The Food Saver's A-Z by Alex Elliott-Howery and Jaimee Edwards

Alex Elliott-Howery & Jaimee Edwards

We’re all too familiar with the daily struggle of putting meals on the table that tick all the boxes: yummy, affordable, nutritious, low-waste food that will be enjoyed by everyone and not end up in the bin. We know the food choices we make can play an important role in alleviating environmental problems, reducing food waste, avoiding excess packaging, managing budgets and building healthy bodies, but we also know it’s not an easy feat.

As enthusiastic self-taught cooks and experienced teachers at the popular Cornersmith Cooking School, we have been discussing, experimenting with and refining our kitchen skills over 16 years of friendship and professional collaboration. When each of us had small children, we committed to preservative-free this, wholemeal that, and everything – including the Vegemite – was made from scratch. We turned ourselves inside out being the most wholesome and eco-conscious (if not the most boring) citizens on the planet.

Now we both have bigger kids who are bringing home Slurpees, the cooking school has expanded and life has got busier, more complicated and more expensive. We can’t ‘homestead’ from city kitchens when we come home at 6 pm. At the same time, the stakes of the climate emergency are higher, and we know that now, more than ever, community and individual change matters. We haven’t given up on the home-made everything, but we’ve learned how to cut corners, focus our priorities and develop ‘hacks’ for both sanity and sustainability.

While we both still love a day spent bottling tomatoes, we’re now much more into perfecting quick tips and tricks that will keep kitchen scraps out of the bin and recipes that are versatile enough to stretch over a few dinners.

When our last cookbook, Use It All, came out in 2020 we were surprised and delighted by its success. The feedback made us realise that people in households of all kinds want to change their habits in the kitchen. We had discussions with readers and our cooking school students about the obstacles to reducing food waste, and for many it’s simply that the wisdom of ‘what to do with the thing’ has been lost. So we looked to the cooks from less wasteful times for lessons in resourcefulness and thrift – rustic meals,

wartime rations – to really learn for ourselves and show readers how to make the very most out of every ingredient.

This book is a look into our own fridges and pantries, fruit bowls, freezers and gardens, to see the ways we manage the food that comes into our kitchens. It’s not about lifestyle or Instagram perfection. It’s about real people cooking good, simple, affordable food while also making better environmental choices.

We want to encourage you to be a more confident and instinctive cook, to take creative liberties with what you have and what you like. This book is to be used as a guide, as though we’re there with you in your kitchen, reminding you to look at what you already have rather than head to the shops. The layout is an A–Z ingredient manual, designed to help you use up anything you’re sick of looking at or that’s going to go bad next week. We’ll show you how half a jar of tomato paste can be turned into dinner, just how many things you can do with a tired broccoli head, how delicious cauliflower leaves and leek tops actually are, and how never to throw away cooked pasta or rice again. You’ll find advice on what ingredient goes with what, ways to store food properly for longer life, quick ideas for what to do with awkwardly small amounts of something, waste hacks, ingredient swaps, preserving tips and, of course, the answers to that endless question, ‘What’s for dinner?’

Our recipes are simple but delicious. We use minimal ingredients and basic cooking techniques to feed ourselves, our families and friends with ease. This book will save you time and money while bringing resourcefulness back into your kitchen.

Remember, you don’t need to be perfectly sustainable – even small changes will make a difference. We hope these pages help.

Jaimee

Anchovies

Ah, anchovies … the great divider of palates. You might love them or hate them, but many people have half a jar of anchovies rattling around in their fridge. Intensely salty, these preserved little fishies can add a depth and complexity to dishes that can be hard to identify, even for the haters.

Go with Olive oil, butter, onions, garlic, chilli, capers, fennel, lemons, bitter salad greens, beetroot, brussels sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, tomatoes, capsicum (pepper), eggplant (aubergine), zucchini (courgettes), potatoes, olives, bread, eggs, cheeses, sage, warm spices like cinnamon and allspice, coconut cream

Storage Unopened, a jar of anchovies will last 1 year in the pantry. Once opened, keep anchovies in the fridge; they’ll be at their best for 3–4 months, but honestly, they’re so salted that they’ll still last for years.

Substitutes If you don’t have anchovies, try replacing their intense salty flavour with these punchy options: a dash of fish sauce, capers, worcestershire sauce, preserved lemons or salted olives.

Some ideas for finishing the anchovy jar

* Combine a few chopped anchovies with capers and currants and stir them through left-over cooked rice or couscous, adding olive oil and plenty of herbs for a meal for one. Heat this up in a small saucepan or eat cold as a grain salad.

* Add chopped anchovies to the Niçoise Salad of Sorts (p 39).

* Add some thinly sliced anchovies to roasted beetroot just before serving, for extra richness.

* After you’ve eaten all the anchovies in the jar, drizzle the left-over anchovy oil on toast and top with fresh tomato or a boiled egg. Or drizzle anchovy oil over garlic bread to make it extra rich. You could also add a splash to a salad dressing.

* Anchovies in the fridge and pasta in the pantry mean either Puttanesca (p 71) or Parsley Pasta Sauce (p 199) is on the menu tonight.

* Quick tapenade Finely chop pitted olives with a few anchovy fillets, mixing in ground black pepper, a squeeze of lemon juice, a few chilli flakes and olive oil. Serve with fish or cheese. For a full Tapenade recipe, see p 310.

Anchovy butter

MAKES 150 G ( 5 OZ )

Sorry, not sorry, if you’re among the uninitiated, to introduce you to the world of compound butters. They’re basically butter mixed with something intensely flavoured – savoury or sweet –to give you even more reason to love butter. This anchovy butter will turn tomatoes on toast into something worth inviting friends over for, while putting a generous slice on a cooked steak, letting it melt and eating it with a very simple green salad and a martini is as close to perfect as life can get. We also love Herby Compound Butter (p 192) and Lemon-flavoured Butter (p 240).

In a small bowl, mix 120 g (4¼ oz) unsalted softened butter, about 25 g (1 oz) drained then finely chopped anchovies, and a pinch each of cayenne pepper, ground cinnamon and ground black pepper (or whatever you have that will make it yummy and spicy). Once combined, keep in an airtight container in the fridge for 3–4 weeks or the freezer for up to 3 months.

Comfort pasta sauce

SERVES 4

This recipe is a version of one of Marcella Hazan’s pasta sauces. It’s a perfect way to use those few last anchovies, adding richness to otherwise very basic ingredients. Our families crave this household favourite whether spirits are high or low.

Place a medium saucepan over medium heat, and melt 100 g (3½ oz) unsalted butter. Add 1 small diced onion, 4 finely chopped garlic cloves and 4–6 chopped anchovies. Sauté for 5–7 minutes, then add 400 g (14 oz) tinned crushed tomatoes. Reduce the heat to low and simmer gently, covered, for 15 minutes. Blitz to a rich orange sauce using a hand-held blender. Serve with any pasta.

Garlic

Unless you’re a farmer you probably won’t find yourself inundated with garlic. It is, however, a commonly wasted ingredient because most of us buy it cheaply and thoughtlessly, then scoop up a handful of garlic litter – the loose papery cloves – and just chuck it before buying more plump bulbs. But if we can learn to fully appreciate not only the flavour of each and every clove, but also the potential each one has to grow into another whole bulb, then we might see this everyday ingredient in a new light.

Goes with What doesn’t it go with? All vegetables, fresh herbs, mango, lemons, limes, dried beans, dried beans, chickpeas, lentils, nuts and seeds, buckwheat, quinoa, ginger, chilli, spices, miso, bread, olives, all meats and seafood, eggs, cheeses, yoghurt

Storage

Moisture will make garlic go mouldy, so keep bulbs and cloves cool and dry. Store them on the benchtop in a little bowl or paper bag. Whole heads will keep for many months if unbroken, and cloves will keep for about 10 days.

Substitutes

Sneaky garlic powder is a bit weird, but it makes a very reliable substitute for the real thing.

Some ideas for using up garlic

* Grow your own. One sprouted clove can be planted to grow into a whole bulb. Plant a sprouted clove, sprout side up, in a sunny position and give it a light water and mulch. Your garlic should be ready to harvest in about 7 months.

* Make the stock paste on p 447 using up all your random left-over cloves.

* Add a few cloves to the Odd-knobs Ginger Paste (p 175).

* If you have some old bread that needs using and there’s half a head of garlic in the kitchen, try the Skordalia recipe (p 52). It’s a most flavoursome dip to serve at a party.

* Whip up some Old-school Garlic Bread (p 52) and make everyone happy.

* Cheat’s garlic bread Rub a cut garlic clove on toast, drizzle with oil and season with salt and pepper. Serve with eggs, a tomato salad or soups, or for breakfast when you have a cold.

* Roasted head of garlic Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F). Lightly oil a bulb of garlic and wrap tightly in baking paper by gathering the edges together and twisting to seal. Put on a baking tray and roast for 30–40 minutes. Remove from the oven, allow to cool, then pop the cloves from their skins. Spread on toast or use in cooking as you would raw garlic.

Garlic butter

Follow the method for Anchovy Butter (p 3), using either finely chopped raw garlic or roasted garlic (see above) and ditching the cinnamon. Use about 6 cloves to 125 g (4½ oz) butter. Sauté everything in it – it’s really good – or spread it on toast and serve it with soup. Stuff the Oldschool Garlic Bread (p 52) with knobs of this. Garlic butter is amazing to have in the fridge. It’ll turn a boring meal into something much better.

Pickled garlic

This is an excellent way to preserve garlic if you have too much, or to make the most of the garlic season. Don’t be scared to use pickled garlic in your everyday cooking – the extra acid suits most recipes. And never throw away the liquid once you’ve eaten all your pickles. Garlic vinegar is incredible in salad dressings, for seasoning in a tomato salad, or even drizzled over oysters.

Follow the Basic Vegetable Pickling method (p 472), leaving out the spices. Note that garlic can go blue as it sits in vinegar. This isn’t harmful, but to avoid radioactive-looking pickles, blanch the cloves (with the skin on) in boiling water for 60 seconds. Remove from the pot, allow to cool, then peel and pickle as normal.

Garlic confit

MAKES 1 x 400 M l ( 14 OZ ) JAR

Ooh confit, fancy. To confit anything is to cook it low and slow in fat. It’s a very old preserving technique that also coaxes the most intense flavours from ingredients. For modern preservers there’s some iffiness about preserving garlic in oil, but this confit recipe is a short-term preserve that can only be kept for 2 weeks. The other important point here is that you must keep your confit in the fridge. There can be serious safety concerns when preserving garlic in oil then keeping it at room temperature, so make your confit, seal it, pop it in the fridge, and use those mellow, nutty garlic cloves in all your pastas, risottos, roasts, cooked vegetables, salad dressings, dips – you get the picture – for the next fortnight.

Preheat the oven to 130°C (250°F). In a small ovenproof dish, place the separated and peeled cloves of 4 garlic bulbs, 1 tsp black peppercorns and 2 bay leaves (or other woody herbs). Pour 1 cup (250 ml) olive oil over everything and cover with foil. Slow-cook in the oven for 60–75 minutes, checking after 45 minutes to make sure all the garlic is still covered with oil, topping it up if necessary. Remove from the oven and allow to cool. Pour the entire contents of the dish into a dry sterilised (p 501) jar and refrigerate. To use, remove cloves from the oil using a clean spoon, then use as you would a normal clove. We repeat: this confit garlic will keep in the fridge for no more than 2 weeks.

Garlic oxymel

Oxymels are a combination of vinegar and honey, together with an ingredient that has medicinal properties. Traditionally, it was a way of making medicine easier to take and frankly it still is. Garlic has been valued for its health benefits for thousands of years. It has anti-inflammatory, antibiotic and antihistamine properties, can help lower cholesterol and blood pressure, and can also support the liver in detoxifying the body. But chomping on cloves of raw garlic is pretty rough, so make this concoction and take your daily dose pleasantly.

In a clean and dry jar, mix ¼ cup (60 ml) apple cider vinegar with 3 tbsp raw honey, then add 4–5 chopped garlic cloves. Set aside on the benchtop to infuse for 1–2 weeks, then keep in the fridge for up to 6 months. Add 1 tbsp to hot water for a morning tea, or take a spoonful to help fight off cold symptoms or when feeling run down.

See leeks, onions and spring onions for ideas with other alliums.

Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F). Grease or line 8–10 holes of a 12-hole muffin tin. In a medium–large bowl, put 1 cup (150 g) wholemeal or white plain (all-purpose) flour, 1½ tsp bicarbonate of soda (baking soda) and ½ tsp salt, then mix well with a whisk. Add 1 cup mixed seeds and/or chopped nuts, ¼ cup something binding like bran, almond meal or desiccated coconut, and 1 tsp ground spices (cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg) or finely grated orange or lemon zest. In another bowl, whisk 2 eggs, then whisk in 1 cup (125 ml) oil, ½ cup (110 g) brown sugar and 2 cups (250 g) grated pumpkin. Fold the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients, taking care not to overmix, then pour into the muffin tin. Sprinkle more seeds on top of each muffin and drizzle with honey. Cook for 20–25 minutes, until a skewer inserted in the centre of a muffin comes out clean. Cool in the tin for 5 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely.

PUMPKIN SKIN AND SEEDS

If you grew a pumpkin or 10, or bought a whole pumpkin, you’ll have skins and seeds left over. Here are a few tips for turning them into something more.

Some ideas for using pumpkin skin

* Add washed pumpkin (squash) skin to a batch of End-of-the-week Scrap Stock (p 446). Include roasted onions, rosemary, garlic and pepper.

* Pumpkin skin makes a nice addition to apple jam or orange marmalade. Thinly slice, and soften it by cooking with the apple pieces or citrus skins. Go on, be brave. Give it a go.

Spicy pumpkin seeds

To make your own spicy pepitas (pumpkin seeds), scoop the seeds out of your pumpkin and remove the attached stringy flesh. Rinse in a colander, then place in a bowl of water. Pick out any pumpkin goop and drain the seeds again. Preheat the oven to 120°C (235°F) and spread the seeds out on a baking tray. Bake for 15 minutes. Remove from the oven, then drizzle a little oil of your choice over the seeds and sprinkle them with 1 tsp sea salt, 1 tsp paprika, 1 tsp ground cumin and a pinch of cayenne pepper. Stir to combine. Increase the oven temperature to 160°C (315°F) and bake for a further 15 minutes or until golden. Set aside to cool, then store in an airtight container in the pantry for up to 2 weeks. Serve on soups, salads or risottos, or use as part of a trail mix.