a New Year’s

from Glebe Report January/February 2023

Building a movement to save public health care

most: we buy more than we can eat, discard what does not look good and do not use fruit and vegetables in their entirety.

While the FAO helps farmers to curb crop loss worldwide, and UNEP works towards reduction of food losses in production and waste at the retail and consumer levels, we can also play a role by striving for no-waste cooking. With surging grocery bills when many are struggling in the eco nomic downturn, strategies to reduce what we put in our composting bins also saves money.

Buy less and more often, meal planning and batch cooking with the use of the freezer for short-term stor age of prepared and perish able foods are wise and workable solutions. But what about those edible scraps that we reserve for the com post pile?

If you have already defaulted on your New Year’s resolution or have not yet committed to one, you may consider opting for reduction of food waste and in the pro cess, curb your gro cery bill. For hints on “how to” and to find no-waste recipes, search the internet.

Marisa Romano is a foodie with Italian roots and a flair for sharing her love of food.

Vegetable stock

Carrot peels, mushroom stems, celery bottoms, onion peels, parsley stems, leftover herbs and any other vegetable scraps can be used to make a vegetable stock (avoid broccoli, cauliflower and the like). Add meat and bones to make a richer preparation. Bring to a boil, simmer until reduced by 1/4 to 1/3 of its initial volume. Strain and store in your freezer. Use it for your weekly meals in soups, stews, chili, gravies, sauces and risottos, but also as a substitute for oil in dressings and when sautéing and as a liquid in mashed potatoes.

Spencer’s Easy Broccoli-Cheese Soup

With this recipe, you can use unwanted broccoli stems, leftovers from your cheese board and your vegetable or meat stock.

Ingredients:

4-5 large broccoli stems

½ large onion

1 garlic clove

¼ cup olive oil

2 tbsp flour

1 ½ litre stock

1 cup grated leftover cheeses (try smoked cheese or 2 tbsp cream cheese - recommended!)

1 cup cream

Broccoli florets to taste

Salt to taste

Directions:

Place broccoli stems in a food processor with onion and garlic and shred until fine. Sauté the mix in olive oil until soft, then add the flour and make a roux. When ready, add stock and cheeses. Bring to a boil and simmer for about 30 minutes. Ten minutes before serving, add broccoli florets to add crunch, a squeeze of lemon juice to balance the fat and cream to round up the taste.

By Tim O’Connor

I was thrilled that Flora Hall was again invited to serve at this year’s edition of Taste in the Glebe, the fundraiser that supports the Glebe Neighbourhood Activities Group.

The event, held on January 26, was welcome after two years of being so rudely interrupted by COVID. I’ve been among the chefs at Taste in the Glebe for 10 years or so, and as someone who grew up in the Glebe, I understand the importance of raising money for an organization that does wonderful work for the community.

Meeting people at Flora Hall’s food stand is a joy,

Palak Curry

1 onion

1 tsp fenugreek

1 tsp cumin

1 tsp coriander

3/4 tsp salt

2 garlic cloves

2 tsp ginger

1 cup tomatoes

1 jalapeno

100 g spinach

1/4 cup water

1/3 cup cream as the neighbourhood comes together to enjoy food from lots of restaurants at once. It’s a great way to sample cuisines and make plans to visit those restaurants for more.

Sauté onion, garlic and ginger. Add seasonings. Add chopped jalapeño and tomatoes, sauté until fragrant. Blanch spinach in boiling water for 30 seconds and transfer to ice bath. Blend all ingredients in blender while slowly adding cream. Return to pot, bring to a simmer and serve.

It’s also a place where flavours of the world meet, as they did in the dish I made – with a little bit of India and a little bit of Italy. We served a palak (spinach) curry with butter chicken ravioli and topped with a burrata. The curry is a bit spicy and usually comes with paneer, so it seems a smooth jump from that Indian fresh cheese to Italian fresh cheese. You can find burrata at Nicastro’s or Metro in the Glebe.

We recently had a popular butter chicken sausage on our menu at Flora Hall, and we used that

Butter Chicken recipe (Recipe can be halved.)

3 tbsp salt

5 lb chicken, pre-ground, or cubed to fit into your meat grinder

1/2 cup yogurt

1tbsp garam masala

1 tsp paprika

1tsp chili flakes

2 tsp cumin

1 tsp turmeric

2 tsp garlic powder

2 tsp ginger powder

1/4 cup spicy tomato jam same recipe to make the filling for the ravioli. We marinated the chicken in yogurt, tomato and garam masala and other spices. This recipe is versatile, whether you want to make sausages, ravioli or patties for little butter chicken burgers.

Season chicken with everything but tomato jam and, if not pre-ground, run through a meat grinder. Add tomatoes and mix well. It’s ready to cook for use in a variety of dishes.

The palak curry is my slightly North Americanized version of the Indian classic. According to our Indian cooks, my recipe wouldn’t fly at their grandmothers’ houses, but they agree it’s delicious. It’s also a simple recipe and, like the ravioli filling, it has various uses.

Tim O’Connor grew up in the Glebe and is head chef at Flora Hall Brewing.