6 Smart Ways to Recycle Food Scraps!
You may be tempted to toss out carrot tops, lemon peels, beet greens, and broccoli stems, but don’t do it! As this Food Network Kitchen video demonstrates, you can easily transform kitchen “garbage” into excellent dishes such as healthy sautéed beet greens, lemon sugar for sprinkling on Dutch Babies, roasted pumpkin seeds to snack on while watching the game, or an eye-opening parsley-orange-banana smoothie.
Watch the video to see how it’s done, then scroll below for a carrot-top pesto recipe you can toss with pasta— or to learn how to make pickled broccoli stems that would amp up any stir-fry.
Carrot-Top Pesto
1 cup carrot leaves (from about 1 bunch of carrots)
1/2 cup fresh parsley leaves
1/4 cup roasted cashews
1 clove garlic
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1/4 cup grated Parmesan
Kosher salt
Pulse the carrot and parsley leaves, cashews and garlic in a food processor until coarsely ground. With the processor on, slowly drizzle in the oil, and process until blended well. Add the Parmesan and some salt, and pulse until combined.
Pickled Broccoli Stems
Stems from 1 bunch broccoli
1 cup white vinegar
2 tablespoons kosher salt
2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon pickling spice
1 bay leaf
Zest and juice of 1/2 lemon
Bring a medium pot of water to a boil. Peel the broccoli stems and slice them into 1/2-inch-thick coins (or oddball shapes—just keep them all about the same size). Blanch them in the boiling water until fork-tender, 2 to 4 minutes. Cool them in ice water; drain.
Bring the vinegar, salt, sugar, pickling spice, bay leaf, lemon zest and juice and 1 cup water to a boil in a small saucepan. Pour over the broccoli and let cool. Refrigerate for at least 4 hours.
We also like to peel the stems into thin ribbons with a vegetable peeler. Keep them in ice water in the fridge, and toss into salads!
Curious to see the rest of the recipes from the video? Click here!
More tasty treats:
Ina Garten’s super-simple appetizer
You can ‘buffalo’ that, beyond wings!
5 knockout (spiked!) hot chocolate recipes
What’s your top tip for re-using food you’d otherwise toss?
