focaccia | Kiwi + Peach

Remember last week when I told y’all all about my awful luck with restaurants staying in business and I shared one of my favorite places to eat in Athens {Georgia not Greece}? Well wouldn’t you know it…

Just kidding. They didn’t close. {Freaked you out there didn’t I, Mama?}

Oh man, now I’ve really jinxed it.

But really how could they with all the delicious things that have going on. Today’s recipe was inspired by my Mama’s favorite, the White Pizza. Being the queen of neutrals that she is, it really isn’t surprising that she’d go for the most monochromatic option, but what is surprising is how flavorful that sucker is! It’s strong on the garlic and has the perfect blend of melty cheeses and crisp, buttery focaccia.

The White

The Mix
1/2 cup ricotta cheese
1-2 cloves of roasted garlic
1/2 tsp salt

The Assembly
2 large wedges of focaccia
4-5 fresh basil leaves, sliced
1/2 ball fresh buffalo mozzarella

In a medium sized bowl, mix the cheese, garlic, and salt together well.

Split your focaccia wedges down the middle to make two slices. {You know like for a sandwich.} Liberally spread the mix on both slices. Sprinkle the bottom slice with the basil strips and then cover with chunks of your mozzarella.

Pop everything in the oven on broil {or grill for y’all Kiwis} for about 5 minutes or until the mozzarella has melted. When its finished top it off and enjoy!

Yesterday, around lunch time, I realized we had no bread and then I commenced with the panicking. Most of y’all in the States are thinking ‘So what? Go to the store you lazy bum.’ Not so fast my friends. Three words that really make you pay for any lapse in meal planning preparedness. Sunday. Shopping. Hours. As in, there are none. Grocery stores, retail stores, some restaurants. All closed. Coming from the land of 24 everything, it’s not my favorite thing about living in Germany. I mean, I understand the wonderful things it means about their society {kudos Deutschland} but sometimes I just really need some bread on Sunday.

So what is a girl to do? Naturally I scoured Pinterest for a quick bread recipe because the Kiwi was getting kind of hungry. I found this quick focaccia recipe and immediately started remembering all of the amazing focaccia with olive oil and balsamic we had in Italy. I was sold. You can’t really go wrong with olive oil and balsamic on fresh focaccia bread that is still warm. You know what else goes really well with that? Tomatoes, buffalo mozzarella, and fresh basil from the garden.

Again, kind of like the fried egg and tomatoes, this isn’t as much a recipe as just a simple sandwich you an throw together in no time flat. {That is of course unless you’re making the focaccia too in which case it’s going to take about an hour.} In the end we were pretty pleased with our meal planning fail.

The Caprese

2 large slices of focaccia bread {or half a loaf of your own}
1 Tbsp olive oil
2 smallish tomatoes {or 1 large one}
1/2 of a ball of buffalo mozzarella
5-6 leaves of fresh basil
1-2 Tbsp balsamic vinegar {depending on your taste}

Slice the focaccia and pour the olive oil over the bottom slice. Then slice your tomatoes, mozzarella, and basil. Layer the tomatoes and mozzarella until the bread is covered and then sprinkle on the basil. Pour the balsamic over the top and close her up.