Conor Spacey, Culinary Director of FoodSpace Ireland, joined Brendan Courtney on RTÉ Radio 1 to discuss his new book, Wasted, which hopes to be an unofficial guide to controlling food waste in the kitchen.
"The idea behind the whole book was to really identify the top three most wasted foods in Ireland," says Conor, who names these items as being bread, fruit, and vegetables.
For this reason, Wasted is filled to the brim with veggie-based dishes as well as general tips and guidance that are bound to inspire your next eco-minded meal.
Growing up in Ireland, Spacey says he was always taught to use every bit of food available in order to get the most of it and save on shopping costs. Once he began working in commercial kitchens, though, he was astounded at home much food people were in the habit of throwing out perfectly good food.
One of his favourite recipes in the book is Roasted Carrots With Carrot Skin Dukkah, Carrot Top Pesto & Labneh because he thinks of vegetables the same way you would if it was piece of meat: butcher it into parts and ensure you use everything.
This dish is a great example of that. It uses every centimeter of the carrot. Along with the body, the tops are delicious in salads, pasta or turned into pesto. This dish works well as a light lunch or served family-style on a platter as a side for dinner.e a leaf which you can apply to your home cooking.
With Wasted, Conor hopes to bring readers back to the old ways of doing things in order to save both on cost and waste. He also encourages home chefs to try their hand at a bit of gardening in order to regrow their veg.
While some people think that you can only grow your own food from a big garden, he insists that many items can be regrown on windowsills, in jars and on balconies.
Spring Onions
- Spring onions can be regrown without any soil in about two weeks.
- Leave about 2.5cm of the root end, then simply put it in a small jar or cup.
- Pour in enough water to cover the 'hairy' part of the root.
- Put in your kitchen window and watch it grow back.
Lettuce
- Regardless of the type of lettuce, if you are buying whole heads, you can regrow them.
- Remove all the leaves and just leave the root and about 2.5cm of the inner leaves.
- Regrow the lettuce the same way that you would spring onions.
- This will grow back into a full head of lettuce.
Celery & Pak Choi
- Leave about 5cm at the bottom that holds it all together.
- Turn it upside down and you'll see a small circle in the centre. Simply slice 1mm off this to expose the root.
- Pop it into a half-water-filled jar or pot and leave it in your kitchen window for about two weeks.
- You will start to see new celery stalks growing from the centre of the root.
- Transfer the root to a slightly bigger plant pot with soil. watch as it grows into another full celery.
- Then simply reuse and repeat.
You can listen back to the full interview on The Ryan Tubridy Show on RTÉ Radio 1 above.
