A Different Dinner

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Posted on August 8, 2021

Due to Covid 19 our area has been locked down for 8 days. Those restrictions ease from this afternoon so we are very grateful. I know that this nothing compared to what many people have endured and continue to do so. I understand that grocery shopping is one of the acceptable reasons to leave your home but whether we are locked down or not, I try to minimise my exposure by shopping as infrequently as possible.

Yesterday I stocked up on some grocery items and also replenished our very meagre selection of fruit and vegetables. Now the trick is to make sure that everything is used wisely and none of the perishable goods go to waste. I bought 2 bunches of broccolini and decided that 1 of them would be used in our dinner.

After canvassing several options, I decided on a Broccolini and Caramelised Onion Tart. I found a few recipes online but none that exactly matched my idea so I pulled a few different elements together and this is what I came up with. It makes use of what I had available so you can make your own adjustments or substitutions.

Broccolini and Carmelised Onion Tart

Pastry – I was looking for something that was gluten free and tried this recipe for the pastry base. I had never thought of rubbing coconut oil rather than butter into flour when making pastry. I thought it turned out reasonably well but GMan is not a fan and feels than you can taste the coconut. You can make or buy whatever pastry suits you.

This is the pastry when I placed it in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.

Filling

2 onions
2 teaspoons mixed herbs
2 teaspoons treacle
2 tablespoons red wine
1 bunch broccolini
Olive oil
Salt
Dijon mustard
3 cloves garlic
Nutritional yeast
Sour cream
Cheddar cheese

Slice the onions, place in a pan over low heat and cook gently, stirring regularly. Add mixed herbs and treacle. Continue to cook until golden brown and soft. Add red wine to deglaze the pan. Cook for another minute and remove from heat.

Rinse broccolini and spread on baking tray, drizzle with a little olive oil, salt and slivers of garlic. Roast for about 15 minutes at 150C. Set aside until required.

Ready to go in the oven.

Line a dish or tray with your chosen pastry. Lightly spread with mustard and sprinkle with nutritional yeast. Place half of the onions in the dish then the broccolini followed by the remainder of the onions.

Add some dollops of sour cream and a little grated cheese.

Bake at 180C for 20 minutes.

I served slices of the tart with freshly-made coleslaw and cherry tomatoes.

Something from Nothing (Almost)

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Posted on April 14, 2018

About a week ago I made Thai Beef Salad for dinner. The first step was to marinate some thinly sliced beef which was done the day before. I did not not have a recipe for the marinade but it did include lime juice, olive oil and fresh chillies.

On the night I quickly pan-fried the beef before adding it to the salad. The meal was truly delicious.

However, the essence of this post is the residue that remained in the pan. After dinner I added a cup of water to the pan and heated it gently to lift the remnants of beef marinade. This resulted in a rich and tasty ‘stock’ which I allowed to cool and then froze.

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Today I thawed this to make gravy. All that was required was a sprinkle of herb salt and 1 tablespoon of arrowroot blended with a little water and I had a delicious gravy.

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A simple yet tasty meal – sausages with mash, peas and carrots topped with gravy made from last week’s pan residue.

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Rescued Fruit

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Posted on March 21, 2018

Even though I do my best to minimise my waste on a personal level, it can be very difficult to control the waste that occurs in other facets of my life, most notably my workplace. I work in a corporate office and there are instances where there is catering ordered for business lunches and so on. I generally try to make sure that any leftovers are not wasted. Last week there was a small amount left on a fruit platter which I retrieved with no particular plan in mind. I decided to put it in a container in the freezer with a view to using it for smoothies at a later date.

Yesterday morning I removed this frozen block of mixed fruit which included a couple of types of melon, strawberries, grapes and a few blueberries.

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Into the blender…………

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I added juice of a lime and a banana and blended it until smooth.

About 1/3 of the mixture was added to a small amount of water and became part of my breakfast.

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The remainder went back in the freezer. I whizzed it briefly in the evening and we had a delicious fruit sorbet for dessert.

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It is a small but important step to save whatever perfectly good food that I can. Otherwise, I know it will simply be thrown out.

My Minimalism

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Posted on September 9, 2017

I often read or hear people asking quantitative questions with regard to minimalism. These generally revolve around how many of something you need. Examples include, “How many pairs of shoes do you have?” or “How many sets of clothes do I need for a 2 year old?”

Additionally, there are numerous blogs and articles out there which exhort you to get rid of appliances or say that one set of crockery per person is all you need.

Conversely, I maintain that minimalism should not be prescriptive and that each person has different circumstances and will make their own choices.

The thing that defines minimalism to me is that whatever you own is mindfully curated and limits are set.

In particular, I have been reminded recently of variations in kitchen requirements. We grow some of our own food and naturally we end up with a glut of certain produce from time to time. I do my best not to waste it. Processing a large quantity of produce is generally when appliances come into their own.

I can happily squeeze 2 or 3 oranges using this vintage glass juicer.

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But when it comes to juicing the 160 grapefruit that we have picked in the last 2 weeks I have neither the time or energy to do them by hand. My trusty food processor with the citrus juicer attachment comes into its own.

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This was one batch of about 60 grapefruit that I juiced last weekend. In the space of 30 minutes I had several bottles of juice for GMan plus containers of juice to freeze for future use.

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Citrus are not the only produce that I deal with in bulk amounts.

Some time ago I bought a 20kg bag of onions. Once again, I routinely dice one or two onions using a sharp knife but the food processor with the cutting blade is invaluable for processing larger quantities of onions.

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I chopped 3kg of onions and then used another appliance – my dehydrator – to dry them.

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24 hours later – back to the food processor, but this time with the spice grinder attachment.

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The end result was dried onion flakes and onion powder which cost me $3 and a little time as compared to nearly $13 to buy the same quantity from the supermarket. As an added bonus there is no packaging either.

I have used the deydrator to make garlic powder, tomato powder and vegetable stock powder using the same general method.

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Then there is the Kitchen Aid mixer which I regularly use to make spreadable butter, pizza bases, combine various flours for my gluten-free flour mix, the occasional cake and GMan uses it when making sourdough bread. It also has a pasta attachment which I use occasionally.

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The high-speed blender is also used regularly to make smoothies, mango sorbet and peanut paste to name but a few.

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So, my minimalist kitchen is probably a joke in some people’s eyes but it works for me.

However, I do not have single-purpose appliances such as a waffle maker, ice-cream maker, hot dog maker and so on.

You see, minimalism really is what is right for the individual and their circumstances.

Bad vs. Worse

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Posted on July 15, 2017

You would think that a single-use plastic take-away food container would be the last thing I would post about during Plastic-Free July. Bear with me while I explain.

During the week there was a meeting at work which I was not involved in but this was some of the leftover lunch catering. At the end of the day someone mentioned that if anyone could use the leftovers to please take them. I am one of the last to leave the office so I had quite a pile to take with me. The first stop was to leave a tray of sandwiches and wraps at the park for some of the homeless who are often nearby.

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This container had not been opened and contained a mix of pumpkin, onion and baby spinach. It seemed to have a seasoned oil dressing on it.

This morning I decided to make a vegetable curry. The pumpkin chunks had not been peeled so I removed the skin. I know that it is edible, however, I choose not to do so.

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I fried a couple of small chillies (diced) and some curry paste, added green beans and capsicum (bell pepper), some coconut cream and finally the pumpkin and spinach.

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This was our dinner which I served with some brown rice.

So, I have acquired a plastic container. However, I saved perfectly good food from landfill. The container will be used many times over.

I also salvaged some fruit from the same event. The container on the left is my lunchbox which I filled with fruit that was on skewers (kebab-style) and the other container was provided by the caterers. This is now in my recycling bin.

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I put all of the fruit in the blender along with some frozen pineapple, passionfruit and mango from the freezer. This made enough for 4 large semi-frozen fruit smoothies. Here is mine which I had for breakfast.

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I could have refused to have anything to do with this excess food because of the plastic waste, however, I chose to take responsibility for it and use the food as well as doing the best I can with the plastic. Much better than it all ending up in landfill. Do you agree?

Must Watch

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Posted on March 5, 2014

There is a relatively small amount of information and resources for Australians and it gives me great pleasure to share a link to a video which is made by Australians, about the Australian situation, using Australian statistics and information. The video is titled ‘Waste Deep’ and was produced by the group at Sustainable Table. The headline is “Waste Deep, a documentary that will change the way we cook and eat”.

This is not an over-the-top production designed for its shock value. It simply and eloquently states the case for all of us to dramatically reduce our acceptance of plastic packaged, perfect food and the culture of convenience.

Please watch the video, preferably more than once. Listen to the message and commit to acting to make a difference. We all can make a difference.

Some of the themes are menu planning, growing your own food, reducing the amount you buy at supermarkets, supporting bulk/loose food stores, taking you own containers to be refilled, buying direct from the farmer or Farmers’ Markets and reducing before recycling.

Although this is an Australian video, the message and actions are applicable wherever you live.

What are you already doing? What are you going to do? Please share your thoughts and ideas so that we can build an online network to follow these principles and make a difference.

Lunch – Local and Leftovers

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Posted on June 8, 2012

I dislike seeing food being wasted, so whenever I am at home during the day my lunches can be interesting, to say the least.

Here is what I found for my lunch today.Clockwise from the top – last of the home-made tortillas from the freezer, some leftover coleslaw, a bell chilli, an avocado, spoonful of cold, mashed potato and the block of cheese.

The chilli and avocado are from the garden. I then picked a perennial onion and a bunch of parsley.

The avocado skin had been nibbled by some of the local wildlife and there was dirt on it from where it had been lying on the ground but the inside was smooth, creamy and perfect when I cut it.

I spread the potato on the tortilla and then cut and piled all of the other ingredients on top, created a wrap and toasted it in the sandwich maker.

Here is my toasted gourmet wrap and a glass of lemon cordial. I finished my meal with a mandarin from our tree.

What do you eat for lunches – at home or when you are at work?

A Lesson From The Past

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Posted on May 19, 2012

Some people in various parts of the world are living in economies that are officially described as being in a recession but wherever we live, these are definitely uncertain times. At the same time there is research showing that many 1st world nations waste up to 20% of all food purchased. That is the equivalent of bringing home 5 bags of groceries and throwing one bag of groceries straight into the bin.

Perhaps it is time to look back to earlier generations and their ‘waste not, want not’ mentality. Everything was used, re-used and re-fashioned until not a single thing was left. This applied in equal measure to food, clothing, furniture and so on.

Today I want to show you how we can easily make better use of the abundant food that we have.

This morning I juiced a large carrot, 2 apples and about 1/3 of a pineapple. I drank the juice for breakfast and saved the pulp.

Next was a 600 ml container of cream. This was bought in January and not required for a luncheon we were hosting so it was put in the freezer. Last weekend I thawed it to have some cream on dessert. Only a small amount was used so today I put it in my Kitchen Aid stand mixer and made butter. I followed the description from here. I was very pleased with the result.

I used 100g of the butter when I made pastry and this is what was left. From about 500ml of cream I made 220g of butter and had 250ml of buttermilk.

I used the buttermilk tonight when I made a bacon and mushroom quiche for dinner. I mixed a couple of tablespoons of milk powder into the buttermilk to make a thicker liquid for the quiche.

While the oven was on I also made a batch of muffins using the leftover fruit pulp from my juice.

I made beef curry in the slowcooker from a recipe in one of the Sally Wise cookbooks. This is now divided into portions and frozen along with several serves of bolognaise sauce and a dish of lasagne.

Making these meals is a reminder of how we can use our own condiments. The curry called for tomato sauce, worcestershire sauce, chutney and curry powder as some of the ingredients. I had home-made versions of all of these to use. Some of the pasta sauce I made during the summer when tomatoes were very cheap and plentiful went into the bolognaise sauce. The lasagne sheets were ones I had made some weeks ago and frozen. It is great to have so many of the ingredients for meals at your fingertips and know that they have been created in your own kitchen and you know exactly what went into them.

The Duke has made our bread from bought pre-mixes for a number of years and now he is experimenting with making it from scratch. He has the white loaf pretty well perfect but has working on getting the wholemeal loaf the way he wants it. Here is the result of his effort today and naturally he is very pleased.

Tomorrow I plan to make lemon butter which will use our own eggs and lemons as well as some of the butter I made today.

How do you make the most of the food you have?

The Ones That Got Away

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Posted on January 15, 2012

Yesterday I ventured down to the vegetable gardens and found these zucchini. At 1.8kg and 2.8kg they could certainly be regarded as the ones that got away.

The photograph shows them beside the food processor which gives an indication of the size of them.

In keeping with my previous post, there was no way I was going to waste them so I cut them up and and scooped the seeds out. I then cut them into manageable pieces and fed them through the food processor with the grater attachment. Since the skin is fairly tough on these large zucchini it did not grate particularly well but my work still yielded 8 x 400 g packs of grated zucchini in ziplock bags ready to freeze.

These are now packed away in the freezer, ready for use. I make zucchini quiche/slice which works perfectly well with previously frozen zucchini. I also add it to bolognaise sauce and lasagne.