Immediately I discovered this recipe in Red Lantern Chef Mark Jensen's beautiful first book, The Urban Cook – cooking and eating for a sustainable future (Murdoch Books), I knew I had to share it with everyone out there. It's a crunchy and inexpensive alternative to parmesan for topping gratins and bakes based on 'gremolata' – the lemon zest, garlic, and parsley mix that traditionally accompanies osso buco. What I love is you use up stale bread to make it. Mark suggests ciabatta, but I found any white sourdough will work. Makes about 1½ cups.

1 big handful stale ciabatta bread, without the crust
4 tbsp olive oil
1 small onion, finely diced
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
Finely grated zest 1 lemon
½ bunch parsley, leaves picked and finely chopped

Tear the bread into small pieces, about 1cm (½in) cubed. Place a frying pan over medium heat and add the olive oil and onion.

Gently fry the onion until soft and golden, then add the bread pieces and a little extra olive oil if necessary, and fry until the bread is crisp.

Add the garlic and fry for 1 minute, then add the lemon zest, stir to combine, and fry for a further 2 minutes.

Fold through the parsley and season with salt and freshly ground black pepper.

– Recipe and image from The Urban Cook by Mark Jensen (Murdoch Books)