I really don’t have a burning desire to upload endless photos of my evening meal, believe me, but when I come across a winner, I can’t help sharing. Discovering Vegetable Crumb, or in this case Broccoli Crumb is one of those exceptions.
Inspired by a wilted broccoli glaring at me from the fridge, and a few slices of stale bread, it was the perfect food salvaging project for the week.
It was delicious sprinkled over pasta (as would it over a soup, to top a green salad, and even over scrambled eggs). In fact, I folded the crumb through sauteed mushrooms and feta. Delicious!
As I always promote, once you know the rules then break them. The secret is for relatively even amounts of vegetable and breadcrumb.
Broccoli can easily be swapped out for cauliflower, pinenuts for walnuts or almonds, etc.
Broccoli Crumb
Ingredients
- 1 x head of broccoli, raw including stalks
- 2 cups freshly made breadcrumbs from leftover bread (3 slices)
- 1 cup pinenuts
- 2 tsp chilli paste
- 2 tsp minced garlic
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- salt & pepper to taste
Method
- Preheat oven to 175ºC.
- Cut broccoli into small chunks (florets and stalk) then blitz in a food processor. Remove and transfer into a bowl.
- Crumb stale bread and pinenuts, and add to the bowl.
- Fold through chilli, garlic and finally olive oil. Mix well and season.
- Lay baking paper on an oven try and evenly spread the crumb. Bake for 30-40 minutes ensuring every 8-10 minutes you check on the crumb and toss to ensure even baking. It will burn if you don’t check regulary!
- Remove from oven, allow to cool fully then store in air-tight container.
Tip: It doesn’t matter if the broccoli has started to discolour and wilt, it will taste delicious once crispy and roasted.
