I'm taking all of our Food Waste Week learnings and putting them into action, doing what I know how to do best - eating... and I suppose cooking. I am making my Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner, using core ingredients sourced from the Foodprint app.
To start; Breakfast.
I feel like I am often an outlier when I declare that Breakfast is my favourite meal. I do get odd looks when I mention that I wake up excited to have breakfast.
I managed to pick up a mixed pack of 3-Day Old Almond Croissants from Luna Bakehouse off Foodprint, ordered bright and early (Sunday early) at 8:30 am, bang on when they opened and also listed on the app.
My thinking is I’ll make Croissant French Toast, but with a slight Spanish-ish twist. I say Spanish-ish as I’m spicing them up with a touch of cinnamon and a sprinkle of orange zest, drawing from the Spanish breakfast Torrijas, which ironically are often referred to as Spanish French Toast - ole - but, are day-old baguettes sliced, soaked in milk with orange zest and cinnamon, then fried and served with orange syrup and cinnamon sugar.
I thought using almond croissants, and switching the cinnamon sugar for gratings of dark chocolate would make for a French-Spanish-Orange-Almond-Dark Chocolate morning breakfast - drizzle with cream and you probably have eaten all recommended daily intake of calories in on go (that’s a pre-warning, these are not for the faint of heart)
To begin source your day-old, 2-day old or in my case 3-day-old croissants of the Foodprint app. I am Auckland-based, so I went straight for Luna Bakehouse, they are fantastic at listing their surplus pastries up. The best thing about this recipe is that it quite literally calls for day-old croissants - which so happens to be a common surplus affair on the Foodprint app.
Goodfor also occasionally posts croissants, as do a number of our eateries, was also thinking that if you were Wellington-based, you could try Le Ciel’s surplus croissants.
Once in the kitchen, prep the ingredients into the following stations.
2 Croissants (2-3 day old) of your choosing
1 cup Milk
2 eggs
1 tsp Cinnamon
1 Tbsp Caster sugar
zest of one orange
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 Tbsp Butter
Station one: Slice the croissants in half.
Station two: In a shallow dish place milk, eggs, cinnamon, sugar and orange zest. Mix these all together until eggs are well distributed through the mixture.
Station three; Get your cast iron pan heated up, and have olive oil and a teaspoon of butter ready for when you start frying.
All right let's go!
Whilst the cast iron is heating, place the croissants in the shallow dish in an egg/milk/spice mixture.
Once the cast iron is at a good temperature add oil, then butter, once butter is bubbling away, add in soaking croissants.
Cook on each side for 2-3 mins, until nice and golden.
Easy!
Serve with cream (although I used yoghurt), orange syrup, if you have any, orange zest, grated dark chocolate and any leftover shaved almonds at the bottom of the bag - there always is.
Lunch/afternoon snack:
I’m pretty full after this morning's indulgent breakfast, but I can always find room for more. And it’s the weekend (I’m not sure if that is an excuse) - but I am feeling like making caramelised onion cheese toasties, and of course, I am using a rescued sourdough baguette sourced from Goodfor Ponsonby.
....Plus I’m saving the onion skins to make onion flakes.
For caramelised onions:
You'll need:
2 tbsp olive oil
3 large red onions or brown onions, sliced (Keep the skins to make Onion Powder)
2 tbsp brown sugar
1-2 tbsp Balsamic Vinegar
Heat oil in a large frypan over low heat. Add black mustard seeds and fry off until slightly fragrant. Once smelling good, add onions and a good pinch of salt and cook very slowly for 15-20 minutes, stirring occasionally to prevent them from catching. Don't be tempted to turn the heat up, as you don't want the onions to burn.
When onions are softened and tinged golden, add sugar and balsamic - this will start the caramelisation process. Cook onion slices over low heat for a further 5-10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until sticky and caramelised.
We will be using these immediately, but store any leftovers in a jar in the fridge.
For Toasties:
Slice the bread, butter the outsides, and on the inside place a good helping of freshly cooked caramelised onions and then layer with cheese of your choosing.
Cook (importantly) butter side out in a sandwich grill or like me in a pre-heated cast iron pan, and stick to medium to low heat.
Cook until you reach your desired crunch - I’m almost pushing 5 minutes, I like mine crispy.
DIY Onion Powder:
I work at Foodprint. You have to know I am saving them Onion Skins and doing something with them.
Give skins a clean and pat to loosely dry. Arrange all your skins on a baking sheet and place in the oven at 180 degrees. I chuck them in when I am using the oven for something else. Dry/Bake for roughly 20 minutes, but just keep an eye on them. You want them to be completely dry.
Take them out and crush them up by hand, or food processor, or like me, use a coffee grinder - wiped sort-of-ish clean.
Dinner; Is one of my stable go-to recipes.
Using rescued long grain rice from Goodfor and rescued Frozen Chicken Drumsticks from St Heliers Four Square, and at $1.22, I just could not, not purchase them.
I am making my self-titled ‘cheats’ Hainanese Chicken Rice - steamed/boiled chicken, chicken stock rice and green onion dipping sauce.
For the stock
You’ll need:
400-500 grams of any chicken pieces you like. I normally use thigh with bone-in, but in this case used drumsticks. Try your luck at St Hellier’s Four Square, they are selling so many good cuts of frozen meat!
Thick thumb of ginger (I always use more), skin on or off your preference - hint use the rim of a teaspoon to peel the ginger if you choose to remove said skin.
2 spring onions with cleaned roots, throw the whole thing in.
And enough water to cover the chicken.
Place all of the above in a pot and bring to a boil, let simmer for 15 minutes or so. Some froth will appear at the top of the water, scrape that off with a ladle and discard it down the sink.
...If you want to avoid this froth, clean cook the chicken first, by bringing chicken minus roots veg to a flash boil, then discard water and boil again with the same amount of water and add in the root veg, once boiled bring to a simmer for 15 mins.
Whilst the stock is simmering prep the rice:
You’ll need:
1.5 c (not rice cup, normally cup) rescued long grain rice
As much garlic to steer a vampire away (as a garlic lover, I could use the whole bulb, but 4-5 cloves will do)
Another thick thumb of ginger
1 Tbsp oil - Rescued coconut oil again from Goodfor would be good.
CLEAN your rice 3 times - I swear by this, the more you wash the more starch you will rinse off, which will leave you with fuffy fluffy rice.
Set to the side.
Chop, mince, dice, use a garlic crusher, whatever apparatus takes your fancy, to mince your garlic and ginger. Mince as fine as possible.
Your stock should hopefully be smelling like chicken - delicious. It should be slightly opaque but still more or less clear. Pull out the chicken, leave it aside and turn off the element.
In a medium-sized pot, heat oil and once hot, lightly fry mince ginger and garlic.
When aromatic, throw in your (3 times washed!!) rice, and gently fry for 1 minute.
Measure 1.5 cups of your freshly made chicken stock and add to rice.
Use whatever rice recipe you prefer - there are so many. I use the; bring the liquid to a rapid boil, once bubbling, I turn the element right down to low. I then place the chicken pieces back in the pot and let the whole mixture sit on low for 5-8 mins. Turn off the heat, and let everything mingle for as long as possible 10-15 mins.
Whilst the rice and chicken become acquainted. Start making the Spring Onion and Ginger topping sauce.
You'll need:
3 whole spring onions chopped
1 tbsp finely chopped ginger
1½ tsp sea salt
2 tsp sesame oil
Cook ginger and spring onion shoots in oil over hot heat for 1 min, transfer to a nutribullet and blitz - simple.
Once happy with the rice consistency. Pull out chicken, serve up rice, plate chicken and top with Spring Onion and Ginger sauce. Season leftover stock with a dash of sesame oil and soya sauce and you have a side soup.
Cheats Hainanese Chicken - completed hopefully in 30 mins.
And that completes my day of eats using food sourced from the Foodprint app.
I'm very full, very satisfied and have not been left financially desolate.
And actually, in retrospect, it was all rather easy.
Bon appetite - ab
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