How to Elevate Garlic Bread
© John Kernick
At her Brooklyn restaurant, Lilia, 2010 F&W Best New Chef Missy Robbins serves something typically reserved for red sauce pasta dinners and takeout pizza orders: garlic bread. Topped with homemade mozzarella and bottarga, it's such a fantastic dish — and an inspired demonstration of garlic bread's potential. For your next party, try giving one of these delicious ideas a go.
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Grill the bread
Bread that's grilled over an outdoor fire has a delicious, woodsy flavor and needs only the simplest of toppings.
© Chris Chen
Confit the garlic
Heat big, sweet garlic cloves in oil with fresh thyme and red chile until they are ready to melt. Then, mash the cloves in butter and spread it on bread for a luscious take on the classic toast.
Rub with ripe tomatoes
The simple act of peeling garlic, cutting a tomato, and then rubbing both on grilled or toasted bread creates a magical bite. Pa amb tomàquet, a specialty of Barcelona that cookbook author Steven Raichlen shared, offers irrefutable proof that the best dishes are often the simplest.
Greg DuPree The simple act of cutting a tomato and rubbing it on bread creates a magical bite. Pa amb tomàquet, a specialty of Barcelona that cookbook author Steven Raichlen shared, offers irrefutable proof that the best dishes are often the simplest. Assemble it in the kitchen, or provide your guests with garlic cloves, halved tomatoes, a cruet of oil, and a bowl of salt, and let them do the work.
Add anchovies...
This build-your-own garlic bread number hinges on high-quality, oil-packed anchovies such as Don Bocarte, Callol Serrats, or Delfino Battista.
Photo by Victor Protasio / Food Styling by Margaret Monroe Dickey / Prop Styling by Lydia Pursell
... or another fishy treat
Anchovies can be polarizing, but there are other seafood upgrades to consider. Fresh sardines, pictured below, are a delicious option, but whipping up a salmon tartare topping is easier to shop for, or try smothering this bay scallop and marsala cream sauce on garlic-rubbed toasts.
© Amy Neunsinger
Add goat cheese
Tangy, creamy fresh goat cheese is delicious on buttery garlic bread.
Top with a purée...
Chef Nancy Silverton bakes chickpeas with a variety of flavorings — including onions, pancetta and carrots — then purees them with a good amount of oil and serves the spread on garlic-rubbed toasts, drizzled with a little more oil.
© John Kernick
... or a pâté
"Nothing is better for big-party entertaining than putting toppings on bread," says Tamar Adler. She and her brother, John Adler, slice and toast bread rounds, then rub them with garlic before embellishing them with a healthy smear of rich, Marsala-laced pâté.
© Michael Turek
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