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Allison K. Schmitt Co-Op Owner
Second-hand Chef One of the nicest compliments I’ve ever received is that I could make a feast out of nothing. Granted, the compliment came from one of my sisters after I dressed up a package of ramen noodles – hardly most people’s idea of a feast. But it illustrates my long-time love for the challenge of making use of the ingredients I have on hand. Now, I can imagine what you’re thinking when you read, “secondhand chef.” But let me challenge you to think of it in more appetizing terms. How much of what you eat has been touched by your hands only? Unless you provide all your own food, what you eat has been touched by other hands. Someone’s hands put the crunchy lettuce into the display bin. Someone’s hands put that glossy cucumber into a box. Other fingers gently grasped the juicy tomato to pluck it off the plant – to say nothing of the tillers of the soil, the baggers of the bread and the servers of the french fries who all play a part in our daily sustenance. The name “second-hand chef” is also inspired by my job at Just Food Co-op. In a spirit of stewardship, store policy allows employees the scratch-and-dent produce or out-ofdate grocery items that other stores routinely toss. An overabundance of bruised pears or carton of unfamiliar cow’s milk substitute gets my creative juices flowing. The juicer I bought at the Useda-Bit-Shoppe keeps me supplied with citrus juice and fruit drinks. My food dehydrator, constantly stocked with kiwis, plantains or figs, has gotten more use in the last few months than it did in the nearly 20
16
years since I bought it. Thinly-sliced, raw squash is easily transformed into salty-sweet chips in the oven. Sliced bread sticks, drizzled with oil, sprinkled with herbs de Provence and baked to a golden brown, are tasty croutons, hummus scoops or snacks all on their own. Holy Land flatbread and pomegranate seeds become Lebanese Fattoush (mamaslebanesekitchen.com/salads/ fattoush-salad-recipe), a refreshing vegetable salad drizzed with homemade pomegranate molasses and dressing. Ruby-red beets and whole coconut become the surprisingly savory Beets with Coconut (foodnetwork.com/recipes/beetswith-coconut-recipe/index.html). Humanely-raised cows provide the milk for paneer (Indian fresh cheese) that gives texture and protein to miscellaneous greens and tomatoes that go into saag paneer (food.com/ recipe/jaffreys-homemade-indiancheese-with-spinach-481923). The nuts and seeds that remain after I bag dozens of multi-grain buns top my salads. My co-workers may have observed that I get especially animated when it comes to fresh greens. To feed my newly-acquired obsession with kale chips, I pounce on the green bundles that occasionally appear in the culled produce box. I gravitate toward recipes that involve what I call “passive cooking” – preparations that don’t need constant tending, like crock pot dishes – so that I can simultaneously work on other cooking projects. The same is true for the “low and slow” kale chip preparation I favor.
The ComPost