Recycling is a hassle. Let’s face it, separating our garbage into distinct categories is a drag at the least and can sometimes feel downright foolish. You stand at your sink peeling the label of the can of tomatoes, rinsing it thoroughly, and making sure it goes in the right bin, all the while looking out the window at the smokestack on the horizon from the latest “clean coal” plant they built in defiance of your adamant protests.
In my restaurant we have a similar dilemma, compounded by sheer volume and the weight of time constraints. Our smokestack on the horizon, though, is fast food and other chain restaurants, not to mention that Archer Daniels Midland, self-proclaimed “Supermarket to the World,” has a massive corn-processing plant just up the road about 20 minutes or so, making our most valiant forays into environmental consciousness feel truly Sisyphean.
Still we persevere, for reasons both altruistic and selfish (I have found that combination to be very productive). But recycling in a 45-seat restaurant with less than 1,000 square feet presents real challenges.
We buy everything feasible from local purveyors, which not only cuts down on food miles but also drastically reduces packaging. My greens, for example, arrive in one large reusable basket rather than in cellophane and cardboard in 3-pound increments. Our pastured meats, processed at a nearby meat locker, come to us wrapped in butcher paper rather than vacuum-packed in thick plastic bags. I keep the paper to use as kindling for my smoker. I know, burning wood releases carbon, but I will not do without BBQ. We’re no angels.
The biggest pain is the wine bottles. Iowa is one of the 11 states that have bottle deposit laws (one of only two in the Midwest). These laws are effective for encouraging glass, plastic, and aluminum recycling, but nearly everyone who deals with it on a daily basis considers it a major hassle, especially the grocery stores that are required by law to accept returns. For them it is a big expense and a sanitation issue, with no discernible monetary payback. For me, it’s just about space.
Handling the returns the way a household does is out of the question, since it would mean daily trips to the grocery store by my staff or me with several cases of beer and wine bottles, just so we can get our nickels back. Fortunately, here we have a wonderful company called CanShed. I have to deal with storing all the bottles, but they stop by once a week and pick up our used bottles and return them for us, all for one penny from our nickel. They perform this service and send us checks. Like I said, not all my motives are altruistic.
Recycling cardboard is easy for us, but I can’t imagine it’s easy for the garbage haulers. They provide us with a separate dumpster for our cardboard, but other people in the building are constantly ignoring the rules and throwing garbage in there. Reckon they need to separate it out—not sure if they really do. Ah well, we try.
We desktop-publish the menu here, which changes with every season and sometimes more often. This leads to lots of paper use (6 pages including the wine list and the cover, times 50 menus, means a minimum of 1,200 pages per year). We cut them up and use them as note paper, then they go the way of the butcher paper. And yes, they’re made of recycled paper to begin with.
To me the best part of what we do in this regard is compost. Since the restaurant has its own garden, we have a use for all the onion skins, egg shells, coffee grounds and on and on. The cooks and servers, rather than throwing all that stuff in the trash, put it in 1-gallon plastic buckets with lids that my wife and I haul off to the compost heap. It sits there for a little while and then it becomes more food for the restaurant. I dunno, I just think that’s cool.
Walt Whitman thought it was scary. He wrote, “Now I am terrified of the Earth, it is that calm and patient, It grows such sweet things out of such corruptions.” Well, when you look at it like that, Walt ...
So yes, we burn natural gas to cook our food, and yes we have 7 compressors burning electricity 24/7, but we do what we can. Imagine if the big chains did too.
Tortilla Española
My mother once told me that “quiche was not invented as a test of masculinity; it was invented as a way to use leftovers.” Devotay is a Spanish themed restaurant, so instead of quiche we have tortilla, which is like quiche without the crust. It too is a great way to use leftovers. The recipe below is for potatoes and onions, but whatever filling you can think of will work fine (within reason—don’t try Oreos). Also the Spanish do not put cheese in their tortillas.
12 ounces onion—julienned
12 each egg
8 ounces half-and-half
1 pinch nutmeg
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
4 tablespoons olive oil
Heat a non-stick pan on med-high heat. Coat pan with two tablespoons of the olive oil. Add potato and onion, toss, cover, and cook on medium heat until potatoes are al dente (tender but firm).
Combine remaining ingredients, except remaining olive oil, in a large bowl and whisk to combine.
Pour cooked potato mixture into egg mixture and combine gently.
Clean the pan and heat at medium heat.
When pan is heated, coat with the remaining two tablespoons of oil to cover inside of pan.
Gently pour egg mixture into pan and turn heat to medium-low. Watch carefully until sides are golden brown and center is beginning to congeal. The edges should be bubbling.
Place a large flat lid or plate over the pan. Gently turn the pan over so the tortilla turns out onto the lid. Do not do this over the stove: If it slips, you’ve got a real mess.
Slide the tortilla back into the pan and cook on medium-low heat until golden brown on bottom.
Remove from pan and allow to cool to room temperature before serving, or cover and refrigerate up to four days. We serve it with a dollop of garlic mayo.
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Comments
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kmp Posted 3:42 am
08 Jan 2009
Actually the basis of my original frittata recipe was my memory of fantastic late-night tapas of tortilla espanola in many hole-in-the-wall bars in Madrid. But everyone confuses 'tortilla' with the Mexican fried corn chip, so I started calling it frittata.
The basis of my recipe is always potatoes & onions but I do use up leftovers; roasted veggies, stray bits of goat cheese or the end of a block of parmesan, a lonely grilled sausage or the last of a roasted chicken. I also find it is the best way to stay ahead of the CSA greens that flood us in Spring & Fall - you can cram a serious amount of kale, chard, spinach, etc., into a frittata. I do not slide it out of the pan and flip it over - I find it is easier to simply finish it under the broiler; after a 5 min cool in the pan it slides out easily.
Last weekend's recipe was leek, shallot, leftover rosemary-roasted potatoes, applewood-smoked bacon and organic, grass-fed cheddar. There were raves.
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Kurt Michael Friese Posted 4:55 am
08 Jan 2009
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linzzay Posted 5:06 am
08 Jan 2009
"Operation Seperation" started in Syracuse, NY back sometime in the 80s around the same time I was sipping milk out of a carton in my elemenarty school lunchroom. They did a great job educating the public about what could and could not be recycled, and targeted kids in the schools early on. We told our parents. At first, a lot of people did think it was a hassle. 20 years later, with ongoing education and streamlining of the process, so we don't actually have to peel labels and only need one bin for paper and cans etc, the campaign has a new slogan, "Blue Bin It!" They've kept up the efforts (which pay for themselves, incidentally) and are extremely successful. Now, the Onondaga County Resource Recovery Agency (OCRRA, pronounced like "Okra") has problems convincing people not to take their free Blue Bins with them when they move away!
My parents, for example, just moved to North Carolina, and were very, very happy they brought their blue bin with them when they moved. For whatever reason, only paper is picked up curbside where they now live. Everything else they have to take to the local transfer station. Talk about a hassle... but you know what? They do it. They can't imagine not doing it. OCRRA did its job.
In my household, we recycle everything we can, products of early indoctrination by OCRRA. We're lucky enough to have one housemate whose parents live in Herkimer County, which accepts a wider plastics range and styrofoam for recycling. We keep a can in the garage for these items and when her parents come to visit, they take the items back with them. It requires a bit more sorting than usual, but it ends up being one housemate's chore, and they get out of cleaning bathrooms.
Now, how about the rest of the country? We keep exporting people from CNY who know how to recycle - when's the rest of the country going to put the systems in place to let them do that?
Recycling isn't a hassle, it's a privilege. And once we stop thinking of it as a hassle, and instead as part of the daily routine, it's as easy as breathing.
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EcoMingler Posted 7:20 am
08 Jan 2009
All about Frugal Flavors that help the Earth...
http://www.SustainableSuppers.com
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Alicat157 Posted 1:48 am
09 Jan 2009
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kmp Posted 3:47 am
09 Jan 2009
-glass
-plastics #1 & 2 with necks
-plastic bags, wrapping
-plastics 1-6, any shape
-plastic, #7
-office paper
-glossy paper
-grey board
-food container paper
-corrugated cardboard
-newspaper and brown paper bags
-metal
These recyclables go to three different spots, with varying rules on preparation, separation, etc. It makes my fiance' nuts, but I have recently bought a bunch of different (virgin plastic!! do you know it is freaking impossible to find recycled plastic recycling bins??? Maddening) bins, labeled them and stacked them in the garage. It takes a lot of effort to keep up with it; granted, we would never NOT do it, and it is worth the effort, but it is not exactly my favorite task. I'd much rather be making frittata!
As for turning apple cores/peels into vinegar... After a plethora of apple pies this Fall, I tried it twice and all I ended up with was a moldy bowl of apple cores in water. Doesn't seem to want to turn to vinegar for me. Now, if it seems to be too much to put in the composter without overwhelming it with acid, I spread some out in the backyard woods for the deer and other critters to enjoy.
Yesterday's task was turning the pumpkin on my countertop, that was starting to show signs of mold, into: pumpkin gnocchi (with sage brown butter sauce.. yum), roasted pumpkin seeds, 4 add'l cups of fresh pumpkin puree, and skin & insides for compost fodder. Now that's what I call multi-tasking!
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Dan Howitt Posted 10:14 am
10 Jan 2009
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mayalibre Posted 6:00 am
11 Jan 2009
She would start with more oil than I am normally comfortable using, placing potatoes (mainly) in, and rarely anything else, maybe just a bit of onion, salt and pepper, maybe a sprinkle of an herb. If the oil is kept at a proper temperature, the potatoes don't fry, or absorb tons of oil like you might imagine. They sort of simmer in the oil, with little bubbles.
When the potatoes are 'al dente' as you say, not fully cooked but close, you actually press the oil off the potatoes and keep it. You can use this same oil for several more tortillas. Press as much oil as you can out without mooshing the potatoes.
Then, imagine putting something hot into whisked eggs... you would expect a sudden scrambling. But again, if the temperature is just right, not too hot, when you dump the potatoes into the egg mix it kinda makes the eggs look transparentish, like pudding. But it's all smooth, just a little bubbly because its warmish hot. The ratio is a lot of potato to less egg. The eggy bit ends up acting as a smooth, sliceable binder between densely suspended potatoes -- yum! Cold it should slice cleanly, even precisely. It is so delicious I can't even say.
I have tried adding other ingredients but none succeed. I believe it's actually the starchy chemistry of the potato that makes the tortilla work. Anything that alters that, in relationship to the chemistry of the egg, will make it not work. So vegetables that add water are obviously out. Cheese wouldn't work at all. The only thing besides the little bit of onion/shallot mentioned before that I've managed to have some success with have been olives. Olive bits. But again, not too many.
I hope this inspires you! I never wrote this all out before, but I remember watching and asking about this many times and finally learning myself. I haven't actually made a tortilla for a long time. It might be time to make one now!
Bon appetit!
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mayalibre Posted 6:09 am
11 Jan 2009
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bigqin Posted 9:58 pm
12 Jan 2009
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Kurt Michael Friese Posted 5:37 am
15 Jan 2009
I left out the pouring off the excess oil part because I use far less oil. Neither I nor your former flatmate are wrong, we just learned from different teachers.
Peace,
kmf
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