Golden-brown bread crumbs make a nice finishing touch for pasta dishes like this one—a light counterpoint of texture, taste, and color. Start with ordinary dried crumbs (see page 19) that have some larger bits in them, rather than crumbs that have been ground and sieved into a fine powder.

　　

Ingredients

　　

Step 1

To toast, put the crumbs you need (1/2 cup or so for most pasta dishes) in a small dry skillet and set over medium heat. Keep tossing or stirring the crumbs—in a minute or so, they will start to color. Lower the heat if they’re browning fast, and keep tossing until the crumbs are getting fairly close to the color you like. Remove the skillet from the heat now, and toss while the residual heat colors the crumbs the deep-golden shade you like, then turn them out of the pan.

　　

Step 2

If you toast them completely and leave them in the skillet, they will get too dark or even burn. I know from experience.

　　From Lidia's Family table by Lidia Matticchio Bastianich Copyright (c) 2004 by Lidia Matticchio Bastianich Published by Knopf.Lidia Bastianich hosts the hugely popular PBS show, "Lidia's Italian-American kitchen" and owns restaurants in New York City, Kansas City, and Pittsburgh. Also the author of Lidia's Italian Table and Lidia's Italian-American Kitchen, she lives in Douglaston, New York. Jay Jacob's journalism has appeared in many national magazines.From the Trade Paperback edition.