The Food Adventures of Bitsa Bitsa and Rag Rag: Make Your Own... Italian Breadcrumbs!

Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Make Your Own... Italian Breadcrumbs!

A couple of weeks ago Anthony and I made the familiar trek up to Tyler to drop our darling baby off at his grandparents' house.

I think he looks like me.

Because we were going out of town for a week, and because I hate to waste food, I decided use all the leftover bread in our refrigerator to make my mom a little homemade "thank you gift" for taking care of my darling dog. (I also tried to make her some homemade stock like I've posted about before, but I put lime in it and it was horrific. Note to self: do not use lime when making stock). Italian breadcrumbs are so easy and fun to make.

Start by picking an array of herbs from your garden (or supermarket). Here I have rosemary, thyme, oregano, and sage. Put them in a colander and give them a good rinse.

Chop up your herbs and set them aside.

Take your leftover bread and give it a whirl in the food processor until it's all broken up. This time I used plain ole' sandwich bread, but I have also used fancier varieties that produced a lovely result.

Put your bread in a large sauce pan and saute them over low-medium heat with a healthy drizzle of olive oil.

Add your herbs, a handful of grated Parmesan cheese, salt and pepper.

Stir and turn the breadcrumbs until they are all nice and toasty. You want them to be all the way crunchy... because that's how breadcrumbs are supposed to be. Let them get golden brown... to the point where they are almost burned.

Once you achieve that beautiful golden color, turn off the heat and let them cool. Put them in a leftover yogurt tub that you've rinsed out, tie a pretty ribbon around it, and take it to your momma and say THANK YOU!