Food waste. It has been a while since I have ranted about this issue. So it’s time to write a little about it, right? It needs to be written about because the amount of food we are wasting in the western world is horrible.
Those figures are just freaking bizarre. We must all do something about it. Me too, because I’m far from perfect. Therefore I’m constantly looking for new strategies to reduce the amount of food that slides down into the waste bin. One thing I use to do every week is to make an inventory in my fridge. I’m looking for food that starts approaching its expiration date and trying to compose a meal of it.
It’s good for two reasons.
- I find food in time before it becomes inedible.
- I find food that already is inedible.
The second reason is almost as important as the first. It’s distressing to find fuzzy stuff in the refrigerator unless it is a blue cheese.
In last weeks inventory, I found a piece of sweet potato, some feta cheese, a jar half filled with olives, some scallions, and one tomato.
The tomato was a bit soft and the sweet potato looked somewhat tired, but I decided to use it anyway. The rest of the food items were not in such a critical state, but they wouldn’t stay fresh for so much longer. I paid special attention to the feta cheese, but finally, I decided that it was OK.
There is always milk, eggs, butter, parmesan cheese, and flour in my fridge and pantry, and I grow my own herbs, so I have a surplus of thyme, rosemary, and sage.
I had all the ingredients for a one portion Quiche.
A Quiche is easy to make. The hardest part is the dough. But even that is easy if you have a stand mixer. But it doesn’t take that much longer to do it in a bowl by hand. If you put the butter in the freezer, you can grate it instead of cutting it into small cubes. It goes faster, and it will make the dough mixing a bit easier.
This Quiche is quite small, so it doesn’t need a long time in the oven. Therefore I decided to fry the sweet potato for a few minutes. Apart from that, I followed a “standard” Quiche recipe. I found a small pie dish that I could use. Next time I will try to place the pie crust in a preheated skillet. I think it should work.
So I ended up with a creamy Quiche with salty and slightly tangy notes from the olives and feta cheese. I’m a sucker for thyme and sage, so I used plenty of it. Feel free to use whatever herbs you like or have available.
This is a perfect lunch. Almost for free. A few more days and some of the food items I used would have started to transform into something nasty. They would have been ready for the waste bin. This is perhaps not a giant step against a better world. But it’s the little things that make a difference. Like the fact that I forgot to add the damn tomato.
Reduce-food-waste-Quiche with sweet potato and feta cheese
Ingredients
Tart dough
- 1/2 cup Wheat flour
- 1 1/2 oz butter
- 1 tablespoon water ice cold
- 1 pinch salt
Filling
- 1 egg
- 1/5 cup milk
- 1/4 teaspoon dijon mustard
Instructions
- Mix flour butter and salt in a large bowl to a crumbly dough. Add water and knead until dough comes together. Wrap in clingfilm and chill in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to350ºF /180ºC.
- Roll the dough between two sheets of cling film to a thickness of 1/8 inch / 3 mm.
- Fit the dough into a small pie dish or whatever suitable heat resistant dish you can find. A small skillet will probably work fine.
- If you are planning to add root vegetables like sweet potatoes It can be a good idea to saute them for a minute or two before adding them to the filling.
- Beat together milk, egg, mustard, and salt in a bowl.
- Place all your fillings in the unbaked tart shell and pour the milk and egg mixture over everything. Sprinkle some parmesan cheese if you have. Any cheese will do.
- Bake in the oven for 15 to 20 minutes or until the filling is just set.