I've been offering ideas all along, a whole pile of them two weeks ago. But we're at spring cleaning time so here are more tasty hints for how to clean up the kitchen, save money and eat well. Win Win.
I've talked forever about making garlic croutons and the ingenious ways Italians recycle day-old bread as Panzanella (bread salad) and Ribollita (cabbage bread soup recipe given two posts back). I've given a recipe for the equally ingenious Middle Eastern Fattoush, a salad built around yesterday's pita as today's fried bread.
So now let's talk about the finer points of bread recycling: breadcrumbs! All you have to do is blitz your bread in a food processor. You can make coarse or fine crumbs and freeze them until you need them. And you will need them! Here's where: leek fritters (fine), brandade. French style salt cod with mashed potatoes and garlic--yummmmmmmmm....(coarse), carrot cigars with lemon yogurt sauce (in Veggiyana, the Dharma of Cooking), French gateau au chou-fleur (cauliflower presented like a cake) and bread puddings (using crumbs gets you a true pudding as you will see below in both the asparagus and chocolate bread puddings). They also make perfect coating, combined with cornmeal or chickpea flour, for what you want to deep fry to a crunch.
I've posted the wonderful leek fritter and brandade recipes before, but here's Leek Fritters again because everybody loves them and because they're perfect for this inbetween season. They're an easy and tasty vegetarian meal you can serve hot or room temp. More great recipes follow.
Leek Patties
Makes 12, serves 4-6
6 lg leeks, white and light green parts only
1 tbsp fresh chives, minced
1 tbsp fresh dill, minced
2 eggs, beaten
½-2/3 cup dried breadcrumbs
1 tsp coarse sea salt
½ tsp freshly ground black pepper
2 tbsp corn or canola oil for frying
1 lemon
Cut the leeks in half lengthwise and crosswise and rinse to
clean.
Put leeks in a large saucepan, cover with water and bring to
a boil.
Lower heat to simmer and cook uncovered about 25 minutes,
until leeks are soft.
Drain well. Wrap leeks in a heavy towel to squeeze out as
much excess water as possible.
Coarsely chop the leeks. Put in a bowl with the chives, dill, salt
and pepper. Stir in the breadcrumbs. (Enough to take up any remaining moisture
in the leeks.) Blend in the eggs.
Make 8 patties that are about ½ inch thick.
In a large nonstick skillet, heat the oil over medium heat.
Arrange the patties in the pan so they don’t touch (you may have to do this in
two batches) and cook until brown on the bottom side, about 2 minutes. Flip and
cook another 1-2 minutes so both sides are evenly browned. Remove from the pan
and drain on paper towels.
Serve with a squirt of lemon juice and a wedge of lemon.
Optionally sprinkle minced fresh flat leaf parsley on the
plate.
Can be served warm or cold.
****************
Gateau au Chou-fleur
for 6 people
1 large cauliflower
1-2 tbsp vinegar
½ lb fromage blanc or ricotta in a pinch
3 tbsp unsalted butter
2 tbsp flour
3 oz gruyere cheese, grated
¼ cup chopped chives
4 egg yolks
½ tsp ground nutmeg
Salt and pepper to your taste
Butter to grease the baking dish
1/3 cup bread crumbs
Remove the greens and thick stem and separate the
cauliflower florets.
Soak them for 15-20 minutes in a large bowl of water with
the vinegar added to it.
Drain and put the florets into a large pot of salted water.
Cook over medium heat 25 minutes or until cauliflower is soft.
Drain the florets well and finely chop them almost to puree
in a food processor.
Heat oven to 350º.
In a small heavy bottom casserole over medium heat, melt the
butter. Using a wooden spoon or spatula, stir in the flour, stirring fast to
blend it in. Lower heat and cook until the flour/butter roux begins to color
and bubble. Bit by bit stir in the fromage blanc. Immediately remove from the
heat.
Add salt and pepper. Stir in the cauliflower and chives. Add
the gruyere, egg yolks and nutmeg. Stir to blend everything. Return to low heat and cook 2-3 minutes to
warm the mixture.
Butter a soufflé or high-sided baking dish. Fill it with the
cauliflower batter.
Sprinkle breadcrumbs on top with a handful of shredded
parmesan cheese.
Put the baking dish in a larger oven pan and fill that pan
with water halfway up the sides of the baking dish. (A bain-marie). Put in the
oven and bake 20 minutes.
Serve immediately in the baking dish.
*******************
Asparagus Bread Pudding
(from Veggiyana, the Dharma of Cooking)
Serves 8-10
1 tsp olive oil
1 medium leek, cleaned
1 tsp dried thyme leaves
4 tbsp unsalted butter
2 oz Gruyere cheese
1 ½ cups half and half
3 extra large or jumbo eggs,
separated
¼ tsp salt
1/8 tsp freshly ground black pepper
(more to your taste)
2 cups freshly made breadcrumbs
(from 3-4 slices firm white bread ground in a food processor)
1 tbsp freshly grated lemon zest
Preheat oven to 450º.
Cut the bottom inch off the
asparagus stalks and cut the remaining stalks in four equal pieces. Line a shallow roasting dish, or large toaster pan tray with foil and put the
asparagus pieces on it. Coat with olive
oil and a pinch of salt. Roast for 10 minutes at 450. Remove from oven.
Reduce oven heat to 350º. Butter an 8” square baking pan or round cake pan, whatever you have.
Dice the leek. Melt 2 tbsp butter in a small sauté pan over medium heat and add the leek and thyme. Sauté on medium low heat until leeks are soft, 3-5 minutes.
Pour half and half into a small saucepan and bring to a simmer (bubbles at the pot edge). While waiting, put the cheese into a food processor bowl and chop it.
Add the roasted asparagus to the
bowl. With the machine running, pour in the warm half and half. Do not
overprocess. Add the remaining butter and one egg yolk at a time, processing
with the pulse but to to incorporate the three.
Add the leeks from the sauté pan
and salt and pepper. Add the breadcrumbs and quickly process just to
blend.
Beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form. Fold them and the lemon zest into the asparagus mixture. Optionally: sprinkle on top 1/8 tsp smoked paprika and 1/8 tsp ground nutmeg.
Pour into the baking pan. Place the pan in a larger roasting pan and pour into that pan enough water to reach halfway up the sides of the pudding pan.
Bake in the center of the oven at 350 degrees for 40-50 minutes, depending on whether you use convection or not, or until a cake tester comes out clean.
Remove from heat and cool on a rack for 10 minutes. Invert onto a serving platter and serve warm.
****************
TA DA TA DA! And finally to reward you for reading this far, and wanting to clean up waste, here is my most precious, everybody's favorite desert recipe. I have never shared it before, with anyone.Chocolate Bread Pudding
for 12 lucky people
2/3 c sugar
1 c heavy cream
8 oz semisweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
5 eggs, separated
1 stick (1/4 lb) unsalted butter, cut into pieces
1 tbsp vanilla
2 cups fresh breadcrumbs (5-6 slices firm white bread)
Preheat oven to 350º and butter an 8" square or 8"x3" round cake pan.
Bring cream to a simmer in a medium saucepan.
Put chocolate in a food processor and cut it into smaller and smaller pieces while pouring in the hot cream. When mixture is smooth, add 1/3 c sugar and one by one the egg yolks. Add butter and vanilla and process until the mix is very smooth.
Put the breadcrumbs in a large bowl and pour the chocolate mixture in, stirring to blend.
In separate bowl, beat egg whites til soft peaks form. Continue beating in the remaining 2/3 c sugar until peaks stiffen and are glossy.
Slowly combine the egg whites with the chocolate mixture, trying not to loose their fluff. Blend everything well. Pour into buttered pan evenly and level.
Put pan into a larger roasting pan and fill that with water halfway up the side of the pudding pan. Put in center of oven and bake at 350º 45-50 minutes or until pudding is set. (A cake tester should come out clean.) Remove from oven, cool 10 minutes and invert onto your serving platter.
Custard to top your Bread Pudding
6 egg yolks
1/2 c sugar
2 1/2 c milk
1 tsp vanilla
1 tbsp brandy
Combine yolks and 1/3 c sugar in a large bowl and beat until totally blended. Egg color should be lighter.
Combine remaining sugar and milk in a heavy medium saucepan and bring to a boil. Remove from heat and very gradually, in a thin stream, whisk in the egg yolks.
Return to low heat and stir constantly until custard gets thick enough to stick to the back of your spoon. Do not let this boil or it will curdle. Stay low.
Add vanilla and brandy. Remove from heat.
Cool and pour over the bread pudding.
To go all out, top with fresh raspberries!
More Stomachfill next time.
Then Spring Tonics to get you going.
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