I’m not a fan of the soggy style garlic bread. I definitely prefer to have crush and crispness when it comes to garlic bread. Also I like flavour and freshness. So my garlic bread is open faced, full of herbs and added Parmesan for extra yumminess.
The ingredients are really very simple: some form of crusty bread, any herbs that are fresh and you like, some Parmesan cheese and butter. We tend to use either olive oil spread or recently the vegan Nuttlex. Seriously guys, use whatever butter or butter like spread you like. No judgment here. (If you use butter, it would have to be room temperature/softened. The spreads I use are soft from the fridge. So no pre-thought is required.)
Herbs, fresh herbs, incidentally all of these herbs were from out of my garden from my initial planting. So Top row we have some rosemary and thyme. De-stalk the wonderful rosemary leaves, and also the same with the thyme, and mince with a sharp knife. For the parsley I pull all the leaves from the stalks then I scrunch and roll the parsley into a sort of cigar to then shred. I take all the shredded parts and then go to town on it with a sharp knife. You want a fine mince of herbs. The smells are divine.
Take two cloves of garlic (or more or less depending on your level of vampirism). Mince. My garlic looks a little odd there because sometimes I buy full clove garlic. Its Australian. Its wonderful, slightly milder. I used a half of one for this amount. Now put all of your herbs and garlic into a bowl.
Add about 3 heaped large big tablespoons of your chosen spread. You also want a small handful of grated Parmesan. Add to bowl and mix til combined. The pictures here are in the wrong order. My care-factor is little, because the order wont really matter, you can put the Parmesan in after you have mixed or before. Go wild.
Take your crusty bread, and slice it on an angle, or straight if you are like that. Cut it as thin or thick as you like. Thicker it will stay a little more soft, thinner it will be toastier. Again personal preference. My husband likes soft, I like crunchy. Take a tablespoon and spread that mix over one side of the bread. You want to cover the bread right to the edges, and it needs to be a thick enough layer to soak right in.
Do you have left over spread? No worries! Take some glad wrap (or cling film) and cut off a sheet, and then double it over. Spoon the remaining mixture into the middle, and roll it up like a cigar. Take the ends and twist until it is nice and tight. You should be able to at least cross both ends over each other in the middle. This can be frozen or put in the fridge for the next batch of garlic bread or used on baked mushrooms.
Place your prepared breads into a lined baking sheet. If you are like me, you will take the two end pieces of the bread, smear them in a very thin layer of the raw spread and eat it as is. But you do have to be a freak and really really like garlic even when raw.
Bake the bread in a hot oven (200C) until the bottom is toasty and the spread has melted to your preference. Remember that the garlic is raw so you will want to make sure it is cooked long enough. I find that the edges of the top go a little brown too. Serve as soon as possible, with a nice big bowl of pasta or something else appropriate. Here I am serving it with pasta Arrabiata.
Enjoy.