Baked Sourdough Panzanella Caprese

The tomatoes are rolling in.  Big, fat, juicy, slicing tomatoes.  The kind you put between two slices of Sunbeam white bread with some mayonnaise and salt and pepper.  Then you need three napkins because the juice rolls down your arm.

But no sandwich today.  I was watching an episode of Giada the other day (I just love her recipes!) and she made a dish I just had to try.  The original recipe is here, but I made individual portions in rectangle ramekins and didn't measure.  This was heaven to me and I could eat it every day for lunch.  Here are my notes and how to do it.  No recipe needed.

First, butter a pan, dish, ramekin, whatever, and lay a single layer of tomatoes sliced about 1/4 inch thick in the bottom. 

Next, drizzle with some balsamic vinegar.  You don't have to drown it, just enough to give it some flavor.  I would salt and pepper to taste at this point, but I forgot to do that when I made it.

Place a single layer of fresh mozzarella slices on the tomatoes.  About a 1/4 inch thick or so.

Add some chopped garlic and some chopped fresh basil.  Drizzle with some good extra virgin olive oil and salt and pepper to taste.

Place a slice (or slices, depending on your pan size) of sourdough bread on top.  Drizzle with olive oil again.

Bake in a 375 degree oven for about 25 minutes until bubbly and golden brown.  I baked mine for 25 minutes, then stuck it under the broiler until golden brown.

I let it set for about 10 minutes before I dug in.  Note:  mine had a lot of water in the bottom after I baked it from the type of slicing tomatoes I used.  No problem here, though.  I just tipped my ramekin and poured it off.  Different types of tomatoes will give off more or less juice.  It was still delicious.