Bread Croustades

Bread croustades are croutons fashioned to hold a purée of some kind, or some cooked article, cut small and mixed with a sauce. These may be stamped in rounds, diamonds, or other shapes, with cutters made for the purpose. The slice of bread varies in thickness, according to the service. After the bread is in the required shape, with a pointed knife cut a line around the top of the slice about half an inch from the edge and carefully remove the crumb to form a receptacle. The walls should be half an inch thick. Brown as croutons for soup, or by frying in deep fat.

Pastry Croustades

Roll trimmings from puff paste into a sheet one fourth an inch thick; then with a cutter dipped in hot water stamp out pieces of paste; heart, diamond, and round shapes are generally used. With a small round cutter dipped in hot water, score the centre quite deeply, but do not cut through the paste. Bake as any puff paste; then remove the centres and fill. Small patty cases are often used for this purpose.

Potato Croustades

Use plain mashed potato, or duchess potato mixture. Spread the potato evenly to the depth of half an inch on a buttered baking-sheet; brush over with yolk of egg, beaten and diluted with a little milk. When cold cut the potato diagonally in two directions, to make diamond-shaped pieces about three inches in length, or cut out with a cutter. Score these diagonally, to present small diamond shapes, then reheat by browning in a hot oven. To serve, remove a bit from the centre of each and place in and above this a teaspoonful of peas, asparagus, or fine-chopped meat, in a thick sauce. This provides a suitable way of serving potato and peas in a fish course.

Rice Croustades

1 cup of rice. 1/2 a teaspoonful of salt. 1/2 a cup of tomato purée. 3 tablespoonfuls of butter. 3 cups of chicken broth. Egg and bread crumbs.

Parboil and rinse the rice. Return to the saucepan with the purée, broth, salt and butter, and when boiling cook over hot water, until the rice is tender and the liquid is absorbed. Then pack into one large mould, into small dariole moulds, or muffin rings placed on a baking-sheet, all well buttered. Set aside to cool. When cold, egg-and-bread-crumb; then with a sharp-pointed knife or small cutter make an incision around each croustade, leaving a rim about one fourth an inch wide. Fry to a golden brown in deep fat; then remove the piece in the centre of the tops, scoop out the centres and fill with cooked material, cut in cubes and heated in a sauce. Make incision before egging and crumbing.