The first few weeks of the year are finally to pass Lent as the high season of resignation. The meal plan after the lavish holiday season should always be low in calories and modest. For some years now January has also been as non-alcoholic as possible (“Dry” or “Sober January”) and more recently also without meat, the “Veganuary” campaign, which NGOs devised four years ago to encourage. people to be more sustainable, Animal and climate nutrition is becoming more and more popular around the world.
More restaurants and businesses are now participating than ever before. Unfortunately, most find that advertising a few chorizo-flavored seitan sticks is enough. But marketing, ideological drumming and ready-made products never lead to better cuisine. On the other hand, it is always hidden that sustainable management is also related to effort. Cooking yourself is good, but completely rethinking the kitchen is even better.
Franconian two-star chef Felix Schneider, who is known for his sustainable way of working, shows what that might look like. He may have had a more complex system for using leftovers for a long time, but in the early years he always had a huge pot on the stove, in which it was gently boiled and in which (almost) all that remained of cleaning. the vegetables, for example, automatically entered it. This creates a wonderful and useful foundation.
One particularly handy recipe comes from British chef Nadiya Hussain
The example shows that the term kitchen waste actually belongs to the index. Years ago, Copenhagen’s top restaurant “Noma” hired a biochemist from the University of Berkeley to ferment vegetable scraps into smoothies. And the Swiss gastronomic journalist Esther Kern, with her holistic approach “Leaf to root” (from leaf to root), founded a real movement of amateur chefs who use only all the fruit. The number of projects proving that something can still be done out of almost anything has long become confusing. Unfortunately, this does not mean that all the wonderful choices to use waste are made in everyday life. They often fail due to planning and time budgets. Who keeps an eternal flame at home with a bubbling soup pot in which one can wisely at any time discard a few carrot peels or a broccoli stalk?
But now there are recipes that give excuses to even the laziest of us. A particularly practical and clever recipe comes from British chef Nadiya Hussain, who works with frozen vegetable chips and shells for her “hearty leftover soup” (“Time to eat. Simple and quick recipes for a relaxed life”, Ars Vivendi). These gradually accumulate during cleaning of the vegetables, with a little extra effort is to wash potatoes, carrots, parsnips, celery, leeks or even beets a little more carefully than usual and remove any ugly stains. Shells, leeks or stems are roughly chopped and frozen tightly.
If you’ve collected enough, there’s a vegetable soup that suits January as perfectly as no other. For all reminders and market fans: This recipe is not only low in calories, alcohol-free, local, vegan and climate friendly, but also inclusive, diverse and feminist. The family of the essentially likeable Nadiya Hussain comes from Bangladesh. But the fact that the daughter of Muslim migrants competes in a BBC baking program and wins is then overwhelmed by TV offers and book contracts and is allowed to bake the much-admired cake for the Queen’s 90th birthday – unfortunately these are stories that until now has. was only unique in the UK Cooking TV narrated. These are stories that – speaking of rethinking – may be a little more common in the future.
Boil the bread to make it creamy
For simplicity, Nadiya Hussain uses 3 tablespoons of onion and 2 tablespoons of garlic cloves for her soup, ie freeze-dried goods, which she combines with 700 g of frozen vegetable pieces, about 2 tablespoons of salt (depending on taste, additional salt is always possible), the abrasion and juice of Put 2 organic lemons, 1 tablespoon of peppers and 7 g of dried coriander in a large saucepan and pour 2 l of vegetable stock on them (vegetable stock of glass is more expensive and better, but also works a grain stock, later salt more carefully). Finally, add a torn slice of bread, which is cooked with it and give the soup a certain creaminess at the end. Let everything simmer for about 90 to 120 minutes, clean until smooth with a hand mixer, season to taste and serve with a cup of yogurt or sour cream (oatmeal yogurt would be vegan) and a little onion (parsley, coriander and or roasted seeds). also work, of course). Admittedly, this soup is more for a more rustic palate. But it tastes good – depending on the vegetables each time a little different. She is useful. And it freezes well.
Refining is of course always possible. For example, using more vegetables or starting to sort and coordinate the leftovers according to type. Or because you care to replace the granules with 2 finely chopped onions and 4 garlic cloves, which are sautéed in a little olive oil and briefly glazed with a little mild vinegar or vermouth. It can hardly be an easier start to this year.
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