War on… “Bread Waste”

This month we thought we would address a very relevant subject at the moment – The War on Waste.

Learning about some of the food waste facts in Australia could be very eye opening:

  • Australians throw out $8-10 billion of food every year. As a nation, we waste four million tonnes per annum of food which ends up as landfill. (www.abc.net.au/news/2013-10-08/food-waste-value-australia/4993930)
  • Australians throw out one out of every five shopping bags, which equates to every Australian household throwing out $1,036 worth of groceries each year. (Food Waste Avoidance Benchmark Study 2009)
  • Australia produces enough food to feed approx. 60 million people, yet two million people still rely on food relief every year. (DAFF, National Food Plan 2012)
  •  Food relief agencies are not able to meet demand. Nearly 90% of agencies reported not having enough food to meet total demand. 6 in 10 agencies require at least 25% more food with almost 3 in 10 agencies requiring double the food. (End Hunger Report, Foodbank, 2012)

Even more worrying when you consider them on a global scale. (OzHarvest)

As an artisan bakery, our products are baked fresh daily therefore we recommend our customers to use our bread within 3 days from delivery.

Bread normally become stale due to loss of moisture. However, “stale” bread does not necessary means bread taste is stale. Continuing our focus on the cooler months, we have put together a very easy and delicious way to utilise your left-over bread.

Eggplant and Smoked Garlic Salad with Seeded Baguette Crostini

Serves:

4 -6

Preparation/Cooking timeTime:

Approximately 45mins – 1 hr

Ingredients:

Crostini

  • Seeded Baguette (leftovers)
  • 1 Garlic clove, fresh
  • ALTO Delicate extra virgin olive oil

Salad

  • 1 Eggplant
  • 100g Yoghurt
  • Shallots, fried
  • 3 Garlic cloves, caramelised
  • 1 Lemon, juice
  • Dill, ¼ bunch
  • Basil, ¼ bunch
  • Parsley, ¼ bunch
  • Alto Delicate extra virgin olive oil
  • Salt/pepper, to taste

Instructions:

For the Crostini

Cut Seeded Baguette into thin slices. Brush with a fresh garlic clove and drizzle with ALTO Delicate extra virgin olive oil. Place on baking tray and bake in oven at 180C for 6 min each side.

 

For the Salad

Cut eggplant into 1/4’s lengthways, brush with ALTO olive oil, salt & pepper. Fry on frying pan until golden brown then roast in oven at 220C for approximately 10 min to serve. Once out of the oven sprinkle with fried shallots then arrange picked herbs over and around to serve.

 For the Dressing

Blend 3 caramelised garlic cloves with 100g yoghurt, 20ml lemon juice, salt & pepper

Not enough?  The Guardian has plenty more ways to utilise your leftover loaf!