Drying Herbs

now who went and misspelled lavender?

I received an email from an Aga owner asking about drying herbs in the Slow Oven of his 4 Oven Aga. Not sure, my wife only let me get the 3 Oven so how do I know what that magical 4th Oven can do? I'm also a fan of freezing herbs over drying them. I like the bright color they retain. While I was out raiding my friend's garden I took six big flowers from  dill plants that had gone to seed. I will dry the seeds with the power of Aga. I took one and tied it up and hung it over my Hot Plate with a sheet pan to catch the goods. It took a few days and dried nicely. I also put three heads in a bag (hope Homeland Security doesn't pick up that last phrase) and hung them upside down. It worked well, took a day longer but easy to retrieve to the dill seeds as they fall off. Next up tarragon.

Old Bread

What to do with all those ends and pieces? Especially if it's some fancy artisan bread with a short shelf life and expensive price tag. Double especially if it's bread you made with your own hands. Triple especially if you grew the wheat milled the flour and made the bread. Bonus points if you grew up in the Depression, the real one not this one. "We have to tighten our belts kids, only 100 guests for your 6th grade graduation party."

I digress. Not throwing away food is always fashionable. If you check out some of the blogs that deal with wasted food you will be floored to find out how much we throw away. Some say we throw out 14% of our food at home.

Here are a few recipes that your Aga shines brightly on.

Bread Crumbs  

Take your old bread ends and save them in your freezer, once you get enough to fill your roasting pan break them up and have the pan straddle the top of your stove. Give them 24 hours so the bread is very dry. If the bread is not completely dry your crumbs can mold so better too much time than too little. Time will vary on the size and type of bread. Once they are dry grind them up in your food processor. This will take about a minute of grinding time.

Croutons

This requires a steady hand and good knife skills. I use a very long serrated knife. You should to.

Slice the bread as thin as you can.

Liberally spread olive oil all over an Aga sheet pan

Put the crouton down on oil and then flip over some both sides have some olive oil on them

In the Baking Oven for 5 to 7 minutes until crispy. The crisper you get it the longer it will keep. They should last two weeks in an airtight container.