Crostini con Mozzarella e Alici
Instructions:
- These hot skewers of toasted bread and good fresh mozzarella, drenched in a rich anchovy sauce, are very popular in Rome. We serve the dish as a serious antipasto(it is not light)or as a lunch dish accompanied perhaps only by a salad
- 2/3 pound fresh mozzarella cheese (300 g)
- 4 slices of Italian bread, sliced 1/2 inch thick
- Salt and freshly ground
- black pepper
- 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted (90 g)
- 5 anchovy fillets
- 1/3 cup hot milk (80 ml)
- Preheat the oven to 375 F (190 C).
- Slice the mozzarella about 3/8 inch thick and cut the slices into 1 1/2-inch squares. Remove the crusts from the bread and cut the slices into squares just a little larger than the cheese.
- Season the mozzarella lightly with salt and pepper. Beginning and ending with a square of bread, thread the bread and cheese onto 4 thin metal skewers, pressing the cheese so that it adheres to the bread. Paint with half the melted butter.
- Suspend the skewers in a baking dish and bake for about 20 minutes, or until light brown.
- In a small saucepan, dissolve the anchovies in the remaining melted butter over low heat, mashing them with a wooden spoon. Stir in the hot milk.
- When the crostini are done, transfer the skewers to 4 plates and drizzle the anchovy sauce over them. Serve at once.