Steak and Berries all of the meat. none of the fat.

The other night I spoke to my best friend, Melissa, on the phone for two hours. The thing is, I’m not that into being on the phone. I’m a face-to-face kinda gal. Don’t get me wrong, I recognize when extended conversation is necessary and I love getting in touch with my dearest and saying hello and/or making a date. But when it comes to casual conversation, don’t expect to keep me on the phone for much more than, say, 20 minutes . So what kept me on the phone that long you ask? Well, other than the fact that Melissa and I have had 19 years of conversational experience together, I speculate that we spent nearly all of the second hour talking about food – Melissa and I share very strong passion for food. Cooking and eating are two things we both do a lot of. And after she gave me a (not-so) brief rundown of the best shows on the Food Network right now and her latest culinary endeavors (all of which made me very hungry), we somehow got on the topic of  breadcrumbs. And, inspired by my BFF and fellow food lover, that is what I want to talk about.

One day, some time ago, I thought twice about the cardboard canister of breadcrumbs that most folks go get when a recipe calls for breadcrumbs. I don’t remember ever using them much but I decided I didn’t like the idea of them – because they just seem kinda sketchy and most people always end up with 4/5 of them left in their fridge after the meal they got them for. So I decided I wouldn’t bread anything if it wasn’t with homemade breadcrumbs. Which meant I had to figure out how to make breadcrumbs. Seems simple enough, right? I mean, you make breadcrumbs every time you eat a piece of toast. I suppose you could just continuously collect those and see what happens. But I found some tips on homemade breadcrumbs and came up with my own way to do it. And I’ve been doing it ever since. Thing is, they never really stuck quite as nicely as I would have liked them to so things didn’t coat very evenly. But they were still delicious. However, the other day when I was making some breaded fish with my dad, I was explaining to him that they didn’t always stick so well. And while the two of us stood in front of a very hot oven inspecting the plate of bread crumbs he said, “They usually need to be drier to stick.” And if this scenario were in a cartoon, this is when the lightbulb would have appeared above our heads and I discovered the final, vital step to very successful homemade breadcrumbs… So now that I’ve figured it out, here’s how I do it:

What you’ll need:

• 2-4 pieces of good sliced bread
• 1 tablespoon of olive oil
• grated cheese

Depending on the amount of food you’re breading, put a few pieces of sliced bread in a food processor and process until you have fine bread crumbs. *I like to use multi-grain breads – they’re very tasty and they crumb in such a lovely way. Add a bit of olive oil to your mix, something like 1/2 tablespoon per two pieces of bread, and run the food processor just a little more until the crumbs are evenly oily. *Add a bit more oil if they are still dry and repeat. *Also, try different oils depending on what you’re making, i.e. I used walnut oil the other day for breading white fish. And here’s my big secret: I add cheese to the breading. So far, parmesan cheese is my favorite. You can add it to the food processor when you add the oil, and you can add as much as you like. Just grate it and throw it in. And now for that final step – spread the bread crumbs evenly on a baking sheet and put them in the oven for just a couple of minutes. Check on them (with your fingers) to see when they’re dry. Then start breading.

And watch those breadcrumbs gloriously, evenly coat your food. Whatever food you want… How about green tomatoes?

Seriously though. That evening I had decided to make fried green tomatoes after buying some green tomatoes at the Torrance Farmer’s Market. I’d never seen green tomatoes for sale before and when I saw them, I knew something had to be done. When the very nice tomato vendor saw me (fascinated, curious, and full of desire) looking at them, he suggested that I try making fried green tomatoes. So I did. I followed This Recipe from SimplyRecipes.com (a recipe site I like more and more all the time). Just a few notes about the recipe – don’t worry about measurements and MAKE YOUR OWN BREADCRUMBS!

The Fried Green Tomatoes were delicious. I’ve mastered my breadcrumbs. And now I’m hungry again.

Happy Eating!