A Rose and Homemade Breadcrumbs

My (sweet) Pirate bought me a gorgeous long stem pink rose at New Seasons for me to photograph.  He loves roses, especially fragrant old fashioned roses that you find at your great aunts house or in a vibrant cottage garden.  When we remodeled our old bungalow in SE Portland, I grew almost forty roses in our garden, just so My Pirate could have a jam jar of fragrant rose blooms on his bed stand throughout the growing season.  

Sadly, his favorite roses failed to thrive in our current garden.  So, I grow hardier bulletproof roses like wild roses, rugosa roses, and Rosa Glauca.  But, I like to imagine that when we retire My Pirate will spend his days puttering around in a rose garden filled with all of his favorites.

To reward My Pirate for his lovely gift, I made him some homemade breadcrumbs. He loves to add homemade breadcrumbs to a bowl of pasta or eggs.   If you haven't made your own breadcrumbs, you really need to try them.  They are a simple and delicious garnish.

My Homemade Breadcrumbs

inspired by Bon Appetite

 I love to sprinkle breadcrumbs on top of pastas, sautéed greens, roasted vegetables and salads.  Plus, breadcrumbs freeze really well, if you can keep them in the house that long.

• 4 slices of french or baguette bread, torn into 2 inch chunks
• 1 1/2 to 2 Tablespoons of Olive, Canola, or Grapeseed Oil
• 1 clove of garlic, smashed
• large pinch of kosher salt
• tiny pinch of red cayenne powder (optional)

Place your torn up bread chunks, crusts and all,  in a small food processor and pulse them until they are coarse crumbs.  Don’t worry about making them uniform in size because the variation makes the crunch more satisfying.

Place your skillet over medium high heat, add the 1 1/2 tablespoons of oil and add the smashed garlic clove.  Remove the garlic clove once it has browned and infused the oil.  Add the bread crumbs and sauté until they turn toasty brown, up to five minutes.  Stay with them because deliciously browned can turn to blackened in the blink of an eye.  (I burned mine while letting the dog out.)  Add more oil if the breadcrumbs dry out too much.

Season the bread crumbs towards the end of cooking.  Then cool on a paper towel in a bowl.  Serve.  Store in the fridge for a day and then freeze.  I hide mine from My Pirate in an old Trader Joe’s spinach bag.