Love Food Hate Waste - Leftover Vegetables and Black Bananas

Friday, 28 March 2014
I was delighted to be asked by Aberdeen Forward to do a second Cookery Demonstration for them as part of their Love Food Hate Waste project. You can read about the first one we did here where I made Tuna Fishcakes, Cola Chicken and Layered Fruit Crunch. Different menu and different location this time round. We were in Stonehaven as volunteers are being sought in the area to take part in a Zero Waste Scotland Fund Project where they weigh their food waste and record their recycling habits.

Aberdeen Forward - Love Food Hate Waste - Leftover Vegetables and Black Bananas

Our three course meal kicked off with what I originally called "Bottom of the Fridge Soup". So named as it can be made from whatever veggies you have languishing there unloved and unused. I tend to do either a red or a green version and as such it has been re-branded to make it sound as appetising as it actually is. There are no specific quantities given in the recipes below for the soup or the frittata. The idea being that you use what you have available to you and modify as necessary.

Red Soup with Honey & Ginger. Aberdeen Forward - Love Food Hate Waste
RED SOUP WITH HONEY & GINGER
Oil
Onion
Garlic
Tin of Tomatoes
Tomato Puree
Stock Cubes
Bottom of the fridge veggies – Carrots, Red Pepper, Tomatoes, Celery, Leek, Parsnip
Leftover Mash
Red Lentils
S&P 
Ginger (fresh or lazy)
Honey

In a large pan sauté chopped onion and garlic in a splash of oil until soft.
Chop the ‘bottom of the fridge’ veggies into chunks, add to the pan and sweat off for a few minutes.
Add the tin of tomatoes, a litre or so of hot stock and a handful of red lentils and the seasonings.
Bring to the boil then simmer for 20-30 minutes until all the veggies are soft.
Blitz with a stick blender.

Variations
Use whatever combination of veggies you have available to you. But be careful with strong flavours like green pepper.
The addition of milk and/or cheese can be used to create a creamy soup.
Be adventurous with your seasonings. Chilli, Corriander, Paprika, Cumin, Worcerstershire Sauce, Tobasco and many others all work well.
Add a wee pinch of sugar (or honey) if the soup seems bitter.
Aberdeen Forward - Love Food Hate Waste - Leftover Vegetables and Black Bananas
Aberdeen Forward - Love Food Hate Waste - Leftover Vegetables and Black Bananas
TATTIE SCONES
200g mashed potato
25g butter
50g plain flour
1/4 tsp baking powder

Mash the butter into the potato (you may need to warm it if its leftovers) 
Sift in the flour and baking powder and mix until thoroughly combined. 
Divide into two balls.
Liberally flour your surface and roll out gently to form two circles about 1/4" thick. 
Cut the circles into quarters.
Heat a girdle or heavy frying pan. 
Smear on some butter with kitchen roll. 
Once hot cook scones for about 3-4 mins on each side until golden brown.

Variations
Try adding cheese, herbs or spices through the mix
I've even made a haggis version
Tattie Scones. Aberdeen Forward - Love Food Hate Waste
FLING IT TOGETHER FRITATTA
8 Eggs
Oil
Leftover cooked potatoes sliced
Grated Cheese
S&P
Herbs & Spices - garlic, smoked paprika and crushed chili 
Veggies – Peas, red onion, red pepper, mushrooms

Sauté the frittata ingredients in oil in a large frying pan. (If any meat used is raw, cook that first and then remove it from the pan to add back in later) 
Raw veggies will require longer cooking than any leftover cooked ingredients which will just need warmed through. 
Season well and add herbs and spices as desired.
Whisk the eggs together along with grated or crumbled cheese. Pour over the vegetable mix. 
The frittata can then be cooked purely on the hob, or popped in the oven (if frying pan is ovenproof) or finished off with extra cheese crisped under the grill.
Slice into wedges and serve. Any leftovers are great served cold.

Variations
Use rice and/or pasta instead of or as well as potatoes
Any kind of cheese works grated or crumbled - try blue, feta or smoked
Make it meaty with ham, bacon, chicken, sausages, pork, beef
Frittata. Aberdeen Forward - Love Food Hate Waste - Leftover Vegetables and Black Bananas
BLACK BANANA AND CHOC CHIP BANNOCKS
125g Plain Flour
1 Black Banana
1 eggs
1 Tbsp Sugar
1 Tsp Cream of Tartar
½ tsp Bicarb of Soda
Pinch salt
Chocolate Chips
Milk
Butter to grease

The blacker the bananas the better for this recipe. Did you know you can freeze over ripe bananas to use in baking at a later date?

Sift together dry ingredients
Mash banana and whisk egg
Make a well in the dry ingredients and pour in banana and egg.
Add milk until a dropping consistency is reached. 
Mix through a handful of choc chips.
Spoon onto a buttered girdle or frying pan.
Once the pancake starts to bubble turn over with a palette knife to cook the other side. 
Put in between a folded tea towel on a cooling rack to keep warm.
Black Banana & Choc Chip Pancakes. Aberdeen Forward - Love Food Hate Waste
A great turnout for the event with lots of good interaction and feedback from the group. As a follow up Aberdeen Forward asked the participants what they had learned and what they would now do differently. Always good to get positive feedback and particularly heartening to see such positive actions being taken onboard. 

It was good to clarifying some of the items that I was unsure about freezing.
Would happily attend another event.
I hadn't realised the extent we would be fed
I am definitely going to make meals from what I have in my fridge and freezer rather than buying in more food that I don't need
I am now more aware of the cost of wastage, both to the environment and monetary

I thoroughly enjoyed the cooking demo and it definitely got me thinking about food waste
Didn't think of freezing bananas and often bin them - not any more.



2 comments

  1. I've got a few black-ish banana lurking about in the freezer, time to defrost and bake! Thanks...

    ReplyDelete
  2. What a brilliant batch of recipes to help people clear out their ingredients which otherwise might go to waste:-) Thank you for entering Credit Crunch Munch:-)

    ReplyDelete

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