Back in my Nutrition student days, I made croutons in one of my basic cooking classes. It was honestly one of the easiest things we ever learned, but for some reason, it really stood out to me. It might have been the “customization” aspect of each batch – add whatever spices you please, with whatever bread you wanted. You all know I love to customize the heck out of anything and everything. Either that, or I appreciated the idea of salvaging bread before it got old. Or maybe it was the sheer simplicity of a food product that we’re so used buying in a mass produced bag? Whatever it is…I’m obsessed with homemade croutons.
In order to make normal croutons, just cut the crust off from a slice of bread, cut into squares, soak in olive oil and add some spices. Toss them in the oven, flip halfway through, and there you go.
And if you’re feeling the farthest thing from normal? That’s where grilled cheese croutons come in.
There are several ways to make this, but this is how I made the last batch: I brushed olive oil on both sides of un-crusted bread slices. Added some spices, then tossed them in the oven at 350 degrees. I only kept them long enough so that they just started to turn brown, and were in that half soft/half hard phase. Still soft enough to cut without getting crumbs everywhere. I took them out at this point.
Next, I added a little butter to a pan and made a grilled cheese sandwich like usual. Once the bread was nice and toasted, I let the sandwich cool before cutting into squares.
And there you have it: grilled cheese croutons for your tomato soup. Talk about an ideal cold weather comfort dish!
xx K