Fun with food during lockdown — Aber Food Surplus

Featured this time (surplus ingredients highlighted in italics):

Banana buckwheat pancakes – banana, strawberries

Panzanella – red pepper

Creamed kale with mushrooms – kale

Roasted pears and red onion with halloumi – pears

Dill & potato salad with rye croutons – potato, rye bread

Avgolemono (a vegan twist on this Greek egg & lemon soup) – carrot

Noodle salad with carrot & coconut dressing – satsuma, carrot

Sausages with horseradish mash, apple salad & sage and leek gravy – apple

Banana buckwheat pancakes

First off, I am really excited to share THE MOST delicious American-style pancakes from Marianne Stewart’s ‘Nourish Cakes’. I had this book as a gift from a thoughtful friend and it offers sweet treats with a twist. A couple of weeks back I received a banana in my delivery and ever since a banana-based lockdown hair mask disaster they’ve really gone off my radar as something I want to eat. Nonetheless, this recipe for banana buckwheat pancakes was calling out to be tried, especially as I also had a punnet of strawberries too.

Ta-da! My recreation of banana buckwheat pancakes.

Honestly, these were fantastic. The banana was more of a cooking agent, helping to bind these vegan pancakes together. They also made me realise that what I don’t normally like with the American-style pancakes is their eggy taste. I realise that for some people that’s exactly why you’ll like them, just not for me. In contrast, these were absolutely perfect for my tastes. The pancakes themselves are not too sweet, which means you can ramp up the sweetness with your toppings. I loved the texture. They were easy to make. They used up surplus banana and strawberries. Wins all round.

I listened to Jack Johnson’s ‘Banana Pancakes’ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OkyrIRyrRdY and enjoyed the lockdown escapism.

I’ve had a week or so off the writing, but not the eating! More recipe ideas below…

Here’s this week’s box of surplus food, plus some wild garlic gathered on a walk.

Panzanella

When I received this week’s box there was a perfect red pepper shining out at me. How a perfect, popular red pepper ends up as a ‘waste product’ is beyond me, but it was like a little jewel to me and I wanted it to be a main feature of however I ate it.

Panzanella is a Tuscan salad the includes soaked stale bread. It’s fresh, full of goodness and delicious.

Panzanella, using up the last of a friend’s delicious home-made bread – thanks Richard!

The method I have always followed is to strain the seedy middles of tomatoes through a sieve into two to one olive oil to white wine vinegar, finely chopped garlic, salt and pepper. This acts as a generous dressing for all the other ingredients to bathe in.

To make soft pepper slivers, like those from out of a jar, you can blacken the pepper skin under the grill, after which it peels off leaving a slippery pepper for slicing. Mix with the tomatoes, bread (better when past it’s best), basil and black olives. Welcome to summer.

Creamed kale with mushrooms

Well the picture I have to accompany this recipe is terrible, but I wanted to include it to mention that the kale freezes really well. When I received the bag, it was already past it’s best so I portioned it off and popped it straight in the freezer. It can go straight from the freezer into your cooking when you’re ready.

Despite this looking like an appalling pile of mush, it was delicious!

What you should be seeing is a delicious creamy sauce, but I got distracted by Zoom quizzing and it congealed while it cooled. Nonetheless, it was incredibly tasty!

If you love a creamy mushroom concoction then you should try it - https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/231560/delicious-creamed-kale-with-mushrooms/. I served mine with polenta for a rich and delicious supper.

Roasted pears and red onion with halloumi

With the surplus deliveries I’ve been looking for ways to include fruit in my savoury dishes and this halloumi recipe was clearly a winner because as I went for my first bite I took a chunk out of my tongue in excitement. I must make this again with a functioning mouth.

Savoury roasted pears & red onions with halloumi

Despite my ailing mouth, this made for an indulgent and delicious lunch. Here’s the recipe: https://heartbeetkitchen.com/2019/recipes/roasted-pears-halloumi-cheese/

Dill & potato salad with rye croutons

A freshly baked rye bread seemed like a surplus bonus and I wanted to find a way to incorporate it into a recipe as well as just toasting and snacking on it.

I found a recipe online for a Swedish-inspired salad with rye croutons and I loved it. I’m a big fan of potatoes in every form, but often cite boiled potatoes as my least favourite iteration. This dressing changes everything. I don’t eat fish, so I replaced the anchovies called for with capers for the saltyness and it’s definitely something I will be recreating again.

The recipe calls for chicken, but I tried out the Quorn Chipotle Goujouns- a great combo.

This definitely fits with my imaginary campaign to make salads delicious - https://www.deliciousmagazine.co.uk/recipes/chicken-dill-and-potato-salad-with-anchovy-dressing-and-rye-bread-croutons/. Writing about this recipe is making me want to eat it all over again.

Incorporating ‘surplus bread’ into nutritious and delicious meals

Avgolemono/ Noodle salad with carrot & coconut dressing/ Sausages with horseradish mash, apple salad & sage and leek gravy

I’ve grouped these three together because they are recipes from my cookbooks at home. I wanted to drape them here as potential ideas to explore.

Traditionally this Greek soup (avgolemono) is made with egg, but I didn’t use one and so it became vegan and absolutely mouthwatering and fresh with lemon and dill. The recipe I followed was from Veggiestan, which I can heartily recommend, but if you don’t end up buying the book there are various recipes online you could try.

This buckwheat noodle salad is an Anna Jones recipe from ‘The Modern Cook’s Year’. I got to use up more carrot and satsuma, filling myself with goodness and enjoying the feast for the eyes as well!

A Jamie Oliver recipe from ‘Jamie’s 30 Minute Meals’. I would never have put all these things on a plate (there’s mashed potato, sausages and gravy with cream cheese, lemon and apple!). I tried it a while back and loved it so when I had apples to use up it was a great excuse to go back to it. I dare you.

Thanks for indulging me sharing my meals with you once again. As I am living in physical solitude, having people read, try and reply is a real tonic to me in these times. I hope you’ve been able to have some fun with your food recently too? Eat well, stay happy!

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.