Knife Tips: September 2007 Archives

Most our homies don’t need encouragement to eat their leafy greens, but hey, it happens. For those who don’t get salad (and they are out there, even amongst vegans), there is one and only one cure: excellent croutons. They can turn a plate of salad into a big bowl of tasty bread that happens to have some lettuce mixed in.

Yet there’s an even better reason to start making your own croutons: We all eat bread, buy bread, and either toss out or kinda make ourselves eat the heels shit. Don’t do it! Simply save the end of each loaf, keep it in the fridge for up to 3 weeks, and when you have a heel of rye, a couple pieces of stale French bread, a pair of squaw bread slices and a hamburger bun that’s about to mold just cut ‘em up and dress up right! The crew will never notice.

Gang Crewtons

(makes 2 cups)

8-10 heels of bread (various kinds)
1 cup walnut oil
2 Tbs. olive oil
5 cloves garlic
1/2 red onion
2 sprigs rosemary
2 sprigs thyme
2 Tbs. sea salt
1 Tbs. sage
1 tsp cayenne pepper
black pepper to taste

1. Cut the heels of bread into equal-sized pieces, small, about 2 cm by 2 cm. Throw them in a shallow bowl and cover with walnut oil. Let sit (in sun if preferable) for about 30 minutes to soak up oil.

2. Heat a large skillet on high heat, add olive oil and then sauté the garlic, onion and herbs for about 5 minutes. Turn down to medium and add bread pieces.

3. Stir or toss for about 10 minutes: make sure they don’t burn or brown unevenly. Season half way through and keep tossing. Add more oil if absolutely necessary, and turn down heat if it looks too hot.

4. Remove and set on top of paper towels to blot. Cool for at least one hour before serving. Or save for up to one week.