Tiny Croutons Recipes

CROUTONS

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
• Remove crusts from stale bread slices. Brush bread on both sides with melted butter. Cut bread slices up into small cubes. Sprinkle with garlic salt (if desired). Arrange cubes on an ungreased cookie sheet.
• Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 15 minutes or until browned. Let cool. Store croutons in a covered container or plastic bag. Serve in soups or salads.

BEST CROUTONS EVER

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil.
• Melt butter in a pot over medium heat.
• Cut each bread slice into 16 cubes; add bread cubes and garlic powder to melted butter. Stir to coat. Transfer coated bread cubes to the prepared baking sheet.
• Bake in the preheated oven until crispy, 8 to 10 minutes.

CROUTONS

Steps:

• Heat the olive oil in a large (10-inch) saute pan until hot. Add the bread and cook over medium heat, tossing frequently, until the bread is evenly toasted and browned. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.

TINY CROUTONS

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cut bread into 1/4-inch cubes. Toss with butter on a rimmed baking sheet. Toast in oven, tossing once, until pale golden, 9 to 10 minutes. Croutonscan be stored in an airtight container at room temperature up to 3 days.

TORN CROUTONS

Steps:

• Heat oven to 400 degrees. For more teeth-friendly croutons, remove the crusts from the bread, then cut the loaf into inch-thick slices. Cut each slice into inch-wide strips. Working over a large bowl, tear each strip into inch-size pieces. Alternatively, you can tear croutons directly off the loaf, as long as you get somewhat evenly sized pieces.
• Toss croutons with olive oil to coat them evenly, then spread them out in a single layer on a baking sheet. Use a second sheet as needed to prevent crowding, which will entrap steam and keep the croutons from browning.
• Toast croutons for about 18 to 22 minutes, checking them after 8 minutes. Rotate the pans, switch their oven positions, and use a metal spatula to turn and rotate the croutons so that they brown evenly. Once they begin to brown, check them every few minutes, continuing to turn and rotate. Some croutons might be done when others still need a few more minutes of baking, so remove them from the tray and let the rest finish cooking. Bake the croutons until they're golden brown and crunchy on the outside, with just a tiny bit of chew on the inside.
• Taste a crouton and adjust the seasoning with a light sprinkling of salt if needed. Let croutons cool in a single layer on the baking sheet. Use immediately or keep in an airtight container for up to 2 days. To refresh stale croutons, bake for 3 to 4 minutes at 400 degrees.

HOMEMADE CROUTONS

Steps:

• Heat the oven to 220C/200C fan/gas 7. Rub the whole garlic clove over both sides of the sourdough. Tear it into rough chunks and toss with the oil, a good pinch of salt and the seeds.
• Spread out on a baking sheet and bake for 8-10 mins until golden and crisp. Mix with the chopped parsley. Sprinkle on soup or a salad for added crunch.

TINY-DICE CAPONATA ON PARMESAN CROUTONS

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. In a large skillet, over high heat, heat 3 tablespoons oil. Add the eggplant and cook, stirring, until well browned and soft, about 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Transfer to medium bowl. Wipe out the skillet, return to the heat and heat 1 tablespoon oil. Add the bell peppers and cook, stirring occasionally, until soft, about 3 minutes. Season with salt and pepper and transfer to the bowl. Wipe out the skillet, return to the heat and add 1 tablespoon oil. Add the onion and cook, stirring, until browned and soft, about 1 minute. Season with salt and pepper and transfer to the bowl. Wipe out the skillet, return to the heat and add 1 tablespoon oil. Add the garlic and cook, stirring frequently, until fragrant, about 45 seconds. Transfer to the bowl. Stir in the raisins and capers. Set the mixture aside.
• In a large bowl, toss the bread slices with the remaining 1 tablespoon olive oil and season with salt. Arrange the slices on a baking sheet, sprinkle with the cheese and bake until golden brown, about 3 minutes.
• Place a dollop of the eggplant mixture on each crouton, garnish with basil and serve.

LONG-ROASTED EGGPLANT WITH GARLIC, LABNE, AND TINY CHILE CROUTONS

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 425°F.
• Using a small paring knife, make a few ½-inch slits into the cut side of each eggplant. (You can do this lengthwise, crosswise, or even diagonally. Knock yourself out with your decorative prowess!)
• Place the eggplant cut side up on a rimmed baking sheet and drizzle with ½ cup olive oil, distributing as evenly as possible. Season with salt and pepper and turn over so that the eggplant is cut side down.
• Place in the oven and roast, without moving or disturbing, until eggplant is completely tender, cooked through, and golden brown on the bottom (since the skin is already so dark, it can be hard to tell, but the skin will look shriveled and, when poked, the whole thing should feel tender, on the verge of collapse; you can also use a spatula to lift up the eggplant to check the underside for color), 40 to 45 minutes.
• Meanwhile, heat the remaining ¼ cup olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the garlic and chile and cook, shaking the skillet occasionally, until the garlic and chile are frizzled and fragrant (but not yet browned), 1 or 2 minutes. Add the bread and season with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring frequently, until the bread is evenly toasted and golden brown, 3 to 5 minutes. Remove from the heat and set aside.
• Combine the labne, preserved lemon, and 1 tablespoon lemon juice in a small bowl; season with salt, pepper, and more lemon juice, if you like. Smear it onto the bottom of a large serving platter or in a shallow bowl.
• Once the eggplant is good and ready to go, use a fish spatula (or regular spatula) to lift up each eggplant half in one fell swoop, preserving its lovely golden underside. Place the eggplant, cut side up, on top of the seasoned labne. Scatter with the crispy croutons and herbs before serving.
• Do Ahead
• Eggplant can be roasted a few hours ahead, then kept loosely covered at room temperature (no need to reheat- it's excellent at room temperature). The labne can be seasoned a week ahead, covered tightly, and refrigerated. The croutons can be made 2 days ahead, kept covered tightly at room temperature.

CROUTONS

Steps:

• For a quick bite to eat, or when a few guests are about to arrive and I want to have a little something ready, a crouton is the first thing I think of. Croutons, croutes, crostini, toast, and bruschetta are all names for variously sized pieces of bread, usually toasted or grilled, sometimes dried out in the oven, sometimes fried. A bruschetta is a thick piece of bread that is grilled over an open fire, or toasted, and rubbed with garlic and drizzled with olive oil, to be served either as is or piled high with juicy tomatoes and basil. Croutons, crostini, and toasts usually refer to thin slices of bread, but croutons can also be small pieces of bread cut into cubes or torn in irregular pieces and either toasted or fried in butter or olive oil and used to garnish a soup or a salad.
• Any good-quality bread will make a good crouton. A thick slice of a big round, country-style loaf grilled and drizzled with green olive oil makes a distinctly different crouton than a thin triangular toasted slice of dense white bread with its crusts cut off, brushed with melted butter, and one point dipped in chopped parsley before serving. The croutons I make most often are sliced from a big round loaf of levain bread. They're usually not uniform sizes and I always oil them after toasting, just after I've rubbed some garlic on them.
• Roughly torn pieces of bread (what's sometimes called pulled bread), toasted in the oven and tossed in oil, make good croutons for a salad.
• Baguettes are handy for croutons because they can be easily sliced into regular rounds or cut on the diagonal into long ovals, which are good for dipping into fava bean purée or tapenade.
• For croutons that are more evenly browned and crunchier and that have a more fried taste, oil or butter the bread slices before you cook them. Small croutons can be tossed in a bowl with oil or melted butter before going into the oven. Place larger, flat croutons in a single layer on a baking sheet, brush with oil or butter, and bake at 350°F until they just start to turn golden at the edges. Keep an eye on them; the timing will vary greatly, depending on the kind of bread used, how dry it is, and how thick it's cut. For a tasty garnish to a soup or salad, toss croutons hot out of the oven with chopped garlic and herbs.
• Fry little cubed croutons in butter to strew atop a delicate puréed soup. Use enough butter to coat the pan generously, adding more as it is absorbed by the croutons, stirring or tossing frequently over medium heat until the croutons are golden brown.
• To grill slices of bread, place them on the grill rack over a bed of medium-hot coals for a minute or two on each side. The bread should have nice charred marks from the grill and be golden brown here and there. I rub the slices with a clove of garlic and drizzle olive oil over the bread after it's grilled.
• Croutons taste best when they are made fresh, but the bread can be cut in advance. Wrap the bread slices in a kitchen towel to keep them from drying out (croutons tend to warp and curl up if left uncovered). When ready to serve, the bread can be quickly laid out and toasted.