Today I’m sharing with you a savoury crumble recipe that I made up a few years ago. It came about because my husband wanted some stuffing with his roast chicken.

Since I was never going to buy the pre-packaged stuff, or make the traditional version of it, I had to come up with something. And this was it. It passed the household (aka hubby) taste test, so I kept it within my repertoire. I soon started using it in so many other ways – to give some dishes an extra oomph or to make healthier versions of traditional meals.

If it tickles your fancy, try it out. It’s easy to make and it’s delicious! You can even make extra and store it in the fridge. Should keep for a week or so.

Walnut-breadcrumb mix

Makes about 2 cups

• 3 slices of real bread (use gluten-free if needed)
• ½ cup walnuts
• 2–3 garlic cloves, minced or finely grated
• 3 tbsp to a handful of fresh thyme (or use herb of choice)
• zest of a lemon
• 2 tbsp extra virgin olive or macadamia oil
• sea salt and cracked pepper, to taste

Toast the bread in toaster or oven until browned, and then allow to cool and become hard.
Tear toast and blitz in a processor until you have crumbs.
Add the remaining ingredients to the processor and pulse a few times until you have your crumble mix. Keep it as fine or as coarse as you like.

8 ways to use your Walnut-Bread crumble:

1. roast chicken stuffing (optional: add 2 tablespoons currants to the crumble)
2. crumbed chicken (see below)
3. crumbed fish (use the same instructions as per the crumbed chicken, but reduce the frying time)
4. vegetable gratin (optional: add ½ cup grated parmesan to the crumble)
5. stuffed & baked mushrooms (optional: add ½ cup grated parmesan to the crumble)
6. Sicilian poor man’s pasta – toss crumble through cooked (gluten-free) pasta (options: add chilli, preserved anchovies and salt-crusted capers)
7. sprinkle crumble atop baked dishes such as lasagna and moussaka (optional: add ½ cup grated parmesan to the crumble)
8. toss through steamed vegetables

Walnut-Breadcrumbed Chicken

(Sure to please the kids and adults alike!)

Serves 4

• 500 g chicken tenderloin or breasts, preferably pastured and organic
• ½ cup corn or rice flour (not starch)
• 1 large (2 small) pastured egg(s), lightly beaten
• 1 batch walnut-breadcrumb mix (see above)

You can either choose to pan-grill or bake in the oven. If grilling in the oven, preheat to 180C and line an oven tray with non-stick baking paper.

Cut chicken into 3–4 cm wide strips and crumb each piece:

• toss in flour
• dip in egg wash
• coat with crumbs

If baking in oven, place the crumbed strips onto the lined baking tray and bake for 10 minutes, or until chicken is cooked.

If pan-grilling, heat a grill pan over medium to high heat and grill chicken for about 4 minutes each side (check a thick piece to see if fully cooked).

Serve with wedges of lemons and some roast sweet potato and a huge garden salad. Or you can do what I did – devoured it with a quinoa salad that had loads of fresh salad-y produce. Some homemade lemon-garlic aioli (mayonnaise) would go well too.