Don’t throw that out!

By TASTE, 27 July 2016

The tops and tails of your favourite veg can be transformed into pretty palatable treats and save you a few Randelas in the process.

Cauliflower leaves have a cabbagey flavour, so are great steamed with butter, or in a slaw with a tangy dressing. Irish chef Tony Budde combines the leaves with pecorino and stock for

Use beetroot leaves as you would spinach – they only need a minute or two to wilt. Martha Stewart sautés them with garlic and tomato paste, while chef Marcus Samuelsson loves them fresh in a salad with blood oranges and

The crunchy stems of beetroot leaves are perfect for a quick pickle, but you can also do as Jamie Oliver does and blanch them before frying with garlic in olive oil, and finishing off with a dash of white

Broccoli stems make for fabulous, simple sides, whether thinly sliced and marinated in olive oil and lemon juice, or sliced thick and pan-fried until charred. New York chef Anne Burrell juliennes them to make a mayonnaise-laced slaw.

Slightly bitter with a grassy taste, carrot tops are great combined with parsley in salsa verde or pesto. Chef and founder of WastEd pop-up dinners Dan Barber uses it to make a marmalade.

(For three weeks in March last year, Dan Barber transformed one of his New York-based Blue Hill restaurants into a pop-up eatery called WastED, where he and big-wig contemporaries including Alain Ducasse and Grant Achatz took turns reimagining the bits and bobs usually tossed without a second thought- resulting in the now legendary Dumpster Dive Salad and veggie-pulp burger patties to name but a few.)

Local is lekker

Based in Cape Town, The Upcycle Project partners with restaurants and cafés to transform their leftover ingredients into delicious meals. A worthwhile initiative if ever there was one, it works like this: volunteer chefs from the Mother City come up with creative culinary solutions for kitchen scraps and ingredients that might have reached their sell-by date, but haven’t yet expired. The feasts are sold from pop-ups throughout the city on a pay-as-you-feel basis, the minimum being R5, making it affordable to everyone keen on a bit of tasty tuck. Most importantly, all the proceeds go to helping Cape Town’s homeless population. To find out how you can help, visit upcycleproject.co.za.

TASTE

Article by TASTE

The TASTE team is a happy bunch of keen cooks and writers, always on the look out for the next food trend or the next piece of cake.
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