QUICK TREATMENTS: Vegetable Trimmings
ROOT VEGETABLE PEELS
“Crisps” from root vegetable peelings
“If you have access to a deep fryer or a mini deep fryer, try this recipe. Scrub your carrots or parsnips or whatever root vegetables you prefer and make sure they are nice and dry. Peel, and drop the peelings into a deep fat fryer until they go golden brown for 2-3 minutes. Add salt and pepper.“ (Chef Richard Fox,Love Food Hate Waste Roadshow)
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Stock-based sauces from vegetable trimmings and chicken carcasses
“Stock is a basic foundation for every dish. You can take onion peelings, celery stalks, carrot skins, really any kind of vegetable skin or leftover or scraps if you will such as zucchini, trimmed edges of green beans and utilize them to make a good vegetable stock. I like to freeze vegetable trimmings until you get a “decent” amount. I make mine 5 gallons at a time, but at home you’ll want a lb. to 1 ½ lbs. because it will add plenty of flavor and should yield a quart or quart and a half of amazing stock.” (Chef Ricky Bishop, Classy Catering Creations, Brookfield, CT)
Butts of asparagus and tops of fennel and celery for soup stock
“I try not to throw any food away ever, if I can help it. Soup is the most forgiving thing to cook with the odd bits of vegetables and meat. I use parsley stems and bones from boning meat for stock. I use the butts of asparagus spears to make soup. The tops of celery and fennel are a perfect addition to soups, too.” (Mitchell Davis of James Beard Foundation)
Swiss chard into gratinée
“One of my favorite things to cook is Swiss chard stems which I like to gratinée in the French style. I love beet and turnip tops, too.” (Mitchell Davis of James Beard Foundation, New York City)
Fancy chips from wilting kale
"Vegetable chips are expensive to buy but really easy to make with a dehydrator.
I had some kale that was slightly wilted and didn’t want to use it in a salad nor did I feel like cooking it on the stove. Dehydrating them in the oven at a low temperature, I was surprised how fast the kale crisps up. That’s one reason I prefer dehydrating in a dehydrator vs. the oven: I feel like I have to babysit whatever I’m baking! With the dehydrator, I only had to check in on the kale after the first hour to see if it was progressing like I think it should. With the oven method, I ended up checking in on them already after 5 minutes.
Either way, you get this mouth-watering, roast-y smell. The dehydrated kale chips were delicious! And because they tasted “cooked,” they really satisfied. Some people like eating them as a snack, crumbled over popcorn with a little added coarse seat salt. Below are both methods for you to try out.
The Oven Treatment
1 bunch past peak kale
1 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
1 Tbsp. apple cider vinegar (my favorite: Dr. Bragg’s Apple Cider Vinegar)
1 tsp. coarse sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
1 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
1 Tbsp. apple cider vinegar (my favorite: Dr. Bragg’s Apple Cider Vinegar)
1 tsp. coarse sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
- Preheat oven to 300 degrees.
- Tear leaves off one big bunch.
- Wash and drain leaves thoroughly.
- Cut leafy portions away from tough stems and center rib. No need to cut leafy portions small; kale shrinks up quite a bit. (Save stems for candying and pickling!)
- Toss kale with olive oil and apple cider vinegar. Add salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste.
- Lay kale out on cookie trays in single layers and bake for 10 minutes.
- Turn kale once and then crisp other side for 5 more minutes or until no moisture remains in the kale.
The Dehydrator Treatment
I recommend a dehydrator like the Excalibur. You can find a great recipe for dehydrated kale chips on The Healthy Eating site: Salted Kale Chips in the Dehydrator.
(Brook Hurst Stephens of Learn To Preserve, Washington State)
Candied chard stems for garnish
"I have a friend who candied Swiss chard and used it as a garnish over Panna Cotta. You know Rainbow Swiss chard, those green red and purple stems? It looked really pretty, like glassine. I would use candied chard over most any blank canvas that’s creamy, even a gelato." (Brook Hurst Stephens of Learn To Preserve, Washington State)
