We are living in the time of great bread. Not long ago, all you could find, as far as the eye could see, was white, industrially-made bread that was as soft as cotton and tasted like it.
Nowadays, a quick walk through the Napa Farmers Market introduces you to several wonderful local bread bakers, there is fantastic bread in the Oxbow Market and Model Bakery, and our local supermarkets now carry artisanal bread. Just up the road in Yountville, Bouchon Bakery is world famous and this doesn’t include the millions of loaves fashioned by home bakers sheltering in place.
But, consider the math: two people versus 28 ounces of delicious bread in one loaf. The first day you enjoy it on its own, dipped in some great olive oil. The next day, the bread feels a bit stiff, so you revive it by toasting a few pieces for dinner and paint it with olive oil or melted butter. By the third day, the romance is over and you’re only half way through the loaf.
This is an ancient problem and, of course, given their love of fresh bread, the Italians devised an answer: instead of discarding stale bread, embrace it. Franco Galli, Italian baker and author of “The Il Fornaio Baking Book” devotes an entire chapter to recipes using leftover bread. For Italians, he writes, “Bread was never wasted: it was simply transformed into another wonderful dish.”
Bruschetta
One of the best ways to resuscitate stale bread is grilling it. Born in the olive-producing regions of Italy during winter when olives are pressed to extract their oil, bruschetta was traditionally just bread toasted over an open fire, usually rubbed with a garlic clove and drizzled with new olive oil. It’s only recently that adding toppings like chopped tomatoes tossed with torn basil leaves have become popular. This recipe below is one that you can use year round and not have to wait for just harvested, perfectly ripe tomatoes that some recipes call for.
Bruschetta with cannellini beans and herbs
Ingredients
1 Tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
1 garlic clove, minced
1 teaspoon each of dried oregano and fresh thyme (or use what Mediterranean herbs you have on hand such as fresh rosemary or sage)
Pinch of hot red pepper flakes
2 cups of cooked cannellini beans or 1 15-ounce can of cannellini beans, well drained
½ teaspoon tomato paste (if you have sun dried tomato paste, that’s even better)
Kosher salt
2 Tablespoons minced red onion
4 slices of day-old country bread, cut about ¾ inch thick
Extra-virgin olive oil for finishing
Basil leaves, torn into bite sizes bits
Place the tablespoon of olive oil, garlic, herbs and red pepper flakes in a medium sauté pan. Stir occasionally, cooking over low heat for several minutes. Add the drained beans, tomato paste and a dash of salt. Cook for 5 to 10 minutes while you use your spoon to crush the beans into a coarse puree. If you like your puree smoother, tip ingredients into a food processor or blender and run until smooth. You can always add a little water to help smooth it out.
Grill the bread on both sides (sure, you could use the broiler or iron grill pan on the stove). Use a pastry brush to paint both sides with olive oil.
Spoon the bean puree on the bread and sprinkle on a small hill of minced red onion. Top with a bit more olive oil and minced basil leaves.
Panzanella
I always marvel at how this Tuscan bread salad transforms rock-hard bread into a tasty salad. The name is thought to be a combination of pane — Italian for bread — and zanella, a deep plate in which it was served. By the way, if you’ve visited Tuscany you’ve notice the bread is somehow missing something: Salt. The reigning theory is that salt was taxed too heavily in medieval Florence, so bakers left it out and have never put it back in.
Ingredients
½ loaf of country bread, 3 to 4 days old, cut into 1-inch- thick cubes
½ cup cold water
1 medium cucumber, peeled, seeded and cut into ½ inch cubes
2 garlic cloves, minced
½ cup extra-virgin olive oil
Kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper
2 pounds ripe tomatoes, core removed, seeded, and cut into ½ inch cubes
1 medium red onion, cut into ½ inch dice
½ cup loosely packed fresh basil leaves, torn into small pieces
Place the diced bread in a bowl and sprinkle with the water. Let stand two minutes or so, until everything feels moist (you don’t want it completely saturated: we’ve got vinaigrette for that), then gently squeeze the bread dry. Spread the bread on paper towels to dry.
In a large bowl, whisk together the vinegar, garlic and olive oil to form your vinaigrette. Season with a dash of salt and a few turns of the pepper mill. Add the bread, cucumbers, tomatoes, onions and torn basil. Toss to thoroughly combine and let stand until the bread has absorbed the vinaigrette, about 20 minutes.
Budino di Pane (bread pudding)
This is a favorite of Italians during the winter months using leftover Panettone, the sweet bread originally from Milan, usually enjoyed for Christmas and New Year. Panettone is laced with candied fruit, lemon zest and raisins, so it’s loaded with flavor before you add the custard. This is an easy version that allows you to bake it year round by switching to any kind of stale country bread, plus deleting the soaking all night of the raisins and skipping the separate sauce that some recipes call for. Yes, you could make this dessert during the work week, even if you had a job where you actually had to leave the house.
Serves 4 to 6
Ingredients
2/3 cup raisins
6-8 thick slices day-old contry bread, diced into 1 inch pieces (roughly 4 cups of bread)
2 cups milk
3/4 cup sugar
1 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup rum
1/4 cup Marsala wine (you can substitute this fortified wine with dry Madeira wine or a darker sherry. If not at hand, try port or even red vermouth.)
3 large eggs
2 tablespoons grated orange peel
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
Confectioners sugar
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Butter a rectangular baking dish (I use a 7 ½- by 10 ½-inch-deep baking dish). Sprinkle half the raisins in the bottom of the dish. Layer half the bread pieces over the raisins. Scatter the remaining raisins and top with the rest of the bread.
Combine the milk and sugar in a medium saucepan and simmer until the sugar is dissolved. Remove from the heat and stir in the cream, rum and Marsala wine. Beat the eggs, orange peel and cinnamon together, and then stir into the milk mixture. Slowly pour the liquid over the bread pieces, pressing them down to submerge them in the custard. Let stand 10 minutes.
Place the dish in a large roasting pan and fill it to about one inch deep with hot water. Bake 30 minutes or until a knife inserted in the middle comes clean and the top is golden. Let cool for about 10 minutes and use a small strainer to help you sprinkle the confectioner’s sugar. Just before serving put a small amount of sugar in the strainer, hold the strainer over the dessert and then gently shake until the pudding is evenly covered with a fine layer. Serve warm.
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