Tag: breadcrumbs

How to Use Up Stale Bread

February 22, 2016February 11, 2017

We all do it. We buy a beautiful loaf of bread to eat with dinner, or to sop in egg custard for breakfast, and then, a few days later it’s looking rather sad. Maybe mildly shriveled, too crusty around the edges. And it doesn’t feel great, knowing that you have half a loaf of kind of inedible bread, knowing how chewy and perfect it was when it was fresh. But it is edible! You just have to have a few stale bread recipes in your back pocket. Here are some of mine:

Make breadcrumbs: Cut the crust off your bread and cut it into chunks, then throw them in the food processor till they’re the right consistency for you. You can either toast them now or throw them in a ziplock back in your fridge – for sooner use – or freezer – for later use. Pull them out later to top your favorite macaroni and cheese (I’m dying to try this one) or this chicken gratin (which I just made and was a big hit).

Ribollita: Stale bread soup may sound odd, but that’s what this is. I love this easy, throw-whatever-you’ve-got-in-the-pot soup. It’s a hearty, delicious meal for colder days.

Croutons: Cube your bread, toss it in some olive oil, and throw it on a sheet pan with a few cloves of smashed garlic and sprigs of thyme. Toast at roughly 350°F for about 8-10 minutes, keeping a close eye on them to avoid burning.

Bread pudding: If you’ve got more of a sweet tooth, cube your bread, soak it in eggs, sugar, milk, and spices, and bake it for an easy, rustic dessert.

Panzanella: A summertime recipe, panzanella is a great way to use up stale bread and the plethora of tomatoes you may have from your garden. Remove crusts and cube your bread, halve or dice your tomatoes, some cucumber, red onion if you want, and add some crumbled feta or ricotta salata. Top with torn basil and a simple balsamic or red wine vinaigrette.

French onion soup: Not only is French onion soup a great way to use stale bread, it’s also a great way to use any chicken or beef or vegetable stock you might have in the freezer. But let’s be honest, the best part of this soup is the cheesy toast floating on top, soaking up all that delicious broth.

Grilled Romaine Salad (with 9 minute eggs)

July 23, 2014February 10, 2017

Moms are cute. My mom especially, is very cute. I’ve told you about her, right? Last weekend Jonah and I went out to Cannon Beach with my mom and her boyfriend and my baby sister and my sister’s girlfriend, and we had a lovely weekend, and then my mom proceeded to send us home with two boxes of food. (Because she’s a mom and that’s what moms do, they give you food.) She tried to give us much more. She was going through the kitchen saying things like “Do you want some cream cheese?” (No.) “How about some romaine hearts?” (Yes.)

We got home around 8:30pm on Saturday, and all I wanted was food. And we had food. Lots of it. Thanks, Mom. I’ve had grilled romaine hearts at restaurants, and figured it can’t be that hard to make, can it? You guys, it was so good. Why have I been waiting this long to grill romaine hearts? It was super easy. The grilling softened and warmed the romaine, but retained some of that famous crunch. The eggs were perfectly cooked, if I do say so myself, the dressing was salty and tangy, and the breadcrumbs brought a great crispiness.

Grilled Romaine Salad

Ingredients

Romaine Salad

1 romaine heart per person
1-2 9-minute eggs per person (details below)
toasted bread crumbs to garnish

Dressing

2 tsp soy sauce
1 tsp fish sauce (optional)
1 Tbl balsamic vinegar
1 Tbl sesame oil
1 Tbl olive oil

Instructions

Romaine Salad

Heat your grill. Slice the romaine hearts in half lengthwise. Brush with oil. Grill until slightly charred and wilted, flipping, and repeating on the other side.

To make 9 minute eggs, bring a small pot of water with a sprinkling of baking soda to a boil. Lower in as many eggs as you are making using a spoon, slotted or otherwise. Boil for 9 minutes, drain, and rinse in cold water to cool. (As far as the eggs to, I have come to rely on this article/image from Bon Appetit as a guide for how long I should cook my eggs.)

Dressing

Make the dressing by combining the ingredients in a jar and shaking until thoroughly combined.

To serve, drizzle the dressing over the romaine hearts, top with sliced 9-minute eggs, and a heavy sprinkling of breadcrumbs. Enjoy.

Fresh Pasta with Pancetta, Leeks, & Breadcrumbs with Porcini Powder

June 26, 2013February 5, 2017

Fresh Pasta with Breadcrumbs, Leeks, and Pancetta // Serious Crust by Annie Fassler

Porcini powder. Porcini powder? Yes. From the farmers market. I was told it was wonderful, and was given a little bag as a gift. But what to do with the stuff, that’s the question. I’m not sure I made the right choice… This pasta dish had so much going on in it that the porcini flavor was hiding. It was hiding behind the sourdough breadcrumbs and butter it had been sprinkled into, and under the pancetta it had been tossed with, and between the fresh pasta noodles it had been swirled around with.

All that being said, this dish was dang good, if I do say so myself. There were a few elements, and it took a few pans to get it all prepped. So no, this is not one of those magical one pot meals. Certainly not.

My dear friend Elsa was staying with us, and my friend Dylan came over for dinner, as well as Elsa’s friend Sarah, so we had help in manning all the pans. Tamar Adler said in The Everlasting Meal that there is value in, when a guest asks “is there anything I can do to help?” being able to say, “yes.” I have found that to be very true.

Think of this recipe as a guideline. Or a lightly painted upon canvas. You can remove, add, flavor, sprinkle, drizzle anything you like. I must say, though, that I used a different pasta recipe this time, and I liked it much better than the one I had been using. There’s something to be said for trying something new.

Fresh Pasta with Pancetta, Leeks, & Breadcrumbs with Porcini Powder

Ingredients

Fresh Pasta

2 cups all-purpose flour
3 eggs

Toppings

Olive oil
1 large or 2 small leek(s), sliced and rinsed
1 small white onion, chopped
2-3 cloves garlic, minced
Pancetta – the amount is up to you. I like the pancetta that is thin, almost like prosciutto, though that isn’t what we used here. I think if we’d used the thinner kind, it would’ve clung to the noodles better.
Fresh breadcrumbs
Butter
Porcini powder
Salt and pepper

Instructions

Fresh Pasta

To make the pasta, pulse the flour alone in a food processor a few times. In a bowl, beat the eggs and then add them to flour, and process until the dough forms a ball. If your dough is dry and looks like little pea sized pieces of dough, you can add water 1/2 tsp at a time. If it sticks to the bowl of the processor, add flour 1 Tbl at a time. When the dough has formed a ball, turn it out onto a floured work surface and knead for 1-2 minutes. Wrap the dough in saran wrap and set it aside for up to 2 hours to relax (at least 15 minutes). Then roll out the pasta as you usually do and cut it as you normally would.

Toppings

In a pan over medium (or medium low), cook your pancetta, then set aside on a plate with a paper towel on it. Once the pancetta is removed, you can use that same pan to sautée the leeks, onion, and garlic, seasoning lightly with salt and pepper. You may want to add a drizzle of olive oil to the pan to help keep things from sticking. But then again, maybe you won’t.

In another pan, melt some butter, then add the breadcrumbs and as much porcini powder as you feel like adding. Toast the breadcrumbs on low heat, stirring frequently to prevent burning.

As things are moving along, get out a big pot, fill it with water and a healthy serving of salt, and bring to a boil. Add the pasta (I like to cook fresh pasta in batches, as it makes it less likely to stick together). If you’re cooking fresh pasta, it really only needs to cook for a few minutes. I like to remove it when all the noodles are floating. Do you have a better method? I’d like to know it. If you’re cooking your pasta in batches, you can remove it with tongs into a colander to keep the water boiling on your stovetop.

Strain the pasta, put it in a bowl, and toss with all the various bits and pieces. Enjoy with a glass of buttery, nutty white wine and friends, around a table, on a sunny evening.