Bread Crusts

This week my project is to use a bag of bread crusts (from Italian bread that was used to make crustless croutons). Obviously, they will be crumbed, but they will have a much different character than standard breadcrumbs.

Actually I wanted to just throw them away, but I got a shocked look when I proposed that. And, since they are from ACME bread, I kind of agree.

So, I am thinking of doing a baker's pasta (breadcrumbs, walnuts, olive oil, garlic, reggiano parmiggiana, parsley). That will be the food experimentation theme for the week. I hope I can keep it interestitng, since there are a lot of crusts here.

Also, I have gallons of lamb stock, which is second only to pork stock for being of less general usefulness than veal/beef/chicken/duck stock. However, this was made with already braised lamb shank bones, so it is not too lamby, rather it has a more general meaty taste, so it is not quite as difficult to handle.

Last night I took some leftover liquid and veggies from pot roast (with turnips, potatoes, and tomatoes), added ceci, a can of mixed beans, pepper, cayenne, pimenton ahumado, some of this lamb stock, and a reggiano parmiggiana rind and made a very pleasant minestrone (Melanie would have used less pepper, but she is like that. A minestrone should bite a little at the back of the throat). So that used up, well, a quart at the most.

So, any lamb stock ideas would be appreciated.

I will report on my experiments there, too, if they are worth further investigation.