Cheesy Herb Garlic Bread

Have you ever heard this story: Take a piece of day old crusty bread, smear it with some butter, grate some cheese, add some more to it, and some more, some dried herbs and bake. Take the bread out of the oven, slice it up and take a bite. And you live happily ever after. The end! 

Now life really could be this simple if you're anything like me and want to live happily ever after. Just one requirement- make this Cheesy Garlic Herb Bread. Ta da! 

And don't worry, I got you. I'm your friend afterall. I care for your needs. I have the solution to all your troubles, atleast when they are food related. I've been playing agony aunt to one of my closest gfs for these past few days and if it were upto me, I'd be feeding her this just so she could forget her troubles and savour this cheesy crusty golden perfection. Ahhh...the comfort of comfort food- like a warm cosy snuggle with your stuffed teddy bear on a rainy day. Incidentally I made this Cheese Garlic Bread on a rainy day and it brightened up my mood instantly. 

The bread is ready made, but making it this great with grated cheese- all in your hands my peeps! The best part is, you can add a different combination of cheeses. I had monterey jack and marble cheddar so I used that. You can very well use some parmesan too. Damn I wish I had some parmesan at home at the time. Same goes for combination of herbs you want to use. Feel free to add in some chili powder or some paprika, maybe mix in some pesto or you can even add some cream cheese instead of the mayo...just have fun with it and make it your own. So lets get cookin' then, shall we?! 

Serves: 4

Time taken: 20 mins

Complexity: *

You'll need

3 tbsp salted butter

1 large clove of garlic, minced

2 oz asiago/ monterey jack cheese/ mozzarella 

2 oz marble cheddar/ sharp cheddar

1 tsp dried basil

1 tsp dried parsley

2 heaping tbsps of mayonnaise

Italian bread or baguette whatever you have on hand
Pinch of love

Method

Slice the bread horizontally in half. 

Preheat your oven to 320F or 150C 

Line a baking tray with foil so that it makes for an easier cleanup later

Now that you have your prep all done, take the butter and minced garlic in a bowl. Now you see my garlic is far from minced, I just gave it a chop. you can use a garlic press if you have one or even grate the cloves for that matter. 

Pop this in the microwave for about 10-15 seconds till your butter has melted. The warm butter will help the garlic release its flavours as well... mmmmm buttery garlic...sooooooo goood!! 

In the same bowl, add the grated cheeses you have. In goes the monterey jack

and the marble cheddar...mmmmm all this cheesy goodness is what makes this garlic cheese bread so amazing

Next add in the dried spices to this. I went with a mix of basil and parsley. You can add oregano or some smoked paprika to the mix. I reckon some freshly cracked black pepper would also be amazing on this. I have made a slightly different version of this with some pesto too. It all works goooooood my friend! 

Give it all a mix to see the consistency of what is necessarily a Cheesy herbed butter. 

Go ahead and add in the mayo next. Mayo is what gives sinks deep into the bread and makes it oh so creamy. Its my secret ingredient for this cheese garlic bread. Give it a mix again. Your schmear is ready to be smeared. 

Place the garlic bread on the foil lined tray. 

Take a heaping spoonful and plop it on the bread, and with the back of your spoon, spread it around. Now if you're really as enthusiastic as I am and want a really LOADED Cheese garlic herb bread, divide the cheese mix in two parts and spread it all on that single piece of bread. 

I thought it wasn't going to be enough and I wanted a reeeaallllly good layer of cheese. I mean can we really have too much of a good thing?! Apparently we can, keep reading. Pop this tray in the pre heated oven for about 10-12 mins till the cheese has melted and is bubbling. 

So remember how I over enthusiastically divided that huge portion of cheese on just 2 slices of bread, I should have probably gone for a larger piece of bread. Because while that cheese was melting away in the oven, it melted all over the sides of the bread and on the foil- thank God we had lined it with foil. So I had a sea of that delicious cheese on the sides of the bread. I'd probably store half the cheese mix for a later time the next time I make this cheese herb garlic bread. 

Now you can very well take it out of the oven at this point, I mean doesn't this look absolutely gorgeous!! 

But again if you're like me, you'll like the taste of that crusty slightly over baked cheese much more. I love it when the cheese gets a little brown all over so I placed it back in the oven for 2 minutes under the broiler. My oh my!! Just look at how fantastically amazing it looks!! 

The crunch on the top with that beautiful golden brown cheese with a soft, garlicky bread underneath- sheer perfection! I served it with some cold leftover home made marinara sauce. Cut the bread into inch thick slices, dunk the warm bread into the cold marinara sauce- mmmmm mmmm mmmmm my perfect fairytale right here.

Indulge!