How to use the whole vegetable when cooking

By Lauren Taylor

It might be pretty normal in your household to throw away potato peelings, cauliflower leaves and apple cores, but there’s a new movement encouraging us to use all those bits up to help curb the growing global food waste problem. After all, they are perfectly edible – even delicious, given the right treatment.

Plant-based chef and supper club host Sophie Gordon admits she’s received “a couple of looks” on the train when eating an entire apple, down to the thin stick. “I was just thinking how funny it was, because I know it’s not the nicest part of the apple, but it’s still fine.”

Gordon, 29, is part of a growing number of people in the food world proving whole vegetable cookery is possible (and tasty) – similar to the movement using the entire animal.

Her debut cookbook, The Whole Vegetable: Sustainable Recipes For A Healthier Planet, is a collection of seasonal recipes celebrating veg in its entirety (whether that’s whole-baked harissa cauliflower or roasted celeriac), tips for wasting less and using up leftovers, or using fruit and veg in ways you may not have thought of before (like cabbage ramen, chive and chickpea sandwiches, or maple and thyme roasted pears).

Don’t be afraid to experiment with the parts you often throw out, is the message. “Celery leaves are just the herb – they’re a bit like parsley. You kind of feel like you’ve achieved something, you know?”

The cookbook is littered with helpful non-waste tips and tricks: “More planning, more writing a list of what you’ve got [to get] before going to the shops,” she says. “When you say it out loud, people say, ‘Oh that’s really simple’. And we should probably start implementing them into our daily lives to become habits.

“But they are so simple – and that’s why we should do them.”

Lazy Day Pasta with Garlic Kale Sauce

Serves 4-6

1 large bunch of kale, roughly chopped

1 large shallot or white onion, finely chopped

6 cloves of garlic: 4 crushed or finely chopped, 2 thinly sliced

2–4tbsp olive oil

2–4tbsp nutritional yeast

2tbsp Dijon mustard

4tbsp white wine

1tsp dried chilli flakes

1 lemon, juiced, plus a dash of zest

Salt and pepper

Approximately 340g dried pasta

200g mushrooms, sliced thin

Bring a pan of salted water to the boil. Add your chopped kale and cook for five to seven minutes, until wilted and cooked through. Drain and blanch in cold water briefly to stop the cooking process.

Transfer the kale to a blender and add your chopped shallot or onion, the four crushed or finely chopped cloves of garlic, the olive oil, nutritional yeast, mustard, white wine, chilli flakes, lemon juice and zest. Season with salt and pepper and blend until you have a relatively smooth but thick sauce mixture. Season to taste.

Bring a large pot of salted water to the boil and add pasta. Cook until al dente. Drain, then put back into the pot and cover. While your pasta is cooking, heat up about one tablespoon of olive oil in a saucepan. Once hot, add the two sliced cloves of garlic and sauté until golden and fragrant. Make sure you stir frequently to prevent them burning. Add your sliced mushrooms to the garlic and sweat until soft. You can add a dash more olive oil or water to the pan if it is a little dry. Season with salt and pepper.

The mushrooms will sweat and wilt very quickly. Pour in your kale sauce and heat over a low heat, again stirring frequently. Heat until cooked through. Pour the sauce over the pasta in the pot and stir well. Season with extra salt and pepper, chilli flakes and olive oil to taste.

Creamy Curried Pumpkin Split Pea Dal

Serves 6-8

2tbsp coconut oil

1tbsp black or yellow mustard seeds

1 white or brown onion, finely chopped

4 cloves of garlic, crushed or finely chopped

2tbsp freshly grated ginger

1tbsp freshly grated turmeric

A large handful of fresh coriander, stems finely chopped, leaves roughly chopped

A pinch of dried chilli flakes

4tsp ground cumin

2–3tsp curry powder

A small handful of curry leaves, fresh or dried

1.5–2l vegetable stock

1 small pumpkin or squash, skin on or off

550g dried yellow split peas, soaked for at least 4 hours

Salt and pepper

1 cinnamon stick

250ml coconut milk

1 lime, juice and zest

Put one to two teaspoons of your coconut oil into a large pot over a medium heat. Add the mustard seeds and cook until they start to pop – lower the heat when they do so and transfer them to a small bowl. Heat the rest of the coconut oil in the same pan, then add your onions. Sauté until they start to go translucent and fragrant. Add the garlic, ginger, turmeric, coriander stalks, dried chilli flakes, ground cumin, curry powder and half your curry leaves. Stir continuously and keep frying until everything becomes nice and fragrant. Put your mustard seeds back into the pan.

Add the pumpkin, split peas, about half the fresh coriander and the rest of the stock to the pot. Stir and bring the mixture up to the boil, seasoning with salt and pepper. Once it reaches the boil, lower the heat to a simmer. Add the cinnamon stick and stir again. Cover and cook for about 45–55 minutes.

Once cooked, transfer about a quarter of the mix to a blender. Add the coconut milk and blend until smooth and creamy. Pour back into the pot and stir, adding the lime juice and zest and seasoning again to taste.

The Whole Vegetable: Sustainable Recipes For A Healthier Planet is available now