Conversation in my house the other day as I am preparing dinner:

Me: “Girls, it’s your lucky night…dinner is Hearty Minestrone Soup with garlic ciabatta bread.”

Girls: “Whoop! Whoop!  We LOVE your garlic bread.”

Me:  “It’s going on the blog this week.”

Girls:  “Wait.  You haven’t put that on your blog yet??  Are you kidding me??”

A panicky pit arose in my stomach.  Maybe I did blog it last year and I’ve completely forgotten.  Seriously, how ridiculous would it look if I posted the same recipe twice?  Maybe if I’ve been blogging for five, ten years, but I’ve been doing this for barely a year.

I searched my blog and it was not there.  Relief.  I’m not totally losing it.

This garlic bread is the perfect guilty complement to a soup or salad or something else reasonably healthy.  It’s basically how I get my girls to eat soup for dinner.  Lured by this warm, buttery garlic bread they’ll agree to eat just about anything.

Follow-up:  The night I made the garlic bread I put dinner on the table and then had to run out to a meeting.  Left unsupervised they consumed the entire batch of garlic bread.  If that’s not a ringing endorsement, I don’t know what is.

1 year ago: Butternut Squash Soup with Tarragon

Garlic Ciabatta Bread (6 servings – or 2 servings for 2 hungry, carb-loving girls)

Note:  A small food processor (“mini-prep”) is the quickest way to chop the parsley and garlic.  However if you don’t have one then just mince the parsley and the garlic with a knife or try a NutriBullet.  A larger food processor probably won’t work as there isn’t enough food volume.

1 large ciabatta or grand rustic roll (about 1/2 lb or 250 grams)

¼ cup (10 grams) parsley leaves

6 garlic cloves, roughly chopped

½ teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon pepper

3 tablespoons olive oil

2 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened

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Preheat the oven to 350º F (175º C).

Using a large serrated knife, cut the ciabatta roll in half horizontally.  Place a large piece of foil on a rimmed baking sheet (large enough to wrap ciabatta roll) and set the ciabatta on the foil.

In a small food processor blend together the parsley, garlic, salt and pepper.  Heat the olive oil in a small sauté pan over low heat.  Add the parsley and garlic mixture to the olive oil and cook for 3 minutes until the garlic is tender but not browned.  Remove from heat and set aside.

Spread butter on the top half of the ciabatta.  Spoon the garlic olive oil mixture over the bottom half of the ciabatta.  Place the top half on top of the bottom half, place atop the foil on the rimmed baking sheet and wrap the ciabatta in the foil.

Bake the bread for 5 minutes, then unwrap the foil and bake for another 5 minutes.  Slice crosswise and serve warm.

Adapted from “Barefoot Contessa Back to Basics” by Ina Garten