Photo: RNZ / REECE BAKER
The pressure to impress dinner guests over summer can generate a lot of food waste, says Alicia Mendez, head chef at the Wellington community restaurant Everybody Eats.
There's no shame in choosing to keep it simple instead, she tells RNZ's Saturday Morning.
"Follow your heart, stick to the things that you like, things you're confident in doing and you feel really proud of."
Every Sunday to Wednesday, Alicia Mendez designs a three-course gourmet dinner menu from a random daily haul of donated food to serve hundreds of restaurant guests that night.
Susie Ferguson visited the Everybody Eats kitchen to watch her in action.
Everybody Eats now has three restaurants in Wellington Central, Onehunga and Glen Innes that serve high-quality meals made with food that would otherwise be headed to the landfill.
Their head chefs must be quick-thinking, very methodical and resourceful at figuring out how to get the most use from each donated food item, Mendez says.
"It's a lot of grading the produce that comes in and quickly thinking 'What can I do with this item to give it a longer shelf life? Can I incorporate it into the day's set menu?
"It's a lot of research on my bus ride, trying to figure out multiple ways to use it and be creative."
Having a "lovely list of pantry items," on hand - inspired by Israeli-British chef Yotam Ottolenghi - gives Mendez comfort that she'll be able to turn what she's given into something delicious.
Photo: RNZ / REECE BAKER
Using frozen peas donated by New World Willis Street, leftover blue cheese from a private catering event and one of Ottolenghi's recommended pantry staples - dukkah - Mendez comes up with a vegetable side dish of Grilled Courgettes, Blue Cheese Spread & Dukkah.
To ensure this and all of her other dishes tastes great, she uses the principles of Samin Nosrat's best-selling cookbook Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat.
"It's just a really great way to understand how all of those things contribute to a good meal."
"[In this dish] we've got fat in our dairy, we've got salt in our lovely dukkah, we've got a little acid in our vinegar and oil."
"If you make a nice big batch you can keep it on your shelf and put it on your fried eggs in the morning or just on toast alone I think is really nice. [Or with] any grilled veg."
Mendez is a fan of lateral cooking which involves repurpousing something made for a specific dish in a new culinary direction.
Leftover tomato-based pasta sauce made into the Middle Eastern baked egg dish shakshuka the next day is a good example of this approach, she says, as is her One Pot Wonder.
"You put everything in a pot, put some puff pastry on the top and you've got a lovely pie for anyone to enjoy. I think is a great way to just use root vegetables in your fridge… cut 'em down, cook 'em, make a little gravy."
Recipe: Grilled Courgettes, Blue Cheese Spread & Dukkah
Alicia Mendez with RNZ's Susie Ferguson Photo: RNZ / REECE BAKER
