Mexican Cheese Bread

When I operated a small pub in Cotati, we sold dozens of cheese breads a day. As soon as I added this colorful spicy version to the menu, it became a favorite among customers and was universally reviled by the staff, who hated making it. It’s really not difficult at all, especially if you’re making 4 instead of 40. If you live in Sonoma County, you have easy access to St. George Cheese from Joe Matos Cheese Factory (pictured here), which is perfect in this dish. It can also be made with Monterey Jack, Sonoma Jack, Vella Mezzo Secco, and a variety of other semi-soft cheeses.

Cheese at Joe Matos Cheese Factory
  • Serves 4

Ingredients

  • 4 sourdough French rolls, unsliced
  • 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
  • 8 garlic cloves, minced
  • 3 red bell peppers, roasted, peeled, seeded, and sliced
  • 2 serranos, roasted, peeled, and minced
  • 6 ounces (about 1 1/2 cups) St. George cheese, grated
  • 1 firm-ripe Haas avocado, peeled and sliced lengthwise
  • 1 lime, quartered

Directions

  1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Use a sharp bread knife to make 4 crosswise cuts in each French roll, being careful not to cut all the way through the bread.

  2. Mix together the olive oil and garlic, and use a pastry brush to slather some of the mixture onto each cut in the bread.

  3. Toss the red bell pepper with the roasted serranos and stuff a little of the mixture into each cut of bread, followed by some of the cheese.

  4. . Set the rolls on a sheet pan and bake until the cheese is hot and bubbly, about 12 to 15 minutes.

  5. Remove from the oven, set a slice of avocado in each cut, pressing it into the melted cheese, and serve immediately.

Variations:

  1. For plain cheese bread, use butter instead of olive oil, and omit the peppers, serranos, avocado, and lime. Toss 4 ounces grated Carmody or mozzarella with the jack, and after stuffing the cheese into the bread, top it with minced fresh herbs.
  2. To make cheese bread on a grill, wrap each assembled roll in aluminum foil, and set it on the grill, to the side of the source of heat. Turn once; it will take about 12 minutes for the bread to heat through and the cheese to melt, though time will vary depending on the intensity of the heat.

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