Crostini With Cherry Tomatoes And Mozzarella

I also love to top my crostini with dollops of homemade basil pesto. Overall, this crostini is something I love to make with my abundance of summer produce. I first made this recipe when I was exploring the Campania region in Italy. Campania is a highly populated region in Southern Italy. Campania’s vast cuisine relies on sun-kissed vegetables and herbs, dried pasta, and fresh cheeses. The famous cheese here is the water Buffalo’s Mozzarella. Campania is home to over 80 percent of Italy’s water buffaloes. Hence, this is one of the very largely used cheeses. This week I am going to be posting recipes that come under the category, anything you can snack on! I will be posting different snacks that I make for my family and this is my first post under the theme.

Ingredients and Substitutes

This Crostini with Cherry Tomatoes and Mozzarella is a very simple yet highly flavorful appetizer made with very few ingredients. The key to making the best-tasting crostini’s depends on using fresh cheese and tomatoes. Check the recipe card at the bottom of the page for exact measurements and printable detailed recipes. Bread - I use a good loaf of French Bread to make my Crostini. I love using my fresh homemade French Baguette to make these delicious crostini. Cheese - I use fresh mozzarella cheese to make the topping for my crostini. I thinly slice the fresh mozzarella ball and use it. Tomatoes - I love using cherry tomatoes for my crostini topping as they look cute and also I grow these in abundance in summer. But you could use any kind of slicing tomato. One other option is to use this tomato relish recipe to top the baguette instead of fresh tomatoes. Olive oil - Use very good quality for the best-tasting crostini. You need a good amount of olive oil to brush the bread slices. Garlic - And I love garlic, loads of them. Brush as much or as little depending on your liking but definitely use it. Basil - I have used fresh basil, dried basil, or basil pesto to make the crostini. Our favorite is the basil pesto and this is what I used in the recipe today. I freeze a lot of basil pesto in summer and this is a great recipe to make using the pesto. Recently, I made a batch of this Homemade Pesto with purple basil and roasted bell peppers and it was delicious to use on the crostini.

Step by step process

Preheat the oven to 350 F.

Slice the cheese, tomatoes, and bread and keep them ready.

Finely mince the garlic cloves and add them to the olive oil.

Now brush both sides of the bread with the garlic/olive oil mixture and arrange them on a baking sheet.

Bake the bread slices until light golden brown and appear toasted. This will take about 4 to 5 minutes. Keep an eye on them as the bread could burn easily.

Now top the toasted bread slices with sliced cheese, cherry tomatoes and basil pesto (or fresh basil, if using).

Bake for another 5 minutes or so until the cheese is melted and the bread is well-toasted.

Serve the Crostini with Cherry Tomatoes And Mozzarella warm!

Expert tips

Use good quality bread to slice and make the crostini. This homemade French Baguette works great for the recipe if you want to bake your bread. Toast the bread just until light brown and then top them before toasting again. This way the bread won’t be too dark when toasting it for the second time. Use good quality olive oil for the best-tasting crostini. You could also make the toasted crostini ahead of time and then top them and bake them when ready to serve.