Guest Post by: Katy Rost in Virginia
Homemade Croutons
Imagine if you will a salad with your favorite
toppings, dressed with your favorite dressing. The only improvement you could
make would be to throw in a handful of crunchy, perfectly-flavored croutons.
Now, do not wrinkle your foodie nose at that
idea! I am not referring to the dry and dusty cubes they put on your salad at
the restaurant - things made long ago in a factory and delivered by the food
service company in a plastic bag - they
are not fit to carry the same name as the delightful croutons we’re about to
make.
If you have leftover bread - perhaps stale;
perhaps from the last recipe you made using your EZ DOH mixer - some good olive
oil, a couple of seasonings, and a toaster oven, you have croutons.
The bonus: they toast while you make your
salad and take ingredients you have on hand. Nothing could be easier or
tastier.
Ingredients
Leftover bread, cubed to the size you feel
like eating
¼ cup (or thereabouts) extra virgin olive oil
Plain or seasoned salt
Flavorings: granulated garlic, herb blends,
etc.
Directions
This isn’t a precise recipe. Making croutons
is a process - the French have a verb for it! So you can vary the type of
bread, the type of oil (butter for extra-rich croutons on top of a soup would
be lovely), and the type of seasonings.
Cube the bread and place in a single layer on
a toaster oven sheet. Drizzle liberally with olive oil and toss a bit to coat.
Season with salt and whatever other flavors
you’d like. My go-to, lightning-fast salad crouton recipe is seasoned salt and
granulated garlic.
