Cooking with surplus food - recipes and inspiration from @naturebitesuk

We’ve all got our own ways of managing our time which affects how and when we shop and the meals that we make. Full disclosure, I am one of those people who plans out a week of meals and then shops for exactly those ingredients. I realise that’s a big turn-off for a lot of people, but right now it’s something we’re all having to take in an element of. You might be the sort of shopper to buy a random selection of ingredients that you like and create dishes when you get to the kitchen, I’m not so far from this, it’s just the invention stage takes place at home when I’m making my shopping list. I could sing the praises of how this helps me to prevent food waste in the home, but that’s not the purpose of this blog. This blog is all about the fabulous opportunity presented to us by Aber Food Surplus in the form of the Surplus Food Selection, a box of goods delivered to your door that would otherwise have gone to waste after their supermarket shelf-life.

It’s quite exciting receiving your delivery; its contents are a surprise. Personally, I love finding ways to incorporate random ingredients into my week’s meals, but if you’re not feeling so sure I wanted to share my ideas with you as things you could replicate in the coming weeks or as inspiration on how to approach your box of goodies.

Bread. There was quite a lot. Ultimately this means that around the country a lot of bread is going to waste when it doesn’t sell in the supermarket, but here in Aberystwyth we can at least be grateful that it’s being redistributed. My secret weapon here is my freezer. I love bread, I have toast most mornings, but I am only one person. When my delivery arrived most of the bread-like items went straight into my freezer for a start.

Gooey pain au chocolat courtesy of Aber Food Surplus.

When I received my surplus box I was a bit disappointed that it wasn’t more veg-heavy as veg forms the bulk of my diet. I wasn’t yet in the rhythm of things and I’d gone shopping the same day to get some nice fresh veggies from The Treehouse so things worked out nicely regardless. The thing with surplus food is you get what’s been over-ordered by the supermarkets that week, so I just made sure to order my surplus delivery for a different day next week so that I would receive it before topping up the rest of my shopping needs.

Bread and a tomato that would otherwise have been wasted, now making an utterly delicious Spanish classic.

The first thing to tackle was the pain au chocolat (chocolate croissants!) – not something I would normally buy, but an Easter weekend treat. I firmly believe that croissants should be eaten warm and so I popped these in the oven first to ensure a gooey chocolate middle – definitely not past their best. I ate them in my metre-square of sunshine with a cup of coffee; perfect.

Despite our unusual circumstances at present, we have had weeks of glorious sunshine and it’s difficult for me not to transport myself to sunny places in my mind. I associate certain foods with certain places and certain times of year. I had one rather sad looking tomato languishing in my surplus box, but despite it’s unhappy appearance all I could think of was pan con tomate, the simple, delicious and evocative tapas delight from Spain, and I couldn’t wait to eat it.

It’s an incredibly simple recipe which you could have as a snack, a side dish or a small lunch, but for me it was a delicious savoury breakfast. I followed the recipe from Devour Madrid which they have generously leant to this blog.

Next, what to do with the turnips?

I love to follow a recipe and there are so many online to try. I am also a vegetarian and quite often I follow a meat-based recipe and switch it up so that I can make a plant-based recreation. In my pantry I have a stockpile of spice kits from Simply Cook. These kits provide a recipe and the essential spices and you shop for the rest of the ingredients. This week I wanted the sunny flavours of Mexican Tinga, but rather than the Quorn the recipe called for I experimented with ‘pulled-turnip’!

I grated the raw turnips and smothered them in the chipotle rub provided in the recipe kit as well as lime juice and zest. Without the kit you could throw your kitchen cupboard at it! Whatever flavours you love would work here, but I would recommend smoked paprika and cumin to recreate a similar flavour and colour. Don’t forget the lime as that clung to the turnip excellently. Before serving up my tinga tacos I lightly fried the marinated turnip until it browned a little. I had no idea how this would turn out, but I absolutely loved it!

There’s no point reinventing the wheel, so here’s the full, original recipe direct from Simply Cook.

I’d followed another Simply Cook Recipe here and added to it with surplus veg.

I’m going to have make room for the banana and passionfruit in next week’s blog, leaving the only remaining quickly perishable food I received the radishes. These beauties added some extra colour and crunch to a rainbow salad with Chinese flavours.

I’m an oddity that doesn’t have much of a sweet tooth so the French Fancies made a welcomed gift for my neighbours and I have found new homes for the Easter Eggs too.

I’ve got grand plans for my eggs and potatoes, but that’s something for another time.

The food from Aber Food Surplus has been a gratefully received supplement to my eating week, but if you’d like some more food inspiration or simply just to look at, share and enjoy my love of food and eating then please head over to my food-dedicated Instagram account (@naturebitesuk).

I hope you can find as much pleasure in cooking and eating as I do.

Kathy

About the author. Kathy is a naturalist working in natural history programming and conservation. Food production and diet is intrinsically linked with conservation and planetary heath which plays a large role in the food choices she makes. Kathy runs her @naturebitesuk Instagram account to share her love of cooking and eating, but also to inspire people to make space for good and well sourced food in their lives.