Garlic Bread

How can you eat Italian food without a good piece of garlic bread? Here is a simple way to prepare it. There are two variations; one for toasted bread and the other for a softer version.

1 loaf of French bread or Italian bread
1 stick unsalted butter, softened
2 large cloves garlic, smashed and minced
1 heaping tbsp. fresh chopped parsley
1/4 cup grated parmesian cheese (optional)

TOASTED:
Preheat oven to 350. Cut the bread in half, horizontally. Mix the butter, garlic, and parsley together in a small bowl. Spread butter mixture over the two bread halves. Place on a sturdy baking pan (not a cookie sheet) and heat in the oven, middle rack, for 10 minutes. Remove pan from the oven. Sprinkle parmesian cheese over bread if you want. Return to oven on the highest rack. Broil on high heat
for 2-3 minutes until the edges of the bread begin to toast and the cheese bubbles (if you are using cheese). Watch very carefully while broiling. The bread can easily go from not toasted to burnt!

SOFT:
Preheat oven to 350. Make the butter, garlic, parsley mixture as above. Make 1-inch thick slices into the bread, but do not cut all the way through, just to the bottom crust. Put a teaspoon or two of the butter mixture between each slice. Wrap the bread in aluminum foil and heat for 15 minutes in the oven.