Toasted Bread Sauce Recipes

Steps:

• In a toaster or under a grill, toast the bread slices on both sides until dark brown. Leave to cool, then pulse in a food processor to make rough crumbs.
• Heat half the butter in a saucepan and cook the onion gently for about 10 mins until just starting to brown and turn sticky. Add the bay leaf and thyme, and pour over the milk. Mix in the spices and season with a sprinkling of salt and pepper. Bring to the boil and simmer gently for 5 mins.
• Remove the herbs, then stir in all but a handful of the crumbs and cook over a low heat, simmering gently, until thickened. For a very smooth sauce, blitz with a hand blender in the pan. Can be chilled for up to 2 days or frozen for up to 2 months, then reheated to serve.
• While the sauce simmers, melt the remaining butter in a small frying pan and cook until sizzling and nut-brown. Throw in the remaining crumbs and cook in the butter until really crisp, then turn off the heat.
• Add the cream to the sauce and heat for a few mins more, then tip into a serving dish. Spoon over the crisp crumbs and any remaining nutty butter to serve.

Steps:

• Simmer the milk, butter, onion, cloves, peppercorns, garlic and herbs in a pan for 20 mins. Strain and return the liquid to the pan. Add the breadcrumbs and simmer for 3-4 mins. Stir in the cream or mascarpone. Add nutmeg, season and serve. Can be made up to 3 days in advance and heated up on the hob or microwave on Medium for 3 mins.

Steps:

• Butterfly shrimp and place in a mixing bowl. Add cayenne, paprika, and garlic and stir until shrimp are evenly coated. Refrigerate until needed.
• Trim most of the crusts off of the bread.
• Add 4 tablespoons melted butter to a skillet over medium heat. Add both slices of bread and toast until golden brown, 3 to 4 minutes per side. Remove bread to a plate and wipe out any crumbs.
• Add remaining melted butter to the skillet and increase heat to high. When the pan is very hot and you see the first wisp of smoke, add shrimp and use tongs to spread into an even layer. Sear, without stirring or tossing, for 1 minute.
• Sprinkle with lemon zest and add lemon juice and cream. Stir with a spoon to scrape any browned bits off the bottom. Let cream boil and reduce for 1 ½ to 2 minutes as the shrimp finishes cooking and the sauce thickens up.
• Turn off the heat and stir in parsley. Taste and add salt if needed.
• Divide shrimp and sauce evenly over each piece of toasted bread.

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Grease a 2-quart baking dish.
• In a mixing bowl, whisk 3 eggs, white sugar, 2 tablespoons of light brown sugar, 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon, 1/4 cup of butter, and 3 cups of whole milk together, and gently stir in the bread cubes and raisins. Lightly spoon the mixture into the prepared baking dish.
• Bake in the preheated oven until browned and set in the middle, 50 to 55 minutes; cover the dish with foil after 30 minutes to prevent excessive browning. Let the pudding stand for 10 minutes before serving.
• For vanilla sauce, whisk 1/2 cup of light brown sugar, the flour, a pinch of cinnamon, 1 egg, 2 tablespoons of melted butter, 1 1/4 cups of whole milk,and salt together in a heavy saucepan until smooth. Heat over medium heat, whisking constantly, until thickened and the sauce coats the back of a spoon, 10 to 12 minutes. Stir in the vanilla extract. Pour sauce over warm bread pudding, or serve on the side in a bowl.

Steps:

• Pop the onion in a pan with the milk, cream, peppercorns and bay leaves. Bring to a simmer, then turn off the heat and leave to infuse for 30 mins. Pour the milk through a sieve into a jug, then return it to a cleaned pan.
• Stir in the breadcrumbs, bring back to the simmer and cook for a few mins (add a splash more milk if you like your sauce thinner). Stir in the butter, season with salt, white pepper and nutmeg, then pour into a warm serving jug or bowl. Or leave to cool and chill or freeze for up to 1 month until needed.

Steps:

• Toast the bread crumbs in a small skillet (see page 93), tossing and stirring them, until they start to color. When they are almost completely browned, drop in 2 tablespoons of butter. Take the pan off the heat, and swirl it to melt the butter and stop the crumbs from darkening further.
• Melt the remaining butter in a big skillet over medium heat; grind pepper in generously.
• Ladle in 1 cup hot pasta water and cook actively for a couple of minutes, reducing the sauce slightly. Keep at low simmer until the pasta is ready.
• Toss cooked pasta and sauce together in the skillet. Off the heat, toss in the cheese and sprinkle the toasted bread crumbs on top of the pasta, just before serving.
• Follow the recipe for Toasted Bread Crumb and Butter Sauce above, but substitute 2 tablespoons poppy seeds for the crumbs. Toast them in the dry pan until they are fragrant, reserve some for topping if you like, then add the butter and swirl them together.
• Toss cooked pasta and sauce together in the skillet. Off the heat, toss in grated cheese and sprinkle the reserved toasted poppy seeds on top, just before serving. This sauce is especially good with Ricotta Ravioli.
• Egg pasta-tagliatelle
• Cornmeal pasta
• Ricotta Ravioli (page 181)
• Potato, Leek, and Bacon Ravioli (page 186)
• A simple pasta such as rigatoni or linguine