Discussions about whether one food source is better for the planet than another often miss one of the simplest yet most important ways that we can reduce our carbon footprint — and that is by reducing our food waste.
As much as one-third of all the food produced worldwide is wasted. In the West, we buy too much food and we don't finish our plates. Wasted food often ends up in landfill and that, in turn, releases methane. The cost is enormous. According to Wikipedia, the national cost of avoidable household food waste disposed of to landfill here in New Zealand in 2014/2015 was $872 million.
Bread makes up 10 per cent of all food wasted in New Zealand. Often it is thrown out because it is stale or has gone mouldy. Freezing sliced bread as soon as you buy it and taking the slices as you need them from the freezer avoids both of these problems.
Blitzing fresh bread crusts into crumbs and flavouring them with some garlic oil and a sprinkle of oregano and salt before re-freezing in bags makes an ideal topping to crumble over a dish of macaroni or cauliflower cheese before it goes in the oven. You can also bake your flavoured crumbs until golden and crispy and store them in a jar for a delicious crunchy sprinkle for pasta dishes and salads. If you just want plain dry breadcrumbs for coating fish, eggplant or chicken, pop them into a cooled but still-warm oven after you've finished all your cooking and leave until very crisp before crumbling into fine crumbs and storing in a sealed jar.
Leftover potatoes are the next most wasted food on the Wikipedia list. Mashed potato will keep in a covered container in the fridge for 2-3 days and can be used to thicken soups or fried for breakfast in a little oil or butter to make bubble and squeak (fried up with leftover cabbage or brussels sprouts) or hash browns, or spread over a fish or cottage pie before baking.
Those sad, wilted herbs and vegetables in the bottom of the fridge find new life in soups and sauces. Grate carrots and finely dice celery into any tomato-based sauce and simmer until they break down. Keep the stems from coriander or parsley, along with celery leaves, onion and carrot peels, and mushroom stems in a bag or bowl in the fridge or freezer. When you have enough, simmer them into a stock for risotto or soup.
If you've got leftover stew or casserole, or even some roast leftover lamb in the fridge, this makes a great start point for a richly flavoured soup and is also a great way to use up any limp carrots and celery. Add lentils or barley, canned tomatoes and water and simmer until everything is meltingly tender.
Every culture has its own ways of repurposing food. In Sweden, "pytt i panna" is the name for leftover food that has been transformed into a completely new dish. Whatever you choose to call them, there's a lot to love about an omelette, a pasta sauce, a tasty pie or soup or a hash fry-up that's made from your leftovers.
Border grill hash and eggs
Here's a great way to transform leftover boiled potatoes. If preferred, the eggs can be boiled or poached. If you are doing this, cook hash in pan for an extra 5 minutes and place eggs on top (don't cook under grill).
Ready in 25 minutes
Serves 4
4 leftover boiled potatoes
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 onion, finely diced
1 red pepper, diced
3 rashers bacon, diced
1 Tbsp chopped fresh thyme (1 tsp dried)
½-1 tsp chilli powder
Salt and ground black pepper
4 eggs
½ cup grated cheddar cheese
Cook potatoes, cool (or use leftover cooked potatoes) and dice in 1cm cubes. Heat oil in a heavy frying pan. Cook the onion, pepper, bacon, herbs and chilli powder until onion is soft. Add potatoes, cook another 5 minutes, turning often, until potatoes start to crisp. Season. Heat grill. Make 4 indentations in the top of mixture and break an egg into each. Sprinkle with cheese and grill until eggs are just set (about 6-8 minutes).
Potato gnocchi with roasted eggplant sauce
Leftover boiled potatoes can also be used to make this delicious gnocchi provided they aren't too wet. Make the eggplant sauce before you make the gnocchi. If you don't want to make your own gnocchi, you can use store-bought.
Ready in 1¼ hours
Serves 6
5 medium agria potatoes
3 large egg yolks
1 cup ricotta
60g finely grated parmesan
¼ tsp freshly grated nutmeg
1 tsp salt
¼ tsp white pepper
1 cup plain flour, plus a little extra for dusting
2-3 Tbsp semolina for the tray (optional)
Olive oil
TO SERVE
Roasted eggplant sauce (see below)
150g fresh mozzarella, torn into pieces
A few basil leaves
Preheat oven to 180C.
Scrub and prick potatoes all over then bake until very tender, about 1 hour. Cool and scoop flesh into a mixing bowl. (Save shells for potato skins; brush with oil and bake until crispy.) Pass flesh through a potato ricer or mash finely then tip out on to a clean board.
Make a well in the centre and add egg yolks, ricotta, parmesan, nutmeg, salt, pepper and flour. Mix by cutting into small squares and turning to form a firmish dough. Try not to knead the dough or the gluten will make it rubbery. To test if the dough is the right consistency, use your hands to roll a piece into a rope about 2cm thick. If it holds together, it's ready; if not, add a little more flour and re-test. If the mix is too dry add a little water.
To form gnocchi, cut dough into 8 pieces and roll each into a rope 2cm thick. Cut ropes into 3cm lengths then press with a fork to give a dimpled, concave surface. Place gnocchi in a single layer on a tray scattered with semolina (if using) to prevent them from sticking.
Preheat oven to 200C.
Bring a large pot of water to the boil over high heat with 2 tsp salt. Slide half the gnocchi into the boiling water and as they come to the surface remove them with a slotted spoon.
Place in a well-buttered dish while cooking the other half. Transfer all gnocchi to a roasting tray, drizzle with oil and bake for 10 minutes. Remove and top with roasted eggplant sauce and mozzarella.
Return to oven for 10-15 minutes until sauce is heated through and cheese has melted. Serve with a scattering of basil leaves.
Pre-preparing gnocchi
To prepare in advance, scoop cooked gnocchi out of boiling water into a bowl of iced water. Drain well, pat dry and toss with a little olive oil. Cool then cover and store in fridge until ready to bake; they will keep for several days.
Prepared gnocchi can also be frozen before boiling. Cook from frozen – don't defrost – they will take a little longer to come back to the boil.
Roasted eggplant sauce
This simple, chunky sauce is like a baked ratatouille. It's especially good tossed through gnocchi then finished with a quick blast in the oven, but it's also terrific with roasted meats, fish or chicken. If you've got some leftover pasta or tomato pasta sauce, use it in place of the tomatoes. Diced zucchinis can be added in place of oir as well as the eggplant.
Ready in 1 hour
Serves 6
2 large eggplants, cut into 2cm chunks
2 red peppers, seeded and cut into 2cm chunks
2 x 200g punnets cherry tomatoes, halved or 400g tomato pasta sauce or canned crushed tomatoes
¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
3 cloves garlic, crushed
A generous pinch chilli flakes
Salt and pepper
Preheat oven to 200C. Line a large, shallow roasting dish with baking paper.
Mix eggplants, peppers and cherry tomatoes with oil, garlic, chilli flakes and salt and pepper. Spread out into roasting dish and roast until eggplant is tender and golden, about 45 minutes.
Can be served with gnocchi or as a side dish.
Kimchi
This recipe is adapted from one kindly shown to me by a wonderful woman, Miwon Suh. It has a clean, fresh flavour that's really addictive. You need Korean chilli flakes, available at Asian supermarkets, as other kinds don't deliver the same colour or flavour. It's also nice made with a mix of vegetables such as carrots, beets, turnips, swedes, etc, as available.
Ready in 30 mins + cooling + salting + fermenting
Makes about 2 litres
1 whole napa/wong bok cabbage (about 2kg), base trimmed, cut lengthways into sixths and cores discarded
½ cup sea salt or Himalayan salt
KIMCHI PASTE
8 fat cloves garlic, peeled
2 spring onions, finely chopped
1 unpeeled apple or pear, grated
¼ cup Korean chilli flakes, or more if you prefer it spicier
2 Tbsp preservative-free fish sauce
1 carrot or 5cm piece Korean turnip, peeled and shredded or grated (optional)
Chop the base third of each cabbage segment into 2-3cm pieces. Place in a large non-corrosive container. Sprinkle with half the salt and use clean hands to massage for 1-2 minutes until the surfaces become moist.
Slice the remaining cabbage segments into 2-3cm pieces and layer on top, sprinkling remaining salt between layers.
Set aside for at least 4 hours until cabbage is completely collapsed, and the thick white base ends can be easily bent and don't snap.
To make the kimchi paste, blend or pound the garlic to form a fine paste. Mix in spring onions, apple or pear, chilli flakes, fish sauce and carrot or turnip, if using.
Squeeze cabbage, drain off any liquid and tip into a colander. Rinse thoroughly under cold water. The cabbage should taste lightly salty. If it tastes too salty, rinse again. Return to container and massage kimchi paste into the cabbage (wear gloves if you like) until it's nice and juicy.
Transfer to a 2 litre-capacity glass jar, pressing down firmly to remove air pockets and ensuring the cabbage is submerged (top up with water if necessary). Cover loosely with muslin and a screwtop lid and leave on the bench for 1-4 days until it starts to ferment and fizz (in winter this takes 3-4 days; in summer it can start to fizz in 24-36 hours).
Once you start to see some fizz action, cover with a tight screw-top lid and chill. The kimchi will continue to get tangier and stronger but fermentation happens at a much lower rate. Kept airtight in the fridge it will keep for at least 6 months.
Match these with ...
by Yvonne Lorkin
(Border grill hash and eggs)
Quartz Reef Methode Traditionnelle Brut NV ($36)
I'm sorry, but you can't put hash and eggs in front of me without a long, cool flute of fizz to accompany it. Organically and biodynamically grown in the Bendigo sub-region of Central Otago, this ultra-stylish sparkler from 24-year-old vines is beyond perfect. Crafted from 24 per cent chardonnay, 76 per cent pinot noir and 110 per cent love and skill, it boasts a lift of apple, rising dough, lemon shortbread and almond meal on the nose and a pillowy, marshmallow-like mousse and elegantly silky textures in the mouth. It washes across the chilli and capsicum like a champion.
glengarrywines.co.nz
(Potato gnocchi with roasted eggplant sauce)
19 Crimes South Eastern Australia Pinot Noir 2020 ($18)
Named after a time when being shipped to Australia was considered a punishment worse than death for convicted criminals, the 19 Crimes wines, with their augmented reality labels, have become a massive international hit. Pairing perfectly with Annabel's roast eggplant sauce, this pinot noir is an absolute steal at under $20. Uncomplicated, sweet-fruited and cherry-stacked, it's a spiced bomb that's dangerously easy to drink and will keep the crowds happy.
Widely available in supermarkets.
(Kimchi)
Kombucha City 332 KC2 Japanese Lime (330ml $33x6pk)
Kimchi might be the national food of Korea, but don't let that stop you launching into the mind-warpingly lovely green tea, floral and citrus-centric Japanese Lime Kombucha from Kombucha City in Torbay. You can literally scoop out forkfuls of kimchi and chase them with mouthfuls of this gut-friendly fermented fabulousness. Originating from Farm number 332 in the Bay of Plenty, the scoby-party kids moved north to a trailer-lab in Torbay and today, through a bunch of happy accidents, have a smorgasbord of styles such as this which are perfect with fermented foods of all persuasions.
kombuchacity.co.nz