Waste Not Want Not

I am a waster. As an American, I simply can't help it, even though I think it is wrong. Until I met my husband, I never thought of myself as wasteful, but compared to him it turns out that I am. One of the first inklings I had of this was early on in our relationship. I was trying to squeeze the last glob of toothpaste out of a seemingly empty tube. I looked at it and said, "I think it's empty." My future husband walked over, looked at the tube, and said, "It's not empty." I asked, dubiously, "Are you sure?" He looked me straight in the eye and said, "Trust me. I'm Indian." That tube of toothpaste lasted me another two weeks. Perfectly good toothpaste I would have thrown away had he not been there. It totally blew my mind how he made something of what I had thought was nothing (I know, just more toothpaste, but still...), and I took that lesson to heart, though my practice of it has been less than perfect.

One of my problems is that I'm an overly ambitious vegetable purchaser. I've never been one of those people who makes a list and then goes to the store and buys, dutifully, only what is written on the list. I go to the store with the aim of buying whatever looks good to me in that moment, and of course that is too much. Then I find myself at home feeling guilty every time I look at the fridge, thinking how I'm never going to be able to cook everything before it goes bad.

At any rate, with much effort through the years since the toothpaste episode I have gotten better about not wasting. To that end I have devised a couple of strategies which I am now going to share with you. The first strategy has to do with herbs like parsley, cilantro and basil. So many times I have a big bunch of an herb like parsley, and I only need a small amount for whatever recipe I've planned. Then the rest turns to slime at the bottom of the drawer. Basil is easy -- you can just make pesto, and it lasts much longer that way. Well, you can do the same sort of thing with parsley and cilantro. Just puree parsley or cilantro with some garlic and olive oil (add a little lemon zest if you want), add salt to taste, and keep in a jar in your fridge. It will last a really long time. You can add the purees to soups or beans, or pasta, rice, eggs or whatever. It is also good on top of cheesy toasts.

The other strategy I'd like to share is also simple: lentil soup. Lentil soup is delicious, and you can use the leftover dregs of your vegetables to make it, instead of throwing them away. (Or composting, right? At least the worms will be fed.) I made lentil soup this week with brown lentils, an onion, two cloves of garlic, a handful of grape tomatoes that had been sitting for about two weeks, and three abandoned carrots that had been in the bottom of the crisper drawer for more than a month. Toward the end of cooking, I added about a quarter of a bag of frozen spinach I had sitting in my freezer. Then I added a dash of sherry vinegar to brighten all the flavors. When it was done, I put a handful of leftover cooked rice into my bowl, ladled the soup over it and mixed with the rice, and then I garnished my bowl with a spoonful of yogurt, some of that parsley mixture (which is technically called gremolata, I believe), and a dab of Huy Fong Foods chili garlic sauce. (If you don't know about Huy Fong, follow that link. You need to know.) Here in Decatur, I get my Huy Fong products at the DeKalb Farmer's Market.

Potatoes and celery would be good additions as well, if you have them around. I can't really write a specific recipe, because the quantities all depend on what you happen to have. For a general method, this is what I did: boil the lentils (maybe about a cup and a half) separately, until soft, but not totally mushy. Saute in separate pot in a generous amount of olive oil the chopped onions and garlic until they are slightly soft, then add chopped carrots and tomatoes. Make sure to salt them. When the vegetables have softened slightly, add water to cover, and a little more salt. Cook until tender. When lentils have finished cooking and the vegetables are pretty much done, add the lentils to the vegetable pot. Add the frozen spinach, cook for a couple of minutes, and add more water to reach desired thickness if needed. Add more salt to taste. Add a dash of sherry vinegar (not too much -- you don't want to taste the vinegar, just a subtle brightening effect) and some fresh ground black pepper. You can garnish as I described above with the yogurt, gremolata and chili garlic sauce, or whatever you can think of that might be good. Maybe even a gently fried egg with a very runny yolk? I haven't tried it yet, but I've thought of it.

By the way, my five-year-old was convinced she hated this soup until she tried it. Then she tried it and declared she wanted to eat it "for breakfast, lunch and dinner." And she did. That made me so happy.