I was listening to a the Kitchen Chat podcast on the way home from work the other day that discussed food waste in America. Guest Dana Gunders, a staff scientist at the Natural Resources Defense Council, quoted a statistic that 40% of all food in America goes to waste, and that landfills are mainly filled with tossed food. I am not sure I agree with that last statement, having spent a lot of time at the dump getting rid of yard waste from my always-overgrown backyard, but nonetheless, I do agree that there is a lot of food waste. When you think how much water, energy, and other resources are dedicated to producing food, it's not hard to see how our green footprint could be improved by wasting less food.
(link to Kitchen Chat podcasts here)
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My ingredients: Brussels sprouts, horseradish,
parsnips, tumeric root, carrots, and 1/2 a shallot |
Gunders recommends keeping a bin or place in your fridge with nearly expired foodstuffs as a reminder to eat those things first. I don't have a bin, but I do actively attempt to use up expiring food first and to make the best use out of all parts of the groceries I buy. In fact, for me I think it almost becomes like a game - what can I make with this odd assortment of items today? One of my favorite ways to relax is to make an inventory of what's in my veggie bin or my chest freezer, and then spend an hour soaking in a bubble bath while reading cookbooks or surfing the web looking for just the right recipe to use it all up.
I am also a bit of a hoarder when it comes to using all parts of the food I buy. One of my favorite take-aways from legendary chef Jacques Pepin is his advice to save all vegetable trimmings in the freezer so they will always be available to make fresh stock. He keeps a bin in his freezer just for this purpose. Clean carrot and potato peels, onion skins, mushroom stems, leek tops, parsley stems, celery trimmings and lots of other aromatics make their way into a ziplock bag that resides in my freezer. Whenever I have some chicken, beef, or lamb bones, I add them to a kettle of water with the frozen scraps. On weeknights, I'll let the mixture simmer slowly all night long, and in the morning, I drain the solids and chill down the broth in an ice bath before placing it in the fridge to cool while I'm at work. Upon returning home in the evening, I will again simmer the strained broth over a low heat all night long to reduce it further. By the morning it's ready to chill, vacuum seal, and freeze for future use if I don't have an immediate need for it that day. I have lots of other weird food-saving habits too, like always zesting lemons, limes, or oranges before juicing them. The zest stores really well in a baggie in the freezer, ready when needed. I save, seal, label, and freeze everything that might have some future use. If it's still hiding out after a few months, I will reluctantly toss it out, but only after making one last attempt to find a suitable recipe for its use.
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| The finished relish - it only gets better with age |
The bottom line of all this rambling is that the podcast and Gunders' comments inspired me to inventory my veggie bin again. I found a recipe in Saveur magazine that called for two key ingredients I happened to have on hand - carrots and fresh horseradish root. After taking stock of the other items in my produce drawer, I realized I could modify the recipe slightly to use up some excess brussels sprouts, parsnips, a piece of tumeric root, and a half of a shallot in place of some of the carrots. The article touts this as a relish to accompany gefilte fish on Passover but I used it as a spread on toasted baguette slices and ate it for breakfast with a poached egg instead. It was quick and easy to make, even on a workday. morning. The flavors were bright and fresh, and a great way to start of the day.
Here is the link for the recipe:
Saveur recipe for Carrot and Horseradish Pickle Relish.
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| Carrots, horseradish, and lemon zest ready to pulse |
The modifications I made were: Used only two carrots, added 3 peeled parsnips, 5 brussels sprouts thinly sliced, a one inch piece of peeled diced turmeric root, and 1/2 of a large shallot, sliced thinly then minced. The recipe instructs you to blanch the carrots. I blanched the parsnips first, then pulsed them in the food processor, then set them aside. Next I blanched the carrots and tumeric root together and processed the carrots/turmeric as directed in the recipe. When making the pickling solution, I omitted the 1/4 cup sugar recommended in the recipe, and substituted two heaping teaspoons of Splenda (need to manage my blood sugar or else I would have used the regular sugar). I added the pickling solution to carrot and horseradish mixture in a food processor and pulsed it until slightly chunky. At this point, I stirred in the shallots and Brussels sprouts, then let the whole mixture marinate for a few minutes while I poached an egg in the blanching water.
Also, while I was waiting for the water to heat for the initial blanching, I decided to make some parmesan cheese crisps to go along with the toasts. I preheated the oven to 400 degrees (miracle - my oven is still working... hope my luck holds out), and placed four little mounds, 1 tablespoon each, of grated parmesan cheese on a parchment paper-lined baking tray. I sprinkled each with some smoked paprika and a dash of cayenne then let them melt and crisp in the oven for about 3 minutes. The combination of the salty cheese, the tangy relish, and the creamy egg yolk made a perfect light meal.
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| The end result: this healthy and delicious breakfast! |
You may recall a couple of days ago I wrote about a beet salad in which the beets were cooked in my pressure cooker. I noted that I had cooked the beets for 10 minutes at 15 lbs of pressure - a perfect amount of time to cook a medium sized beet. Not so perfect for a handful of small, thin parsnips. They were very overcooked, and I could not use them as I had originally intended. They sort of had spontaneously pureed themselves, so taking advice from the great Julia, I decided to puree them instead. The result was unexpectedly tasty and made a nice accompaniment to some salmon we'd smoked for dinner that night. 
Parsnips have a slight horseradish-y flavor, and I must admit they are not one of my favorite vegetables for that reason. I like horseradish on prime rib or as condiment but not so much as a main flavor component for my meal. They are also a little starchy and therefore have a higher carb count. To offset these things, I added protein to this dish in the form of smoked gouda cheese which went very well with the salmon we had cooked in the smoker, and non-fat cottage cheese which added creaminess without the fat of real cream. The end result was a balanced and flavorful side dish which I found surprisingly delicious.
