Thursday, August 6, 2015

Adventures in homemade bread crumbs and roasting veggies



Most of you know how much I love farmers markets. Going to the one in Montclair is one of the highlights of my weekend because it usually sets my menu for the week.

This year I've noticed one of the market hilights is green tomatoes. A friend once made tried green tomatoes for me last summer and I've been dreaming of then ever since, so I've started eating them as a side dish for lunch. The difference is that I've taken to roasting instead of frying them.

I've done the same with eggplant recently. I bought two eggplants at the farmers market this past Saturday. Yesterday I breaded and roasted one of them to eat with penne arrabiata.

Why roast? Well, for starters, I kind of suck at frying food. I don't know why, but whenever I try to fry something it either burns or doesn't fully cook. Plus, cleanup with roasted vegetables is a little easier. Also, its a little healthier. That all being said, I'd love to try grilling green tomatoes in the near future.

The real trick I've learned with these recipes is that good breadcrumbs are key. This past week I've started making my own from scratch. Its beyond easy to do and I highly recommend doing this with stale bread instead of throwing it out. If you don't have stale bread on hand, all you have to do is toast some bread until it's crispy. Rip the bread into pieces, then chop in a food processor until you have crumbs of equal consistency. Some bread might produce bigger crumbs than other. I recommend using sandwich buns for a finger crumb. Next is seasoning. The seasoning is entirely up to you. For the green tomatoes I used salt, pepper, and cayenne. For the eggplant I used salt, pepper, basil, and oregano. Just be sure not to overseason!

To roast green tomatoes or eggplant, follow these steps:
1. Preheat the oven to 425. Grease a baking tray.
2. Slice the vegetable (you should get 6 slices out of the tomato and 8 out of the eggplant). Prepare two bowls by putting the breadcrumbs in one and an egg whisked with a tablespoon of water in another.
3. Dip each slice of the vegetable in the egg, then the breadcrumbs. Coat evenly and place it on the baking tray.
4. Roast for 10 minutes, then flip each slice over and roast for an additional 10 minutes. Allow to cool before serving.

If you have any other favorite breadcrumb or roasted vegetables recipes, please share!

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