Fins can only get better for food waste

Barber set up a restaurant on the roof of Selfridges department store in London and invited top chefs across many all styles of cooking to create a menu based on “waste”. The project produced lots of inventive menus but, more to the point, made some diners reconsider their view of throwaway ingredients.

This is all very well for top chefs, but how do we tackle unnecessary food waste in our homes? When you think about it, there are plenty of old recipes that make the most of unwanted ingredients. For example, bread and butter pudding was a way to use up stale bread, while coq au vin was developed to make the most of an old cockerel that would otherwise be too chewy.

Bouillabaisse was another dish that emerged in an effort to use up unwanted fish. It was created by fishermen in Marseille, who found it difficult to sell a bony rockfish they caught locally. A broth was made from the fish, including some leftover shellfish for added flavour, and it was mixed with tomatoes, fennel, saffron and sometimes potatoes.

Stocks were made from the bones of unwanted carcasses and vegetable matter, and fermentation has been used for centuries to preserve food that would otherwise go off. So using up unwanted food is nothing new, but many of have abandoned these recipes as we are spending less time in the kitchen. Many of these dishes take time to prepare and require slow cooking, but the more we invest in cooking from “scratch”, the less food will be wasted.

This bouillabaisse has little by way of fish but the flavour from the broth makes up for that, and it focuses on potatoes, fennel and tomatoes for bulk and deliciousness. The fishbones and crab shells were gathered from my local fishmonger, at no cost. In fact, he was happy for me to take them away.

You can use bones and shells from fish and shellfish you’ve already eaten, possibly freezing them until you have enough. Alternatively, you could try visiting your local seafood restaurant and asking whether it has any fish bones, or crab or lobster shells. To accompany the bouillabaisse, I have created recipe for rouille, a typical French mayonnaise-style sauce with saffron.

A well presented bouillabaisse

BRYAN MEADE

Bouillabaisse
Serves 6-8

Because this dish is based on unwanted food, you do not have to be exact with the ingredients, and any kind of crustacean shells will do (I happened to have crab). I used haddock bones but any white-fish bones will work. The same goes for the vegetables. These are rough ingredient measures and you can use whatever you have available — ends of onions, fennel, celery trimmings, and so on.

You can serve it as a hearty soup with the fish that clings to the bones only, or make it a more filling stew by adding cooked mussels, clams and a piece of steamed or baked chunky white fish.

Everything can be made in advance (it is best when the flavours have a chance to develop) and you can add the extra seafood just before serving. To serve, you need toasted crusty bread. A baguette is traditional but you should try to get some stale bread from your bakery. Ciabatta and sourdough are ideal as the rouille can settle into the air pockets.

What you will need for the stock
1kg/2lb 2oz crab shells
1kg/2lb 2oz fish bones or heads, cleaned of any blood and glands
250ml/9 fl oz white wine
3 litres/5¼ pints water
2 medium onions, peeled and sliced
3 fennel bulbs (reserve the feathery green parts for serving, use the outer parts here and reserve the inner pieces for the main dish)
2 sticks of celery
1 good pinch of saffron
3 tsp tomato purée
5 peppercorns

For the broth
1 tsp saffron strands (powdered saffron can be used here but threads are best)
2 onions, finely chopped
4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
3 tbsp olive oil
3 fennel, finely sliced (inner parts from the fennel used in stock)
6-8 medium potatoes, cut into medium-sized cubes
2 tbsp fennel seeds, warmed on a pan and ground a little
500ml/18 fl oz white wine
Salt and pepper
2 x 500g tinned tomatoes or slightly overripe fresh tomatoes
1kg/2lb 2oz fish bones

For the rouille
1 pinch saffron threads
½ roasted or pickled red pepper
1 clove garlic, grated
½ tsp cayenne pepper
1 egg yolk
200ml/7 fl oz olive oil
¼-½ lemon juiced
A handful of stale bread with the crust removed
2 tbsp seafood broth, from the pot
Bread, for serving

How to prepare
Preheat the oven to 200C/gas mark 6. To make the bouillabaisse stock, place the crab shells on a tray in the oven to roast for 20-30 minutes. This intensifies the flavour but also makes them easier to break up for the stock. When the crab shells are roasted, transfer them to a large saucepan and break up with a hammer or the end of a rolling pin.

Add the fish bones/heads and wine to the pan, and simmer for 5 minutes, then add the water, onions, fennel, celery, saffron, tomato purée and peppercorns.

Bring to a simmer only and turn down the heat so it simmers gently for 1 hour. Do not stir. Skim the surface to remove any scum that rises to the top. Strain through a sieve lined with a piece of muslin/cheesecloth for a nice clear broth. Set aside.

To prepare the broth, preheat the oven to 200C/ gas mark 6 again. First, add the saffron threads to a little warm water or warmed shellfish stock. It will take a little time for the flavour to activate.

Sweat the onions and garlic with a little salt and pepper in the olive oil until translucent, add the fennel, mix through and remove to a bowl. Add another tablespoon of olive oil to the saucepan, heat, then add the potatoes. Toss in the oil and allow to cook just a little.

Add the onions, garlic and fennel back into the saucepan with the ground fennel seeds, mix through and then add the white wine. Allow the wine to reduce by half.

Add the saffron in its water or stock to the saucepan along with the tomatoes and cook in for a moment. Then add the stock.

Let it come to a simmer for about 20 minutes. It is best to allow it to rest for a while so the flavours can develop before serving.

The fish bones can be cooked now and the flesh added to the saucepan. Place the fish bones on an oven tray, removing any fins with a scissors, and brush on some olive oil, and salt and pepper. Place the tray in the preheated oven for 10-15 minutes. Remove, and when cooled slightly, remove all flesh from the bones, carefully sorting through and removing any little bones. Add the flesh to the cooling bouillabaisse broth.

To make the rouille, soak the saffron threads in 2 tablespoons of warm seafood broth. Then add the bread, and soak. Add this to a food processor with the red pepper, garlic and cayenne pepper. Blitz, then add the egg yolk and blitz again.

With the motor running, slowly add the olive oil in a steady stream. Add the lemon juice in drops along the way. If the rouille looks like it may be starting to split, a dash of lemon juice will bring it back.

The result should be a reddish mayonnaise-type sauce to spread on the toast or add to the broth. Check for seasoning. Chill until serving.

To serve, slice the bread in long strips and toast. If adding other seafood, prepare and cook now. Heat the bouillabaisse gently and serve (with or without extra seafood) in bowls with fresh green fennel tips on top.

Put a dollop of rouille on the toast and serve with the soup with extra rouille on the side.

A Cook’s Library

Scraps, Wilts & Weeds: Turning Wasted Food into Plenty by Mads Refslund and Tama Matsuoka Wong (€22.15, kennys.ie)

From the very beginning of his culinary career, Danish chef Mads Refslund, who with René Redzepi and Claus Meyer co-founded the world-famous Noma restaurant in Copenhagen, was interested in lesser-appreciated ingredients.

Refslund recalls that when he was in culinary school in Copenhagen, the day would begin with students selecting something to cook with from a big trolley of ingredients. He would let the others take what they wanted as he was only interested in what was left over. Other students would pick prime rib or langoustine, for example, while Refslund chose the root vegetables from the bottom of the pile because he wanted to “make them delicious, to honour them”.

Refslund and Redzepi were friends from culinary school but had different ways of cooking at Noma, and the kitchen marriage did not work. Refslund soon moved on and opened an acclaimed Copenhagen restaurant called MR, which was awarded a Michelin star.

He then took a step back from the restaurant scene and travelled, spreading the word of the new Nordic movement far and wide.

Refslund settled in New York and became consulting head chef at Acme in Noho, from 2012 to 2015. A year later he announced plans to open his own restaurant in Brooklyn with a “fire and ice” concept.

Refslund’s departure from Acme at least gave him time to write Scraps, Wilt & Leaves, with the help of Tama Matsuoka Wong, a gourmet forager for some of New York’s leading chefs.

If the thought of eating scraps does not appeal, this book will help you think differently. Refslund creates the most beautiful dishes with food that would otherwise be thrown away, such as wizened carrots, wrinkly potatoes, bolted herbs, stale bread, cauliflower stems and coffee granules.

His goal, from what I understand, is not simply to use up food destined for the bin, but to help us understand that these ingredients are worth eating.

The food looks incredible, thanks to the crisp photography by Gentl and Hyers, and the recipes are creative yet simple and easy to manage.

Refslund’s creations include pork ribs with overripe pear barbecue sauce; broccoli stems with lardo and fresh coriander seeds; and roasted overripe banana splits with coffee grounds breadcrumb.

It is a marvel of a book and one that will help you understand the amount of good food that is wasted every day and how to do something about it.

Cabbage stem salad and buttermilk horseradish dressing

Serves 4

This raw salad is easy to compose. I like to arrange the stems into a beautiful pinwheel shape. For a more filling dish, serve it on a bycatch fish filet, such as gurnard, with additional dressing puddled around it.

What you will need for the dressing
250ml/9 fl oz buttermilk
2 tbsp horseradish (I use freshly grated but bottled is OK)
125ml/4½ fl oz heavy cream
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 tsp salt
Freshly cracked black pepper

For the salad
2 cabbage stems (cauliflower stems also work), lightly trimmed of any extremely fibrous outer peel
250ml/9 fl oz buttermilk horseradish dressing
1 tsp freshly grated horseradish
Salt and freshly cracked pepper
½ lemon

How to prepare
To make the dressing, combine the buttermilk and horseradish in a medium-sized mixing bowl. Cover and refrigerate for at least 2-3 hours to let the flavours infuse. It will taste a bit sour and spicy at the same time. (If using fresh horseradish, strain the buttermilk and discard the solids.)

In the chilled stainless-steel bowl of a mixer, whip the heavy cream until it forms semi-stiff peaks.

To the buttermilk, add the lemon juice, salt and freshly cracked pepper, and stir to combine. Gently fold in the whipped cream until fully incorporated into the buttermilk.

When serving, freshen with more lemon juice, salt and pepper to taste.

Using a mandoline, very thinly shave the trimmed cabbage stems lengthwise. Toss the stem shavings with dressing.

Finish with freshly grated horseradish, salt, black pepper and a squeeze of lemon juice.