Homemade Italian Breadcrumbs with parsley, lemon zest, and oregano
I love versatile foods because, like many home cooks, I’m lazy and time deprived. I look for shortcuts and want my food to taste good with minimal effort and, moreover, I think even the most respected food experts on the planet secretly feel this way. After all, there’s more to life than food including travelling, falling in love, a successful profession, reading, spending time with family and friends, etc. So, as much as I aspire to chopping and braising, I love simple food items that make my food taste good and require minimal effort.
Enter Homemade Italian Breadcrumbs with parsley, lemon zest, and oregano! I use homemade breadcrumbs to top fish, fry cutlets, thicken soups, fry vegetables such as zucchini, stuffing for artichokes, ingredient in turkey burgers, and baked chicken. I grate my own breadcrumbs for 2-4 day old bread or when I’m feeling very lazy buy a package of 99 cent freshly ground breadcrumbs (with absolutely no seasoning) from a local Italian market. And include the following ingredients:
- Any type of bread (2-3 days old)
- Lemon zest of ½ of a small lemon (finely chopped)
- Bunch of parsley (finely chopped)
- Kosher salt
- Freshly ground pepper
- Dried Oregano
- You can pulse the bread in a food processor and thereafter mix the rest of the ingredients in a large bowl. Only make enough for the given recipe, fresh seasoned breadcrumbs shouldn't sit in the fridge for a long period of time.
- One note: skip the grated cheese, garlic powder, and cheap sliced bread (buy good bread that you would normally eat with a meal)
That’s it, now you have a versatile pantry item that you’ve made from scratch and will save you time and make your food taste great. Like bottled salad dressing, you should never buy pre-seasoned breadcrumbs.
These are so much better than store-bought. I want to dive right into that fish.
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