Crusty bread
Used in 5 recipes on RecipeWiki.
Crusty bread, on this page, is the loaf served alongside rather than cooked into a dish: thick slices with a hard, crackling crust and an open, chewy crumb. Its job is to mop. Gambas al Ajillo leaves a pool of garlic-scented olive oil that would be wasted without it, and Shakshuka's spiced tomato sauce and runny yolks call for something to drag through them. A slice also catches the gravy of Slow-Braised Beef Shin. A day-old loaf works well: run the crust briefly under the tap and bake it for five to eight minutes in a hot oven until it crackles again, then let it cool slightly before slicing.
Most often cooked with
Garlic
Chilli
Onion
Parsley
Bell pepper
Egg
Feta
PaprikaRecipes with crusty bread
Gambas al Ajillo
Prawns cooked hard in garlic oil with chilli, served still bubbling, with bread that exists to mop the pan.
15 minutes
Spanish
Greek Salad
Ripe tomatoes salted until they release their juice, with cucumber, pepper, onion, stoned olives and a whole slab of feta, dressed with oil and oregano and no lettuce.
30 minutes
Cheese
No-cook
Pork and Fennel Meatballs
Pork mince bound with a milk and bread panade and toasted fennel seed, browned in a pan and finished in tomato sauce.
Italian
Main courses
Shakshuka
Eggs poached directly in a spiced tomato and pepper stew, cooked and served in the one pan so the yolks stay hot to the table.
Breakfast
Middle Eastern
Slow-Braised Beef Shin
Beef shin browned hard then cooked for hours at a bare simmer, until the collagen melts and the meat falls apart under a fork.
Beef
Dinner