Soft buns and carrot burgers, brioche for a summer pudding or toasted breadcrumbs with brown shrimp: Nigel Slater offers five ways with bread
We tend to eat less bread in summer, and there are only so many breadcrumbs my deep freeze can swallow. I still buy a loaf, to toast for bruschetta, or to dunk in chewy, crisp-crusted pieces in olive oil. The leftovers, of which there are many, end up in classic versions of panzanella and summer pudding but I like to use them in more original ways too. Crumbed and toasted bread can be tossed with brown shrimps and parsley as a coating for soft, olive-oily beans or courgettes. Sliced rich breads such as panettone and brioche can be toasted and used as a base for soaking up the sweet, scented syrup from baked cherries or gooseberries. And then of course there are bread-based recipes that are part and parcel of summer, such as burgers and soft baps filled with crisp fried vegetables, crunchy salsas.
Green beans, crisp, bright and pencil thin, offer a much needed change of texture
Related: Nigel Slater’s light summer recipes
The moment for summer pudding, with its scarlet crush of poached berries encased in juice-saturated bread, is fleeting
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