Baked Tomato, Bean, + Mozzarella Spread
Sometimes, the perfect meal at our house is something appetizer-y with a simple, healthy salad. It, for whatever reason, feels like a fun midweek treat. Some snack-y kinda food + an episode of Dateline - it’s a happy Wednesday. This was the vibe when we made this Baked Tomato, Bean, + Mozzarella Spread that we literally haven’t been able to stop talking about since we made it (safe to say this will be on repeat this Fall!). This dish is like pasta meets bean dip, and it’s great. It’s a warm + gooey bean “dip” that has so many flavors that mirror a classic pasta sauce - so much tomato + garlic + herbs. A little heartier, and totally qualifies as a dip that is a meal in itself.
Simple dish + simple flavors
This stuff is easy to make. So so easy! Just one pan meal that gets started not the stove, and the cheese gets perfectly roasted, melted, and browned buy throwing the pan right in the oven.
An easy dish to prepare with simple, classic tomato sauce flavors. It starts like any other pasta sauce - a whole lot of garlic + tomatoes + herbs. Cooked down to be a hearty, chunk sauce that would be pretty great ladled over some noodles, but in this case you add in some beans and top it with some cheese. Simple tomato flavor just shines + goes perfectly with some toasted crostini pieces.
A great pasta substitute
The serious business of this dish is it’s a pasta-craving-cure. And I’m just ignoring the whole hella cheese part on tap + focusing on the fact that beans take the place of pasta, and calling it healthy.
For real - it’s the perfect snack-y kinda dish that hits the spot when pasta is what you want, but you feel guilty having all the carbs - an internal battle I fight pretty often. It’s all in the tomato sauce - just hearty + savory + satisfying. And spreading it on top of a warm, crusty piece of bread is the little bit of indulgence that hits the spot. PSA - also great as a dipper with gluten free crackers.
Keep it simple - get the canned stuff
When it comes to pastas and other Italian meals, I’m usually a big fan of pulling out all the stops - roasting tomatoes + garlic + keeping it garden fresh. This meal is simple. Uses the canned stuff, and the flavor doesn’t skip a beat!
This meal was just a good time. It’s the first dish I made out of my new “Weekday Vegetarian” cookbook Jordan gifted me for my birthday - a cookbook I have been dying to dive into. And such a treat that meal #1 from this book was a huge hit. It’s something we made like a week ago, and conversations surrounding how delicious it was or the fact that we gotta get that one back in the rotation soon have been frequent. Safe to say this will be a repeat this Fall, and probably a regular go to for the at-home, easy date-nights.
For the tomato bake
EVOO
1 onion, chopped
4 garlic cloves, minced
Red pepper flakes
Salt + pepper
1 heaping tbsp tomato paste
1 can of diced tomatoes
1 tbsp dried oregano or Italian seasoning blend
2 cans of white beans, drained
1 - 1.5 c. chicken broth
1 c. Panko
3 tbsp fresh thyme leaves
Fresh mozzarella, sliced
Slices of baguette or ciabatta
Preheat the oven to 400.
Place a Dutch oven over medium heat. Add the EVOO + onion the pan - toast for 3-5 minutes. Add in the garlic and cook for another 2-3 minutes. Stir in a pinch of red pepper flakes, salt, + pepper. Once seasonings are added in, stir in the tomato paste and toast another 2-3 minutes. Add in the tomatoes + herbs - cook for another 5 minutes. Add in the beans + broth, and cook another 5 minutes.
While the beans warm up, stir together the Panko, thyme, and another 2 tbsp EVOO in a bowl.
Returning to the Dutch oven - turn off the heat. Place the mozzarella disks over the top of the pot, and spread the bread crumbs over the top. Bake oven, uncovered, for 15 minutes. At 15 minutes, transfer the bread slices to the oven to toast up. Serve the warm bean + tomato mixture alongside crusty slices of bread, placing dollops of the bean mixture on top of the bread pieces. So good + it’s all you need a for a tasty dinner.
