Bagel Spice Tomatoes

I’ve been known to become a little overzealous when it comes to things. Like the time I wanted to learn how to make Italian food and that was all we ate for 3 months. Or the time I cooked through an entire Campbells soup cookbook because I wanted to learn about soup.

My current obsession is Bagel Spice Seasoning. You may have heard of it because it has been around for a while but I only recently got on the bandwagon and I may never hop off. It is delicious and I am putting it on so many things. I am already on my second bottle.

Enter the Bagel Spice Tomatoes. This is a vegetarian appetizer that comes together in minutes, is simple to prepare and everyone will love. You need to make this!

Let’s go to the Chalkboard.

Bagel Spice Tomatoes

Ingredients

There aren’t many ingredients in this appetizer so it’s important to get them right. First, select large tomatoes. They are easier to slice to the right thickness (¼”) and will give you more surface area than Roma tomatoes.

Now on to the Bagel Spice seasoning. Oh, how I love thee! When purchasing, try to find one that is sodium-free. Note that, unfortunately, the Trader Joe’s version has salt. The parmesan cheese will provide plenty of saltiness. I like this one from Amazon. If you don’t want to purchase it, you can make your own with equal parts sesame seeds, onion flakes, poppy seeds, and dried garlic flakes. You will want to use this seasoning over and over again. I love it in tuna and egg salads, sprinkled on hummus, as a coating for chicken, and even sprinkled on pretzels, just to name a few. It’s delicious!

When you are shopping you will probably see a ton of parmesan cheeses. It can be overwhelming, I know! When I was first learning to cook a man yelled at me at the cheese counter because I asked if the parmesan was parmesan Reggiano. “All our parmesan is Reggiano, lady!” Well, at that Italian grocer it was, but not all parmesan cheese is made the same. When shopping, look for Parmesan Reggiano cheese. You will see Reggiano stamped on the rind. This ensures it is authentic and produced in Italy. Cheeses labeled only Parmesan are American imitations and frankly, not as good.

When purchasing, buy a block of cheese and grate it yourself. This ensures freshness and, don’t worry, it doesn’t take very long to grate. Various preservatives are added to pre-grated cheese to stop it from clumping and it’s best to avoid them.

This also goes for the mozzarella cheese. While I love fresh mozzarella with tomatoes, it’s really best to use the block cheese for this recipe. The high moisture content of fresh mozzarella makes it harder to melt. Part-skim or whole milk doesn’t matter here as the cooking time is short. The main difference is that the whole–milk version melts better, while part–skim browns faster. 

Lastly, use fresh basil if you can find it. Dried is just not the same. Feel free to skip it if you can’t locate fresh.

How to Make Bagel Spice Tomatoes

So we have our ingredients and now it’s time to get this appetizer going. Start by lining a sheet pan with Parchment paper. This will make your cleanup a breeze. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. You can certainly use the toaster oven if you wish you just can’t make as many tomatoes at a time. Next, slice the tomatoes ¼” thick and place on the parchment. Each tomato yielded about 4 slices. I chopped the ends and threw them in a salad.

Next, I sprinkled each tomato slice with about ½ tsp of parmesan cheese. Then I covered that with mozzarella. You are going to want to put more on than you think to really cover the tomato. Pop the tomatoes in the oven and cook for 10 minutes. Halfway through cooking sprinkle bagel spice on them. This will really help the seasoning to adhere. Put them back in the oven for the remainder of the cooking time.

You will know that they are done when the cheese is melted. When out of the oven, sprinkle with chopped basil.  These don’t store very well so they are best eaten right away. Perhaps even before you serve anyone else. I won’t tell!

So, what do you think? Do you have Bagel Spice? Comment below and let me know your favorite use for it. And if you are looking for another simple appetizer, try our Truffle Popcorn! Warning, you may not be able to stop eating it.

Happy Cooking!