anniemiz

Mmm Mmm Monday: Braised Celery

Today's recipe comes from the delicious cookbook, Lidia Cooks from the Heart of Italy: A Feast of 175 Regional Recipes, by the always delicious-making Lidia Matticchio Bastianich and her daughter, Tanya Bastianich Manuali.  I love watching Lidia cook on her tv shows.  Everything she makes -- and I mean everything, even if it's eye of newt -- looks soooo incredibly good.  She's so enthusiastic and descriptive and warm and inviting.  Kevin loves Italian food and good food of any sort; Lidia's shows nearly reduce him to drooling.  I tease Kevin that if I die or we split up, he won't go for a trophy wife, he'll weasel his way into marrying Lidia (she's 60+ years old)...for her food.  Lidia's mother, Erminia, who must be in her 80s, knows her way around a garden and a kitchen; she may not be safe, either.

Annnnyway, in the preface to this recipe, Lidia mentions how she most often sees celery used in stocks or salads.  Too true.  And I don't know what else to do with it.  This recipe came in especially handy when a large head of celery came in our oganic produce bag.  Sure, we could put it in salads and cut it up for snack sticks.  Whatever didn't get used and got wilty, plus the ends, would go in the freezer for stock. With the organic stuff, I've taken to looking up recipes to either a) try something different or b) figure out what to do with some new thing that came in the bag.  That's how I came across this recipe, by trying to find something else to do with celery.

This is actually called Celery Steamed in a skillet in the cookbook, but for some reason I keep calling it Braised Celery so that's what I call it here.  Lidia recommends you use "a heavy saucepan, such as an enameled cast-iron Dutch oven, 10" wide with a 3- to 4-quart capacity, with a cover".  This gave Kevin yet another opportunity to use his (non-enameled) cast iron Dutch oven.

Ingredients

• 2.5 lbs. celery (1 lg. or 2 med. heads)
• 1/4 c. extra virgin olive oil
• 2 plump garlic cloves, crushed and peeled (Kevin probably put in more)
• 2 med. onions, thinly sliced
• 1 t. kosher salt
• 1/2 t. peperoncino flakes, or to taste (I think Kevin put in a few too many; it was a little zesty; we'd test it first next time)
• 1/2 c. pitted black olives
• 3 T. tomato paste
• 2 c. hot water

Instructions

1. Prepare the celery: Separate the stalks.  Wash and trim the stalks.  Shave tough outer ribs with a vegetable peeler or paring knife, removing thick skin and strings.  Cut stalks crosswise, including leafy parts, into 4" pieces (or smaller, if you prefer).
2. Pour the olive oil into the sauce pan, set it over medium heat, stire in the garlic and onions, and heat until sizzling.
3. Heap celery in the pan, sprinkle over it the salt and peperoncino, stire and toss, coating the celery with oil.  Cook over medium heat about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally, as the celery starts cookings.
4. Stire in the olives, turn up the heat a bit, and sute the veggies about 15 minutes, tossing and stirring now and then, until the celery and onions are softened and caramelized on the edges.
5. Meanwhile, stir and blend the tomato paste in the 2c. of hot water to make a braising liquid.  When the celery is lightly browned, pour in the tomato water and bring to a boil.  Cover the pan and adjust the heat to maintain a steady, gentle perking.  Cook about 45 minutes, stirring occasionally, until celery is completely tender and caramelized and the liquid reduced to a glaze. 
6. Serve right away as a side dish or let it cool to room temperature.  Leftover celery will keep in the fridge for a few days and freezes well.

I didn't try freezing it, although I will next time so I can see for myself how it freezes.  I am definitely looking forward to getting more celery in our produce.  Seeing as I work at the library, I've been using the library's copy of this book, but I might have to buy a copy for myself.  I have purchased at least one copy as a gift for someone else; maybe I'll purchase another copy as a gift for me.

Mmm Mmm Monday: Boston Cream Pie

Today's recipe comes from Campbell's Great American Cookbook published by Random House in 1984 and I believe now out of print. I've had this book since college and it was a great cookbook to have at the co-op where housemates took turns cooking for 24.  The book still has notes from my housemates and me where we tripled and quadrupled recipes.  It's kinda nice bc I still recognize their handwriting and get to think about them when I see those recipes.

This cake was part of the spread for the library's Thursday evening Needlecrafts Club.  (BTW, the library has a facebook page...stop by and become a fan!)  I like to have a theme, however tenuous, for the refreshments.  This particular night was an egg theme as the main eats featured eggs from Clubber Susan's backyard chickens.  She has about 50 laying hens and about 20 show hens that her daughter shows at farm shows.  Show show show.  I have to admit that I was a wee bit skeptical that fresh eggs would taste different from store eggs.  Well, did I get egg on my face!  Fresh eggs are 100x tastier than store eggs.  I just read yesterday a description of fresh eggs that says it well: They stand up and slap you in the face!  They look better, they taste better, they cook and bake up better...they're just so much yummier all around.  I find I crave these fresh eggs now and am disappointed if I manage to run out of them and have to use store eggs.  Even compared to farmed organic eggs I recently bought when I ran out of Susan's eggs, local fresh eggs are very different.  I cannot recommend them highly enough.

Anyway, back to the eats.  So that night we had Spinach Devilled Eggs (which I don't think I've blogged yet) and this Boston Cream Pie which is really a cake that uses a bunch of eggs in the custard in the middle.  Looking at the picture of this cake, you can see the lemon squares that Karen brought in.  Perhaps I can squeeze a recipe out of her for those.

Ingredients - Cake

• 1/3 c. butter or margine, softened
• 1 c. sugar
• 2 eggs, separated, at room temperature
• 1/2 t. vanilla extract
• 1.5 c. all-purpose flour
• 2 t. baking powder
• 1/2 t. salt
• 1 c. milk

Instructions - Cake

1. Prepare Vanilla Cream Filling; chill.
2. Preheat oven to 350oF.  Grease and flour two 9" round cake pans. (I used 8" pans bc that's all I had; it was fine.) 
3. In a large bowl with mixer at medium speed, cream butter until light and fluffy.
4. Gradually beat in sugar until well mixed, constantly scraping bowl.
5. Beat in egg yolks, one at a time, beating well after each addition, occasionally scraping bowl.
6. Add vanilla; mix well.
7. In a small bowl, combine flour, baking powder and salt.
8. Add dry ingredients alternately with milk to creamed mixture, mixing well after each addition, occasionally scraping bowl.
9. In small bowl with mixer at high speed, using clean beaters, beat egg whites until soft peaks form.  Fold egg whites into batter; pour into prepared pans.
10. Bake 25 to 30 minutes until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.  I could have taken these out at 25 minutes; you can see they look a little brown.  Cool in pans on wire racks 10 minutes.  Remove from pans; cool completely.
11. Spread Vanilla Cream Filling between cake layers.
12. Spread top with warm Chocolate Glaze.
13. Refrigerate until serving time.

Ingredients - Vanilla Cream Filling

• 1 c. milk
• 1/3 c. sugar
• 2 T. cornstarch
• dash salt
• 2 egg yolks, beaten
• 1 t. vanilla extract

Instructions - Filling

1. In heavy, 2-quart saucepan with wire whisk or electric mixer, beat all ingredients except vanilla.  Over medium heat, cook until mixture just boils, stirring constantly.
2. Remove from heat, stir in vanilla.  Cover; chill.

Ingredients - Chocolate Glaze

• 2 T. butter or margarine
• 1 square (1 oz.) unsweetened chocolate
• 1 c. confectioners' sugar
• 1/2 t. vanilla extract
• 2 T. hot water

Instructions - Glaze

1. In heavy, 1-quart saucepan over very low heat, melt butter and chocolate, stirring constantly.
2. Stir in sugar, vanilla and enough hot water to make of spreading consistency.
3. Remove from heat; beat well.
4. Immediately spread on cake.

For the glaze, I used whatever ratio of confectioners' sugar and hot water to make the consistency I wanted; I think it was more sugar.  For this cake, I want the glaze to be thick enough that it doesn't drizzle down the sides of the cake.  Sometimes that looks really nice, but I didn't want it on this cake.  I thought it would look sloppy going down this cake's sides.

Mmm Mmm Monday: Creamy Shrimp Dip

Today's recipe is for Creamy Shrimp Dip and comes from The Culinary Arts Institute Cookbook, that venerable workhorse of a cookbook.

I made a couple of dips for the refreshments at the library's Thursday evening needlecraft club.  The Creamy Shrimp Dip is on the right in the below picture.  We enjoyed it with cut veggies, as you can see, as well as crackers and bread crisps, which are not seen below.  (The dip on the left is a cottage cheese-based dip that I'm not too sure I liked so I may work on it before posting the recipe.)

The recipe is really easy and strikes me as a classic, 1950s kinda recipe.

Ingredients

• 8 oz. cream cheese, softened
• 1 can (10.75 oz.) condensed cream of shrimp soup (until making this recipe I never knew there was such a thing)
• 2 T. chopped green onion
• 1 t. lemon juice
• 1/4 t. curry powder - one time I made this I didn't have any curry powder so I think I used cumin and it worked out well
• dash garlic powder
• 4 drops Tabasco - maybe they made drops bigger back in the day, but you definitely need more than 4 drops of Tabasco; I'm not even a big spice person - I like a little zing, but that's about it - and even I think 4 drops is not nearly enough; I think I ended up with 16 drops; add a few at a time and taste
• raw vegetables (for dipping)

Instructions

1. Combine cream cheese, soup, green onion, lemon juice, curry powder, garlic powder and Tabasco with a beater just until blended; do not overbeat.  Chill.
2. Serve as a dip with raw vegetable pieces.  Or crackers.  Or bread crips.  Or bread sticks.

And that's all there is to it!  I've made it a few times now and it's always a big hit.  I especially liked it served with baked bagel chips.  It's a quick, tasty recipe that's good to have in your repertoire. 

Mmm Mmm Monday: Chocolate and Almond Sandwich

Today's recipe was made for last week's Thursday evening Needlecrafts Club at work as well as in honor of St. Patrick's Day.  It's from the book Irish Country Cooking: Traditional and modern recipes from the Emerald Isle by Ethel Minogue.  It was on the shelves at work, about 10 feet away, and is another cookbook I just happened upon while passing through the stacks.  Granted, our library is pretty small so perhaps it shouldn't be surprising to just stumble on useful stuff.

I was a little unsure of the finished product bc I've only made it just the once.  I didn't get to try a piece, but given that that's bc it all went, I guess that's a good sign.  I was unsure bc it doesn't say what size pan to use; I used 8".  Also, it looks like a cake in the book, but it uses very small amounts of ingredients, e.g., 6 T. flour.  I didn't get a picture of the one I made either, but it was shortish so I think it's supposed to be kinda like a big sandwich cookie.  If I had smaller diamter pans, I would try using those next time.

Also, from the feedback I got: the cake layers weren't very chocolatey; might add more cocoa if you want more chocolate flavor.

The book:

Huh.  Well, that picture stinks.  The picture of the cake from the book (see, you can't tell how tall it's supposed to be):

You cannot go wrong with a simple dredging of confectioners' sugar.

Changes/notes in italics.

Ingredients

• 1/4 lb. butter
• 5 T. sugar
• 1 egg, well-beaten
• 6 T. flour
• 6 T. ground almonds (I ground the almonds by putting a handful of plain, raw almonds in one of those electric food chopper thingies.)
• 1 T. cocoa
• 1 t. baking powder
• 3 T. milk
• confectioners' sugar
• 1/4 lb. chocolate (didn't say what kind; I had an open package of milk chocolate morsels, so I used that)
• 1.5 T. milk (eyeballed the milk until I got the consistency I wanted)
• 5 oz. confectioners' sugar (eyeballed this, too)
• 6 T. unsalted butter (didn't have any thawed out so skipped this)
• dash of almond extract

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 400F.
2. Cream the butter and sugar together.  Add the well-beaten egg.
3. In another bowl, sift together the flour, ground almonds, cocoa, baking powder and salt.  Add alternately with the milk to the creamed butter and sugar.  Combine thoroughly.
4. Divide the mixture between two greased baking pans and bake for 20 minutes.
5. When cool, sandwich together with the chocolate filling and dredge the top of the cake with confectioners' sugar.
6. To make the filling, mix the chocolate with the milk and warm over a low heat until the chocolate has melted.
7. Remove from the heat, beat in the confectioners' sugar, then leave until cool.
8. Cream the butter and then add the chocolate mixture and the almond extract; beat until light and creamy.  Fill the chocolate sandwich.

Mmm Mmm Monday: New England Clam Chowdah II

I posted a New England Clam Chowder recipe not too long ago.  I was walking down the stacks at work when I espied this book, New England Seafood Cooking.  There's no author; it was published in 1993 by Crescent Books of NY and Avenel, NJ.

 

Here's their NECC recipe.  Changes/notes in italics.  Unfortunately, no pictures bc I forgot to take them.

Prep time = 30 min.

Cooking time = 20 min.

Servings = 6-8

Ingredients

• 2 lbs. clams (I used 3 cans of minced or chopped clams; I forget)
• 3 oz. bacon, diced
• 2 medium onions, finely diced
• 1 T. flour
• 6 medium potatoes, peeled and cubed
• salt & pepper
• 4 c. milk
• 1 c. light cream
• chopped parsley

Instructions

1. Scrub clams well and place in a sink ( or bowl) of cold water w/a handful of flour for 30 minutes.
2. Drain the clams and place them in a deep saucepan w/about 1/2 c. cold water.
3. Cover and bring to a boil, stirring occasionally, until all the shells open.  Discard any shells that do not open.
4. Strain the clam liquid, reserve it and set aside the clams to cool. (Didn't do any of steps 1-4 bc I just opened up cans of clams.)
5. Place the bacon in a large, deep saucepan and cook slowly until the fat is rendered.  Turn up the heat and brown the bacon.
6. Remove it to paper towls to drain.
7. Add the onion to the bacon fat in the pan and cook slowly to soften 
8. Stir in the flour and add the potatoes, salt, pepper, milk and reserved clam juice.  Cover and bring t a boil for about 10 minutes, or until the potatoes are nearly tender.
9. Remove the clams from the shells and chop them if large.
10. Add the chopped clams to the soup along with the cream and diced bacon (I hold the bacon until serving bc some of this got frozen and I think the bacon bits don't freeze  well).  Cook 10 minutes more or until the potatoes and clams are tender.
11. Add the chopped parsley and serve immediately.

Kevin liked this recipe, although not as much as the first recipe I posted.  That one was creamier and as he says, 'Creamier is always better.'  You heard it here first.  You could probably even make this one w/lighter dairy products.  I didn't actually taste this one so I will let Kevin have the last word on this recipe.

Mmm Mmm Monday: Creamy Carrot Soup

Yet another recipe from allrecipes: Creamy Carrot Soup.  A few simple flavors contribute to this very tasty soup.  Peeling and slicing the carrots took a bit of time.  You could just give them a good scrub and cut off the tops and not peel them.  I think fresh carrots clean up well and taste yummy unpeeled.  Maybe I'll try that when carrots are fresh.

I didn't have a potato on hand so I called around to a couple of neighbors and Stephanie had a small selection of 1 small regular potato, 1 good sized sweet potato and 3 small purple potatoes.  I went with the sweet potato.  I think Kevin thought it was a little weird to be calling around iso a potato, but what are neighbors for if not to loan you a potato in your hour of need?  And, of course, Steph got some delicious homemade carrot soup out of it.

Ingredients

• 1 cup chopped onion
• 1/4 cup butter, cubed
• 4 1/2 cups sliced carrots
• 1 large potato, peeled and cubed - used a sweet potato
• 2 (14.5 ounce) cans chicken broth
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger
• 2 cups heavy whipping cream
• 1 teaspoon dried rosemary, crushed  - I didn't have the crushed kind; I had the kind that look like tiny pine needles; used that; wouldn't do so in future bc it was like finding tiny pine needles in your soup
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/8 teaspoon pepper

 

Directions

1. In a Dutch oven, saute onion in butter until tender. Add carrots, potato, broth and ginger. Cover and cook over medium heat for 30 minutes or until vegetables are tender. Cool for 15 minutes.
2. Transfer to a blender or food processor in small batches (used an immersion blender); cover and process until smooth. Return all to the pan; stir in the cream, rosemary, salt and pepper. Cook over low heat until heated through.

The onion, carrots, sweet potato, broth and ginger in Kevin's Valentine's Day Dutch oven:

 

After the immersion blender:

 

As Mike the Trainer Guy pointed out, you could make a workout around cooking with cast iron, the stuff is so heavy.

After adding in the cream, rosemary, salt and pepper:

 

Mmm Mmm Monday: Chicken with 40 Cloves of Garlic

A garlic enthusiast, Kevin made Chicken with 40 Cloves of Garlic yesterday.  He actually only put in 20 cloves of garlic.  Here's the recipe:

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 whole chicken
• 40 cloves garlic
• 1/4 cup water
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

Directions

1. Preheat an oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. Melt the butter with the olive oil in a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add the chicken to the Dutch oven and brown on all sides in the butter and oil, 5 to 10 minutes. Remove the chicken to a cutting board.
3. Drain all but 2 tablespoons of liquid from the pan; stir the garlic cloves into the reserved liquid. Return the chicken to the pan; sprinkle the water, lemon juice, salt, thyme, and black pepper over the chicken; cover tightly.
4. Bake the chicken in the preheated oven until no longer pink at the bone and the juices run clear, about 90 minutes. An instant-read thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the thigh should read 180 degrees F (82 degrees C). Remove the chicken from the oven, cover with a doubled sheet of aluminum foil, and allow to rest in a warm area for 10 minutes before slicing.

He was very excited to use his new-to-him cast iron Dutch oven that I won on ebay for him for Valentine's Day.  It came last week and I was so pleased with its condition and excited about it that I couldn't wait to give it to him.  He, in turn, couldn't wait to use it.  We had just picked up some chicken leg quarters (at the local ShopRite's 22nd anniversary sale for 22 cents/lb.!) and he used four leg quarters in the above recipe.

Here's a picture of some leftover chicken.  I did not get any action shots of the Dutch oven for this recipe, but I did make a carrot soup in it, have pictures of it there and will post them when I post that recipe.

Mmm Mmm Monday? Suet

This is getting tricky: I'm trying to type this with Miles anchoring down my right arm.  It's late and I haven't seen him all day, he immediately plopped himself on me when I came home and I just don't have the heart to dislodge him.

This recipe is from Fern, my MIL.  Kevin, Friend to All Critters, got himself a suet holder recently and made up a batch of suet cakes.  Changes from the original recipe in italics.

Ingredients

• 1 lb. suet or lard (Kevin used up a few fat jars he'd put aside just for this occasion; they totalled roughly 3 lb. of fat so he ended up tripling the recipe; the amounts here all refer to a single recipe)
• 1 c. crunchy peanut butter (we didn't have crunchy so he used smooth)
• 1 c. bird seed
• 2 c. yellow corn meal
• 1/2 c. whole wheat flour
• 1 c. regular or quick cook oats
• currents, raisins or blueberries nuts (Kevin added black oil sunflower seeds, safflower seeds)

Instructions

1. Melt suet or lard in slow cooker, microwave or saucepan over low heat. Remove from heat and cool slightly.
2. Add peanut butter and stir until completely mixed. (Kevin heated the fat and peanut butter together.)
3. Add bird seed, corn meal and other grains. Stir well.
4. This is where you can get creative by adding any fruits, berries, nuts, crushed crackers or bread cubes. You may vary the amount of corn meal, wheat flour and oats depending on what you have available.  Mixture should be thick but spreadable. Add in mix-ins and stir well.
5. Cover a cookie sheet with parchment.  Spread mixture evenly into pan.  Place into refrigerator or freezer to cool.  (Kevin used an aluminum pan which he threw away afterwards.)
6. When completely cool and hard, cut into blocks 4" square or whatever size fits your suet cage.  Let suet mixture stand at room temperature for a while if you are having trouble cutting it.
7. Wrap individually and freeze in zip-loc bags until ready to use.
8. Hang outside while frozen.

Apparently, I'm chopped liver.  Miles just heard Kevin moving around downstairs and he's left me.  I can't say I mind bc he had just started a serious grooming session, the kind where he really winds up in order to clean his bib...he leans his head way back, his mouth open as he extends his tongue and then tucks his chin in to lick his bib clean.  This is all well and good, but his breath stinks and every time he leaned his head back it wafted upward.  Oofah.

Back to more pleasant topics: suet.

Here's the suet, all frozen in the pan and Kevin's cutting it into blocks. 

Close up of the suet cake.  The seeds kinda floated to the top.

Chef Kevin with his creation:

He hung one out as soon as it was frozen, but there were no takers.  I think Kevin was kinda bummed that no one was eating his suet.  He does like to feed the birds and is basically a backyard birder.  It seems like it took the birds a week or so to discover it.  Now they go through a few cakes/week.  We still have some in the freezer, but those will go quickly.  He surely won't be able to keep up with demand -- fat jars fill up only so quickly -- but I think he likes having them to put out for the birds.  I like to watch them enjoy it, too.  Why is feeding critters so satisfying?  I jokingly suggested that I could ask my co-workers and others to give us their fat jars...he seemed to find the idea not entirely ridiculous.  I could post a WANTED: FAT JARS ad on craigslist.  Ha!  How gross would that be?  And, ewww, how gross would the replies be?
 
  
 
  

Mmm Mmm Monday: New England Clam Chowdah I

Winter is definitely soup weather and I've been trying out some new soups.  I'm not big on chowder...chowder just seems so fishy and..and...and clammy.  I really made this for Kevin to enjoy and enjoy it he did!  He likes clam chowders, but you don't often see New England clam chowder on menus hereabouts so I thought it was high time I tried to make some.  As tepid a fan of chowder as I am, I must admit that I liked the way this recipe came out.  It's yet another recipe from allrecipes; original link is here.  Recipe below with changes in italics.

Ingredients

4 slices bacon - Kevin had just cooked a ham the day before so I used bits of ham

1/2 cup chopped onion

4 potatoes, peeled and cubed - used red potatoes; didn't peel them; they're yummier w/their jackets

From the picture below, I can see that I added something red and green, probably some diced red and green pepper, mostly to give it a little color bc NE clam chowder can be sooooo white.

1 tablespoon all-purpose flour - used more, but just guessed at it; maybe 2 T?

1 cup bottled clam juice - this was not enough to cover the ingredients; added the juice from 2 cans of clams

1 cup half-and-half

2 (6 ounce) cans minced clams - used 3 cans

salt and pepper to taste

1/2 cup heavy cream (optional) - of course I used this; duh

2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley - didn't have this so I used dried

dash of paprika

Instructions

1. In a large saucepan over medium high heat, fry the bacon until crisp, about 10 minutes. Drain on paper towels, reserving the bacon fat in the pan, crumble and set aside. Have your partner cook a ham the day before.  Dice a cup or two of ham.
2. In the same saucepan with the bacon fat, saute the onion and potatoes for 3 to 5 minutes. Sprinkle with the flour and stir well to coat. (Didn't have the bacon fat; used something else, but I forget what: olive oil?  Butter?)
3. Pour in the clam juice, bring to a boil, reduce heat to low and simmer for about 15 minutes, or until potatoes are tender. (Added the extra clam juice here.)
4. Add the half-and-half, minced clams, ham and season with salt and pepper to taste. Finally, whisk in the heavy cream, if desired. Allow to heat through, about 5 minutes. Garnish with the parsley and paprika and crumbled bacon. (Note: Do not boil if adding cream.)

I froze a portion of this and Kevin had it about a week later.  He thought it froze fairly well.  The spuds seemed a little mushy after being frozen.  That could be due to a) I may have overcooked them to begin with and/or b) it wasn't entirely thawed when I heated it up to eat so I ended up smooshing it w/a wooden spoon, which probably smooshed some of the potatoes.  Also, he would have preferred chopped or sliced clams; the minced clams are pretty small.  Overall, it's a keeper. Next time, I'll cook the potatoes a little less if I'm going to freeze it and I'll try to fully thaw it. The visual:

Mmm Mmm Monday: Croutons

I've been making soups lately and, while I do enjoy croutons in them (as well as in salads), I don't like paying $3.50 for 5 oz. of just okay croutons.  Croutons are just one of those things that I don't like paying for bc it seems like it's one step above paying for air.  Homemade croutons are yummier than store-bought anyway (my MIL makes them and they're very tasty) and I understand they're easy to make.  So I made some.

I started with this recipe from allrecipes.com.  Here's the recipe with changes in italics:

Ingredients

• 15 slices bread
• 1/4 cup butter, melted (used 1/2 cup; the 1/4 cup of butter plus seasonings didn't seem to be enough to coat the cubes)
• 2 teaspoons garlic salt (optional) (didn't have garlic salt; used garlic powder [next time I'll go a little easier on the garlic powder -- these are a little zesty], plus salt, plus parsley and Italian seasoning)

Directions (see below for what I really did)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. Remove crusts from stale bread slices. Brush bread on both sides with melted butter. Cut bread slices up into small cubes. Sprinkle with garlic salt (if desired). Arrange cubes on an ungreased cookie sheet.
3. Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 15 minutes or until browned. Let cool. Store croutons in a covered container or plastic bag. Serve in soups or salads.

What I really did:

1. The bread wasn't stale so I cut the slices into cubes -- with crusts still on bc I like crusty croutons -- and left them on the counter overnight to get stale.
2. When ready to make croutons: Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
3. Melt butter.
4. Mix whatever seasonings you decide to use into the butter.
5. Put cubes into a large bowl.  Pour butter mixture over croutons and stir to coat. *
6. Spread cubes onto an ungreased cookie sheet. *
7. Bake for 20 minutes until browned.  I stirred them once about halfway through.  Let cool.  Store croutons in a covered container or plastic bag.

* I guess if you use a baking dish that has decent sides you could skip the bowl (thereby saving yourself one thing to wash).  Instead, put the cubes in the baking dish, pour the butter mixture over the croutons, stir to coat and bake in that dish.  I'll do that next time.

Lots of room for variation, e.g., different herbs, olive oil (or other oil) instead of butter, grated cheese, etc.  Upcoming on Mmm Mmm Monday will be some soups, including New England Clam Chowder and Corn Chowder, both from allrecipes.com.

Pre-oven:

Post-oven: