Garlic bread

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January 24, 2026

I'm in Providence this weekend visiting a friend. We had initially planned to go skiing in New Hampshire this weekend, which would have conveniently allowed me to head straight to Bretton Woods on Monday morning for our annual MIT QuARC conference, but this plan got slightly derailed due to the cold weather. So I instead took the Providence/Stoughton commuter rail his way on Satuday morning. I disembarked at Attleboro so we could make a quick grocery run at the nearby Patel Brothers on the way to his house.

For late lunch, we had some leftovers, and he also suggested that we make garlic bread. He talked me through his recipe and I orchestrated, so I wanted to document it for future reference. The final product is depicted at the top of this page.

I first melted half a stick of butter and then added four tablespoons of olive oil, crushed black pepper, salt, chopped parsley, shredded garlic, and grated parmesan. Then I cut two ciabatta rolls into four pieces each and spread the spread across the pieces with a spoon. Finally, we baked them in the toaster oven for a few minutes and then ate them after letting them sit halfway in for a few minutes, as depicted in the picture.

They were quite tasty, and I'd like to make this again in the future. For next time, I'll try to spread the spread a bit more evenly for aesthetics. My friend also suggested that paprika might be a nice flavor addition.