VEGGILANTE: A Busy Girl's Guide to Vegetarianism

The holiday season is rapidly approaching, and with it comes the obligatory holiday parties to which you’ll likely need to bring a food item. To avoid showing up with a store-bought tray of cheese and crackers, I found an appetizer recipe that is beyond simple. The only catch is you’ll need to utilize your host’s oven.

Cheese and sun-dried tomato toasts (adapted from The Vegetarian Cookbook)

• 1 large ciabatta loaf
• ¾ cup sun-dried tomato paste (or just use your favorite tomato sauce)
• 10 oz fresh buffalo mozzarella, drained and diced
• 1 ½ tsp dried oregano
• Freshly ground pepper to taste
• 3 T olive oil

Turn on broiler to low. Slice ciabatta loaf in half horizontally and, with crust side down, slice each half into 1-2 inch thick strips. Place slices on large baking sheet and put under broiler for about 1 minute on each side until they are golden brown. Remove and preheat oven to 425° (Note: The recipe says to preheat your oven while broiling. My oven does not allow me to do both at once).

Spread one side of each toast with sun-dried tomato paste and top with mozzarella cheese. Then, sprinkle each toast with oregano and pepper and drizzle with olive oil. Place baking sheet on middle rack of preheated oven and bake for 5-7 minutes, or until cheese is bubbling. Remove and let stand for 1-2 minutes before serving.

It’s fast. It’s yummy. And it requires little effort.  

As I noted in the list of ingredients, though, don’t waste your time scouring the shelves for sun-dried tomato paste. Just look in your pantry for spaghetti sauce because it tastes exactly the same. In fact, the toasts end up looking and tasting like crunchy, little pizzas. Hooray!