Cherry Bombs!
(Dough-Wrapped Cherry Tomatoes with Basil & Mozzarella)
Take 4 simple ingredients and 1 simple idea and make a whole batch of explosively- delicious snacks! Sounds like a pretty good deal, right?
I made some rather scrumptious bread-rolls, with a mozzarella and basil stuffed tomato in the middle of them in the Summer... and whilst I was telling some colleagues about them today, I thought to myself... "why not make some little snack-sized ones with cherry tomatoes in the middle?"... and why ever not indeed !!?!
Bigger is not always better- neither is complicated! It's always the simple, little things in life that are the best- and here is a perfect example of how true that little claim is!
Using just 1 roll of pre-made pizza dough, 1 ball of mozzarella and a handful of basil leaves, I transformed 14 little cherry tomatoes into these great little, mini rolls... and made a bowl full of little salted bread snacks with the left-overs!
Just 2 delicious bites to each roll- both packed with the fantastic "Caprese" flavor of tomato, basil and mozzarella- I can't think of many small snacks that can beat this! And they're so adorably cute too!
To make them, cut the tomatoes in half, leaving the stalk-end still slightly connected if possible- they will end up being easier to fill and close if you can manage to let the two halves fall apart. Then, empty out the seeds using one of those little melon-scoops- perfect for this job!
Next, put a piece of basil leaf into each half, sprinkle generously with salt and pepper and add literally just 2 drops of olive oil to each. Don't add too much oil, as it will make things too moist and simply ooze back out.
Once all sides of the tomatoes are filled with basil, oil, salt and pepper, add a chunk of mozzarella to one side of each tomato.
Cut your dough into squares large enough for your tomatoes- it all depends on the size of your cherry tomatoes of course how big a square of dough you will need.
Then, simply fold the dough shut around the tomato and pinch the ends together tightly.
Cut off the ends of the dough using a sharp knife and turn them over with the cut surface facing downwards- and there you have a smooth and perfect little roll, ready to bake!
Rather than throw away the remaining dough, I simply pinched it into little balls that I tossed in my frying pan until they got nice and roasted. Waste not- want not!
Set the cherry-tomato rolls out onto a frying pan and pop them onto the stove top at a high temperature for 3-4 minutes, then transfer the pan to a preheated oven, at 200°C to bake for 10-15 minutes until they become golden brown.
Some of the mozzarella may seep out during baking, but using your fire-proof hands, (or mittens)- or simply a wooden spoon, transfer them to a rack to cool off whilst they are still hot and you will have no problems at all.
Just look at those little beauties!
I dry- toasted the left-over bits until they were brown and THEN added a little olive oil, then tossed them around with a good sprinkle of salt... why waste those left-over bits?
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