Blooming Onion Bread - Appetizer (Updated 8/21/12)

Image via "The Girl Who Ate Everything"

My sister-in-law turned us onto this little appetizer she discovered via Pintrest. (It seems any and everything comes from there now haha!) Thought I would share it with my readers for a different and easy app to prepare for a small gathering (~ 6-10 people depending on the size of the loaf). As far I could dig, the original recipe comes from ChangableTable.com. The above image is from The Girl who Ate Everything.com (My Recipe is below)

As we have made this a few times, I have made some very slight modifications to the recipe to get the maximum benefit from the ingredients. Instead of combining the onions, and poppy seeds into the melted butter and pouring it over, I separate it. Combining it and pouring it onto the loaf leaves you with clumps of onion and poppy seeds. If you do it separate as I've listed, you get a much better distribution of flavor. This will prevent your guest from having a bite of just onions or poppy seeds! You can see the original recipes in their entirety on the blogs I listed above.

Update: 8/21/12 - Made this great dish once again this weekend. Added a pinch of granulated sea salt with a sprinkle of fresh ground black pepper. The little bit of salt really put this over the top! I highly recommend adding it!

Ingredients:

1 - unsliced loaf (round is preferable) sourdough bread (We get ours at Publix)

1/2  to 1 lb block of Monterey Jack cheese, thinly sliced (or any cheese you desire)

1/2  C butter, melted

1/2 C finely diced green onion, with tops

2-3 tsp poppy seeds

Tin Foil, enough to cover the entire loaf. (You can use two pieces)
*Optional Sea Salt / Kosher Salt - Just a small pinch

Directions:

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.  
2. Cut the bread both lengthwise and widthwise like a 1 inch cube - DON'T CUT  THROUGH THE BOTTOM OF THE CRUST!  
3. Place cut loaf on a foil-lined baking sheet.  
4. Insert cheese between cuts.  
5. Sprinkle on the finely diced green onion.
6. Pour the melted butter over the loaf.
7. Sprinkle with poppy seeds and *Sea salt .
8. Wrap foil over stuffed loaf.
9. Place in oven and bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes.  
10. Unwrap.  Bake 10 more minutes, or until cheese is melted.
11. Serve warm as a finger food / appetizer 

Image via ChangeableTable.com

Cut the bread both lengthwise and widthwise like a 1 inch cube

Insert cheese between cuts

sprinkle on the finely diced green onion

Wrap foil over stuffed loaf and bake for 15 minutes covered

Unwrap.  Bake 10 more minutes, or until cheese is melted

Serve warm!