In Good Taste: Bread and cheese
The Italian proverb “We are as intimate as bread and cheese” conjures up a marriage made in heaven, for I truly believe some of us could live on bread and cheese alone.
I’m talking rustic wholemeal or sourdough bread here, bread that has no relation to the pappy white stuff you buy in a bag. No, the bread I’m talking about looks as old as fire and as tasty as the warm aromas promise. I ask for mine well cooked (ben cotto, the Italians would say) with a dark crust. And it is the Italians who have invented 101 things to do with leftover bread, a food so enjoyed at every meal. The story about having to pick up breadcrumbs with your eyelashes in hell, should you waste bread while alive, is enough to inspire wondrous dishes using the very last crumb.
Originating in the “poor kitchen” when food of any kind was scarce, the use of leftover bread was a necessity. These recipes continue today, however, simply because they taste good. A rustic farmhouse recipe called “frittata di pane” is literally that. Fill a frying pan with stale bread. Drizzle with a good olive oil and pour over four eggs beaten with one cup of milk and some salt and pepper. Sprinkle with some grated cheese and cook until just set. Serve it with some garden greens and you have a simple yet tasty meal. The American version of this dish is called “strata” and is basically a savoury bread-and-butter pudding. A great way to use up odds and ends in the fridge (salami, bacon, olives, corn, blue cheese, etc), and frugal and delicious, it makes a perfect Sunday night dinner.
Julie Le Clerc’s Mushroom and Feta strata
A little butter
6 thick slices of stale rustic bread (sourdough or wholemeal), torn into even-sized chunks the size of a cherry tomato
100g feta, crumbled
4 field mushrooms, sliced
4 large eggs
1½ cups of milk
¼ cup of cream
2 tablespoons of chopped parsley
Salt and pepper
Begin by buttering a baking dish (or use four individual dishes). Arrange the bread, feta and mushrooms in layers to fill the dishes snugly. Beat the eggs, milk and cream together, add the parsley and season well. Pour the liquid over the bread and leave to rest for 30 minutes, or overnight, until the bread has soaked up the liquid and is moist and soft. Bake in a 160°C oven for about 25 minutes or until lightly puffy and the custard is just set. Serve immediately with a green salad.
Another dish the Italians have introduced in all its frugal, delicious glory is their tomato and bread salad. Only attempt to make this with a crusty loaf of bread that you have carried home wrapped in brown paper. The epitome of summer, this is perfect picnic fare and it comes in many variations. Serve with a jug of spritzy red wine and eat in the sun with a group of friends….ahhh!
The traditionalists keep this salad simple and use only the very best ingredients. As tomatoes aren’t in season right now, this excerpt from a favourite book called Bean Eaters and Bread Soup (Lori De Mori and Jason Lowe) seems especially poignant:
“People will put anything into a panzanella these days,” [Tamara said] whacking half a loaf of stale bread into pieces and soaking them in cold water until they come back to life—sodden, but springy and textured as wet sponges. Capperi, tonno, olive… (Capers, tuna, olives.) She wrung the lumpish pieces out in handfuls, crumbling them into a bowl along with slivers of red onion and a handful of basil leaves torn into pieces. She approves of the addition of tomato and cucumber, but not today. “With bread this good, basil and onions are enough.” She dressed the salad with olive oil and wine vinegar and tossed it with her hands.
For a recipe to save for the perfect summer’s day when tomatoes taste like they should and the sun is warm on your skin, here is Patricia Wells’ very good version of the Tuscan salad called “panzanella”.
Tomato and bread salad
250g stale country bread, torn into pieces
700g ripe tomatoes, cored and coarsely chopped
1 red onion, thinly sliced
½ cucumber, peeled and cut into cubes
2 stalks of celery, sliced
A good handful of fresh basil leaves, torn
3 cloves of garlic, crushed
A handful of black olives
2 tablespoons of best-quality red wine vinegar
4 tablespoons of best-quality olive oil
Sea salt and pepper
Place the torn bread into a large bowl. Add the tomatoes, onion, cucumber, celery and basil, and toss gently to blend.
Sprinkle with the vinegar and sea salt and grind on some pepper. Drizzle with the olive oil and toss again. Set aside (for the flavours to combine and for the bread to soften) for 30 minutes. Serve with a selection of cured meats and a wedge of cheese.
Another idea for leftover stale bread is of course to pound it into breadcrumbs. These can then be sautéed in some garlicky olive oil until golden and sprinkled over pasta dishes with a good handful of grated Parmesan. If the bread is torn roughly and fried in the same garlicky oil until it becomes golden, rustic croutons, they are wonderful sprinkled over a green salad, adding extra taste and texture. Breadcrumbs are also used greatly in bulking up more expensive meat meals. Added to meatballs or in a stuffing for eggplant, they need to be well seasoned with salt and pepper and a good dollop of garlic and chopped fresh herbs. So buy the best and use every crumb. Good bread IS the staff of life.
Fiona Feasey
