What is it? Getting started Growing on Munch time Recipes How-to videos Wild onions grew throughout the world, and while on the hunt for food, early humans munched on the delicious roots along their journey. Green onions don’t produce bulbs like normal onions but instead produce long green stalks. This well-known variety of green onion from Japan has been specially bred to produce lots of green shoots. It is also disease-resistant and perfect for colder weather. Getting started Poke about six evenly spaced holes in the soil as deep as your fingernail. Add five to eight seeds to each hole and cover with soil. Place somewhere warm and bright, like a windowsill and keep the soil damp but not drenched. Cut a plastic bottle in half and place it over where you planted the seeds. This is called propagating and will keep them warm. Growing on Keep these well-watered. However, allow them to dry out a little between each watering. Once they’re a few inches tall, you can remove the plastic bottle propagator. These will split into bunches as they grow and you can divide each clump to multiply your green onion. Magic! Munch time These guys can be harvested early for smaller, chive-sized green onions. However, if you want them fully grown, wait until they’re about 12 inches tall, which should take about eight weeks. I love adding these to all sorts. They’re perfect for topping soups and salads, and can be enjoyed raw or cooked. Recipes Coming soon... How-to-videos Coming soon...

What is it? Getting started Growing on Munch time Recipes How-to videos This is an excellent choice if you have limited outdoor space due to its compact size and low light requirements. This is probably why in 1999, Tat Soi was one of the first vegetables grown in space aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery. These little guys have been cultivated across China for over 1,500 years and are well-adapted to cooler temperatures. They do brilliantly in the UK when planted in autumn and reach full maturity in just 30-50 days. If allowed to grow past their usual harvest stage, produce beautiful edible flowers. Getting started Make four holes in the soil as deep as your fingernail. Add a couple of seeds to each hole and cover with soil. Place somewhere warm and bright like a windowsill and keep the soil damp, not drenched. Cut a plastic bottle in half and place over where you planted the seeds. This will keep them warm and moist. Thin out any extra seedlings after about three weeks when 5cm tall. Aim for four plants in your planters to prevent them from competing for nutrients. Growing on These are prone to bolting (going to seed prematurely) if subjected to extended periods of heat so make sure they’re somewhere cool that gets some good shade. Once your plants are well established (a few inches tall) you can remove your makeshift propagator and watch them grow! Munch time Pak Choi is an Asian staple very similar to the leafy greens we get in the UK. They go great in stir-fries, soups, salads, and steamed dishes. Scan the QR code to see more about what you can do with Pak Choi Recipes Coming soon... How-to-videos Coming soon...

Why Circular Food? Our current linear model of take-make-waste is not sustainable. The way we produce, distribute, consume, and dispose of food is contributing to environmental degradation, loss of biodiversity, and climate change. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), approximately one-third of all food produced globally goes to waste each year. This amounts to 1.3 billion tons of edible food being discarded while millions go hungry. What is Circular Food? It’s food as nature intended For decades we’ve been buying food, eating what we want, and wasting what’s left. This system has food coming in one end and waste coming out the other. Instead of throwing food away, we must start viewing the food system as circular. By this I mean veg scraps and stuff we’d typically waste needs to be composted and turned back into soil ready for growing the next harvest. With the cost of living, health, and climate crises we need this more than ever. This is the start of a brand new campaign to raise awareness for Circular Food. It focuses on the detrimental impact of sending food waste to landfill and gives actionable solutions on how we can close the loop in our food systems. What can I do? Please re-share any #CircularFoodCampaign posts on your social media accounts to spread the message or create your own posts on the topic. If you are a content creator, it would be great if you could create Instagram posts and reels related to closing the loop. Please make these a ‘collaborative post’ with @CircularFoodCampaign and use the hashtag #CircularFoodCampaign to spread the message. Sign the petition using this link: https://chng.it/W5txC Please keep us updated by Tag @CircularFoodCampaign and @50waystocook Using the hashtags #CircularFoodCampaign and #50waystocook For further information please contact: alex@50waystocook.com

< Back Leek and Potato Soup Prep Time: 10 minutes Cook Time: 30 minutes Serves: ​ About the Recipe This is an absolute classic for a reason. If you have any veg hanging about this is the perfect way to use them all up! Ingredients 50g butter 500g (about 2 medium leeks), washed and sliced 500g potatoes, roughly chopped 1 litre veg stock Approx 300ml of cream Preparation Melt the butter in a pan before adding your leeks. Cook these down for 5 minutes Add your potatoes, stock, and cream and simmer for around half an hour or until the vegetables have softened before blending until smooth and creamy Season generously with salt and pepper before blending. Add water if it’s looking a little thick Previous Next

< Back Smokey Chilli and Garlic Butter Prep Time: 20 minutes Cook Time: N/A Serves: Lots! About the Recipe Heard of Thomas Straker? The butter guy on TikTok? All Things Butter? Well this is my take, and it was delicious. You can get very creative with this. I used this to create a roux sauce for a mac and cheese and it was DIVINE! Ingredients 125g softened butter 1 red chilli 1 clove of garlic 1 tsp smoked paprika 1 tsp garlic powder Zest of one lime A grating of parmesan A pinch of salt to taste Preparation Chop the chilli and garlic, and smooth into a paste Add to the butter along with all the other ingredients Smother yourself in it. Alternatively if you’re boring, just level up your toast game. Previous Next

< Back Smoked Sausage, Bell Pepper and Fermented Chilli Sauce Calzone Prep Time: 5 minutes Cook Time: 25 minutes Serves: 1 About the Recipe Now I must admit this was a rather ad-hoc meal, which many of mine tend to be. Towards the end of the week, I usually have a load of ingredients which need finishing up and I take on the challenge of pulling together something random but (usually) delicious. This week I had some Polish smoked sausages, bell pepper, and kale lying about, and sourdough in the freezer. I put my thinking cap on and this was the resulting meal. Did you know, that globally, one-third of food is wasted? This contributes to climate change and is an easy way for us as consumers to help us become a more sustainable global community. Therefore I think it's a great skill to be able to create a delicious meal with whatever ingredients you have lying about rather than wasting them. Ingredients 1 smoked sausage, sliced (any sausage would do) Pizza dough - you can buy a mix or make your own Half an onion, sliced Half a pepper, sliced 1 clove of garlic, sliced A splash of passata or tomato paste and water will do A handful of kale 1 tsp smoked paprika 20g parmesan and any other cheese you fancy - mozzarella would work well A few leaves of fresh basil Salt and pepper to taste I added some of my fermented chilli hot sauce to the passata to give it a kick. You could add some chilli flakes to the passata or slice up a fresh chilli and add it in with the onions! You could include whatever veg you fancy here and play around with the quantities depending on what you have available. Mushrooms would work nicely for example. The quantities here make one calzone but you can easily scale up. Preparation If you're making the dough from scratch, do this first and leave it to prove beforehand. I like to prep a big batch of dough, portion it out, and keep it in the freezer for when I'm in the mood for homemade pizza. It saves a lot of time and gives you nice fresh dough whenever you fancy it. Heat some oil in a pan and place the sliced sausage face down. Fry for 5 minutes or until they're browned, then turn over and repeat on the other side. Add your onions, pepper and kale to the pan and cook through for 5-10 minutes before adding the passata. Season well with salt, pepper, and paprika. For a richer flavour, you can also add some tomato puree and soy sauce. Once it has reduced, I like to add your cheese and fresh basil for some extra flavour. While the filling is cooking, prepare your dough by rolling it into a circle. Cover liberally with flour to prevent it from sticking when cooking. Heat up a frying pan and place your dough in. Pour your filling onto half of the dough and fold the other half over the top and crimp it shut. Fry for 5 minutes on both sides or until the dough has turned crispy and golden. You can add some oil to the pan to give a better crisp at this point, or skip it if you want a healthier calzone. Serve topped with fresh herbs and chilli Previous Next