I’m making Caesar salads for dinner tonight, and I wouldn’t even bother if it weren’t for homemade croutons. Such a simple pleasure and so damned good.
Easy, too. I used Italian rolls from the freezer. Thawed them out, cut them in cubes and then tossed the cubes with melted butter and salt. Then you just spread them out on a sheet pan and brown in a 400-degree oven.
For the salad, I start with romaine lettuce and whisk together a dressing made with anchovies mashed with a couple of garlic cloves, olive oil, a one-minute egg and fresh lemon juice. Then toss the whole thing with freshly grated Parmesan Reggiano.
Top each salad with those amazing croutons.
I was trying to start the second Louise Penny book while the croutons were browning, but I didn’t get very far. You do have to watch them. But I have some time after I’m done here, and I’d like to see how far I can get in the book before dinner. That’s when I do my best reading.
If I go horizontal after I’m fed, it’s all over.
Lupin, one of my favorite Netflix shows has new episodes. I watched two last night! The French mystery follows Assane Diop, the son of an immigrant from Senegal who had come to France to seek a better life for his child. The father gets framed for a theft and hangs himself in prison. Assane is orphaned but grows up to become a professional thief and master of disguise who avenges his father’s death.
Speaking of simple pleasures, I’ve been buying artisan chocolate instead of the drugstore varieties I used to favor. One of my favorites is Dick Taylor, and I just toured the factory in Eureka when I visited my sister last week.
They had bins, yes bins, of samples in very small pieces, which I liked a lot. It doesn’t take much to fully enjoy the experience of chocolate. I bought a few bars of the 72% Belize dark chocolate to take home. With a discount for taking the tour!
Here’s my indulgence. I break the bar into roughly dime-sized pieces and store it in a zipper-lock bag. I pull two pieces out after breakfast and begin with several sips of hot coffee to pre-warm my mouth. Then I slide in one little piece and let that luscious chocolate melt slowly on the tongue, swishing it about the mouth, savoring the complex flavors. No chewing allowed.
And then I do it again.
OK. It’s just two small pieces of chocolate, but it’s almost like meditation.
Our chocolate fix for the longest time was 70% dark Valrhona until Trader Joes stopped carrying it. We’ve found substitutes but still jones for the Valrhona. One small piece after lunch and dinner. It’s beyond indulgence…it’s necessity.
I’ve never had Valrhona, but I will be on the lookout!
I love homemade croutons especially because they are so easy to make.
I’m like you – no chewing allowed when savoring dark chocolate. I don’t get too fancy. A square of Ghirardelli is just right for me!!
I’m so glad my comment about no chewing made sense! Just let it melt.
You had me at croutons, and the chocolate fix. Enjoying dark chocolate (70% cocoa or higher) has been shown to have many health benefits. I am not familiar with Dick Taylor Chocolate, but I have been to Eureka a few times. Don’t know how we missed this one. Ok, I may have to check out Lupin now that I’ve heard several people who enjoy this series. Have you watched Annika on Masterpiece Theater? It’s a good detective crime mystery with one of my favorite actors, Nicola Walker. The new season starts this Sunday night on PBS.
Maybe we need to try chocolate dipped croutons?
I have Annika on my list. I also like Nicola Walker a lot. Oh, and a new season. I’d better catch up.
I’m slightly embarrassed to admit that I am a milk chocolate fan (good milk chocolate). I know that dark chocolate is a more sophisticated taste, but I yam what I yam. Bite-sized (or, swish-sized) pieces with coffee… perfection.
I love homemade croutons too. I first saute the cubed bread in a pan with olive oil until toasted, then toss them in a big bowl with grated parmesan, garlic powder, salt and dried thyme. No oven. So good!
We enjoyed Lupin but had a hard time with the dubbing. The voices just didn’t match with the characters. Still have to try Louise Penny.
I love milk chocolate, too! I’ll have to try the croutons your way.
As for Lupin, it’s so seamless to me that I actually had to check to see if it was dubbed or with subtitles. Looks to me that it’s both. I just read the subtitles.
And now that you have tantalized us, where do we get this Dick Taylor ecstasy?
There’s a store finder on their website, but it looks pretty limited to me. You can also buy directly from them. For similar chocolate you might find near you, check these out:
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/11/dining/best-chocolate.html?searchResultPosition=7
Home made croutons are the best – Himself makes fabulous ones. They turn an ordinary salad into a thing of beauty (and I already love even an ordinary bowl of salad).
Totally with you on the good quality chocolate thing. Just a small bit is all you need and I’d not tried it by warming the mouth before, but can see how that would aid the melting process (I’d don’t chew either). I used to buy one which had little individual bars the equivalent of two squares and ate them as you described. I recommended it to my mother as a treat to stop her eating big bars. Long story short, she ate the whole box in one sitting, then complained of feeling ill. I stopped giving her advice.
I have never met your mother but I know we are blood related. I will eat various desserts until I’m nauseous, then rest until I feel better, then start in again. There is a “control” gene missing in my basic DNA.
I used to not have a control gene, either, but somewhere along the line it kicked in. Thankfully. Maybe there’s still hope for you?
Homemade croutons really do turn an ordinary salad into a thing of beauty — well said!
That sounds like something my mother would have done!