearty dinner. For the calorie watchers, this really is not loaded with that many calories–one slice of bread is about a 100 calories, the cheese was about another 100 (remember this also has protein), and the soup, another 100 or so.
I am definitely hoping to make this for Jagadish some day. I do hope he will like it as much as I did
Related posts:
That looks fantastic! Yum!