Tuesday, June 26, 2012

Doin' a Hugh

A few weeks ago I was watching a River Cottage episode where Hugh made three dishes using his own breadcrumbs as the base. He saves all of his bread offcuts and whizzes these up when he has enough to fill a jar with crumbs.

In the quest of make as much as possible from scratch, I started saving all of the loaf ends, little-too-dry slices and not-properly-risen rolls and fill a bag in the freezer. This is incredibly simple, and really a no-brainer, but I had never got myself organised enough to collect these leftovers.


After thawing out the contents of the bag and breaking it into pieces, these were laid out on a tray and placed into the oven to dry out. It is really important that these are completely dry otherwise mould could start growing. The crunchy pieces were then whizzed to form the crumb. I quite like the coarser texture rather than a powder. There is now a jar sitting in the cupboard ready to be used, and I know exactly what is in there.


On a  chilly Sunday, in between sewing, I threw together some (home-grown) spinach and feta rolls for lunch.


A handful of spinach, feta, cheddar, breadcrumbs and an egg were mixed to make the filling.


Just a a reminder about the giveaway for the bread bag. I have changed the comments so anyone can comment, so even if you don't have a google account, head on over and leave a comment. Just make sure to leave your name and a way for me to get in touch in case you win. Remember that I will send this anywhere in the world.

Take care

8 comments:

  1. Such a great idea to save all the left over, dry ends of bread.
    Is River Cottage at all like the Gourmet Farmer series on SBS? I've heard about it but am yet to watch an episode; and the books must be popular as they always seem to be out on loan at the library.
    x

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Zara. I think River Cottage and Gourmet Farmer are very similar.They both seem to believe in eating locally and seasonally. I think of Matthew Evans as the Aussie Hugh. I have quite a few of the River Cottage books but Veg Everyday is the one that I get the most use of.
      x

      Delete
  2. I love the sound of your spinach and feta rolls! I keep all my crusts and offcuts for breadcrumbs too, but I whizz them while frozen and then store them in the freezer. Hugh's/Your way is probably a bit nicer though.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The rolls were demolished pretty quickly.
      It is amazing how often there are little bits of bread that are no good for eating 'as is' but are perfect for breadcrumbs. If you are going to keep them dry rather than frozen, make sure these dry out completely.
      : )

      Delete
  3. Those rolls look delicious! I like to make my own breadcrumbs but my little food processor attachment has fallen apart so I now have to chop them by hand.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. They were so delicious.
      That's bad news about the food processor. I remember that I used to make them by putting the dried bread in a bag and rolling over it with a rolling pin, just like with biscuits for a cheesecake. Mmmm... cheesecake. Now there's something I haven't made in a while.

      Delete
  4. So much activity here. Your Plastic Free July is inspiring and all of the cooking you manage to squeeze into your week... very admirable. x

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Looks can be deceiving. Last night dinner wouldn't have been too inspiring.
      Hope you are enjoying your blogging break. The photos are lovely. x

      Delete

Thanks so much for dropping by. I really appreciate any comments you have to make.

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...