Chile Cheese Ciabatta Toast is one of those super simple, throw together appetizers that is fabulous and elegant – I’ll be making it again and again. It only uses three ingredients, but the secret is the quality that you buy to start with. Fortunately, great ciabatta is easy to find.
I happened to bring home a loaf of ciabatta from Lucky. Didn’t expect anything special, but it was very good – full, well-rounded flavor and it had that rustic texture with big holes in it. I instantly knew I was going to use it in at least one recipe. I happened to also have some very interesting cheeses from Trader Joes. In the photo, I used their Blueberry Vanilla Chevre. Boy, was that good. I also used the Trader Joe’s Dutch Smoked Pasterized Process Cheese; it has a great smokey flavor and melts well. Another that was great was Trader Joe’s White Stilton Cheese with Apricots (not in photo). There are probably a dozen cheeses at Trader Joe’s that make this appetizer special. Of course, cheddar is also good, but doesn’t have that distinctive flair that makes this a stand-out appetizer.
I toasted the ciabatta as I like it to have some crunch, but I also had some leftover that I wrapped up and ate the next day. Of course, it was cold and soft instead of crunchy; but it was actually quite good as a leftover too.
If you have company coming over and have these basic ingredients, you can throw this together in about 15 minutes. It’s a great appetizer for a party. Try experimenting with different cheeses – you can’t really go wrong here.
Hope you enjoy this one!
- 1 loaf ciabatta
- 16 oz gourmet cheese (smoked gouda, fruited chevre, etc)
- 2 cups diced green chiles
- Slice ciabatta into about ½ inch slices. Toast till lightly browned.
- Microwave cheese on defrost for a minute or so for easy spreading. Spread a layer of cheese about ¼ inch thick on each slice of ciabatta.
- Top each slice with a layer of diced green chiles.
- Serve and enjoy!
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