Thing Number Nine - Croutons

I can never get that excited about croutons.  They just don't really do much for me.  Nevertheless, making croutons seems like a legitimate way to use up bread, so I thought I'd give them a go...

Something to go with croutons

On the grounds that it would be a bit odd to eat croutons on their own - and I do end up having to eat this stuff, once it's made, after all - I made a bowl of lettuce and pea soup.  Feel free to skip ahead if your enthusiasm for croutons outpaces mine...

As ever, this is an exercise in using things up; in this case the posh lettuce that's been lurking in the fridge for some time and which I'm going to have to eat sooner or later (and preferably sooner, at this point).  If you've never cooked lettuce, do try it.  It sounds weird, but cooking it brings out a flavour you might not even have known was there.

So.  I sweated a chopped-up red onion in a bit of butter.  (If the lettuce weren't a bit purple, I might have worried about what red onion would do to the colour of the soup, but since it is I was anticipating the end result will be fairly sludgy anyway.)

Add the vaguely-chopped lettuce, and keep stirring it over a gentle heat while it wilts.

Then add some frozen peas.  (Not really sure of the quantity, here.  However many fitted in the lid of my butter dish...)

Also add some stock (in this case, half a chicken stock cube's worth).  Simmer everything gently for ten minutes or so...

...then take it off the heat and blend it.  Since I still had some cream kicking around from the bread-and-butter pudding, I stirred a bit of that in, as well, though it would be fine without.

The croutons

So.  Croutons.  I've decided to treat croutons as being about delivering flavour as well as adding texture, on the grounds that it might make them more interesting...

Chop up some past-its-best bread into cube-ish pieces.  Crusts off, here, I think.

Rub the surface with the cut side of half a clove of garlic (just like with the pan con tomate).

With the bread cubes on a baking tray, drizzle them with some olive oil infused with whatever flavour you want to go with the thing the croutons will end up on top of.  I used basil oil.

Then sprinkle on some grated parmesan and black pepper.

Put the tray under the grill, and watch it like whatever watchy-thing watches best in your house.  (I burned them, and then had to chop bits off and do that side again.)  Once they've browned, turn them over, add a bit more cheese, and brown the other side.

Some very slightly burnt croutons.

The verdict

Well, I'm still not going to rush to make croutons the centre of every meal, but using them to add extra flavours actually works quite well.  You could add all sorts of things to them, really - maybe spicy croutons with chilli oil and coriander seeds, or lemony-sugary ones to go with stewed fruit...

Oh, and this soup works.  Hurrah for soup!