A Somewhat Leftover Dinner

Today, lunch for three people, largely from the leftover ingredients of a 10-day event for 22 people. So there's always something left, and minimizing food waste is one of my two most important professional challenges for this year.

Cooking like this has the advantage that I have more time to experiment with new things, not necessarily complicated but new to me, requiring more time. Or I can get creative with ingredients and cooking methods. For example, try roasting diced vegetables for soup first (give it a try, it's worth it).

So, a new wheat bread baked in a bag. That's for dinner and breakfast.

For today's lunch, there was steamed cauliflower served on chickpeas fried in umami marinade (miso, tomato concentrate, apple cider vinegar, agave syrup, a bit of water). Crush the cooked chickpeas a bit and mix them with the thick marinade. In a pan with olive oil or vegetable oil, sauté finely chopped onions and bell peppers. It's partly leftover cooking, and the bell pepper adds flavor because I had one left, and roasted or fried peppers always deliver a lot of flavor. Once they start to brown, add the chickpeas with the marinade.

The chickpeas should be fried well, and you'll smell the characteristic roasted aroma (Maillard reaction in the chickpeas fried with marinade). Pour in a little orange juice, continue cooking to reduce it significantly, and add a few more splashes of juice.

Place the steamed cauliflower, cooked al dente, on top of the chickpeas and cover for a few minutes. If you have a good pan with a thick bottom, you can remove it from the heat because it will retain the heat inside. Alternatively, keep it on the lowest heat for about 5 minutes.

This is served with puree made from Lower Saxon potatoes, the potato heart of Germany. With borage oil, oat cream, and fresh chervil.

For the salad, use a vinaigrette made with lime juice, agave syrup, and pumpkin seed oil. I hadn't used pumpkin seed oil before; I only recently started using it. And I think we'll get along just fine.

Dessert—may all dessert lovers and pastry chefs forgive me, because desserts are not my forte. I only make simple things, but they can be made by anyone at home.

Yogurt, agave syrup, and optionally lime/lemon juice if the yogurt isn't tangy enough. There should be a tangy note in the flavor. Tahini is crucial. Mix the tahini thoroughly with yogurt.

At the bottom, yogurt, berries (but you can use other fruits, nuts, or dried fruits), yogurt, and on top, a dark almond mus and fresh mint. It's important to contrast the colors of white, brown, and green. If there are more flavors and colors in the dessert, it can be less sweet and still taste great. Adding nuts, for example, will enrich it with protein and unsaturated fatty acids.

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