Tasty Tasty!!

My new thing is cooking. And I have been cooking up a storm! Blake has enjoyed this new hobby and sometimes he curses the day I picked up a cookbook. It seems that most recipes are new to me, even basic recipes like stir-fry. But the concept of making a good loaf of bread still eludes me! Below is the best loaf of bread I have made.


Sadly charred on the outside, but at least it is not flat as a pancake like all the other loaves I have tried to make. Anyways, one thing I can make is pizza dough, so I made Olive Garden's Caprese Flatbread. Oh yum!





I was astounded that it could be so tasty. So I am posting the recipe to share the love with my family. =D

CAPRESE FLATBREAD

8 Roma or plum tomatoes, diced
3 garlic cloves, chopped
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
10 medium fresh basil leaves, stemmed and shopped (about 1/2 cup)
7 tbsp extra virgin olive oil, divided
11 oz container of refrigerated thin crust pizza dough
1 garlic clove
3/4 cup mayonnaise
1/2 tsp garlic powder
2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
1/4 grated Parmesan cheese

DIRECTIONS:
Preheat oven to 350°F
Dice tomatoes into small pieces and transfer to a mixing bowl.
Add chopped garlic, salt, pepper, 1/2 of the chopped basil (about 1/4 cup), and 4 Tbsp of extra virgin olive oil.
Set aside and allow the mixture to marinate for 10 minutes
Flatten pizza dough into a rectangle pan as indicated on the package, making sure you take the dough to the edge of the pan.
Drizzle the dough with extra virgin olive oil and brush it over the surface.
Bake the dough in the oven at 350°F for 10 minutes on center rack.
Remove from the oven and allow to cool slightly, about 2 minutes.
Cut the garlic clove in half and rub, cut side down, on to the surface of the bread. The warmth of the bread will help extract the garlic flavor.
Allow the bread to cool completely, about 10 additional minutes.
Increase the oven temperature to 450°F.
Combine mayonnaise and garlic powder in a mixing bowl. Evenly spread onto the surface of the bread.
Top with shredded mozzarella to evenly cover the surface.
Drain the Caprese mixture, as the salt will have extracted water from the tomatoes, and spread it evenly over the bread.
Sprinkle with grated Parmesan cheese.
Return to the oven for 5-7 more minutes until golden, crisp and bubbly.
Garnish with the remaining chopped basil
Serve immediately

I ate as much as I could, but I had been nibbling on the ingredients as I cooked, so I wasn't as hungry as I should have been for such a meal. So I put the leftovers in the refrigerator for the next day. Horrible! Tasted like bovine gases in my mouth! This is not a leftover food! But when it is fresh, it is soo tasty! Uh oh, just got a text from The Blake saying he is coming home for lunch. Whatever shall I prepare? Muahahaha!!!