Slow Food

God for You, Your Wallet and the Environment

WORDS & RECIPE BRAD KING | IMAGES BRYDIE THOMPSON

Everyone is talking about the cost of their groceries! Even though you buy the same items each week and keep your eye out for the specials, your weekly bill at the supermarket checkout suddenly seems so much more expensive.

Naturally we are all thinking of how we can make our budget stretch that little bit further. It’s exactly the same in the restaurant world, with the cost of food rising so quickly and supply chains stretched to their limits, chefs are reassessing what they serve to customers in order to keep within their budgets. Here at The Falls Retreat, the quality of our food is of the utmost importance, and keeping this in mind, we try to stick to a few simple values that could also help you stick to your weekly budget whilst maintaining (maybe even improving!) the quality of what you eat.

SLOW FOOD

Food made from scratch takes more time but saves money. A bag of potatoes is cheaper than a bag of frozen fries and will stretch further. The humble potato can be incorporated into a variety of meals or even be the star of the show!

GROW YOUR OWN

Whilst we certainly can’t grow all our own produce, we do focus on growing all our own picking greens, salad leaves and herbs in our organic veggie gardens, even throughout winter. Not only does this give us amazing flavours for our salads, we are also ensuring freshness, nutrition and variety. Even if you have just a small patch, plant a selection of picking greens and herbs that will mean you no longer have to buy bags of expensive, tasteless mesclun. Salad varieties we grow at The Falls Retreat include: · NZ Native Spinach · Sorrel · Canasta (you can pick just a few leaves at a time, or cut it whole and get a second flush from the plant) · Mizuna · Nasturtium · Kale instead of planting broccoli, consider planting sprouting broccoli, meaning you can pop out to the garden and trim off a few stalks instead of using a whole head.

EAT SEASONALLY

If you stick to eating what’s in season, then your veggie bill will be cheaper. It does mean you may have to give up eating fresh tomatoes for a short while, but this is where pickling and preserving comes into play. Read on …

PICKLE, PRESERVE AND FERMENT

In winter, fresh chillies go up in price to $160 per kilo! Which is why we go into production of our chilli sambal when they are in full season (autumn), ensuring we have plenty of spice to see us through the year. When there is a glut and people are struggling to even give produce away (feijoas, zucchini, green beans all spring to mind), get preserving! A delicious chutney will be a life saver on your burger when you are avoiding buying tomatoes in the middle of winter.

GO MEATLESS ONCE A WEEK

Consider swapping your daily dose of protein for a meat-free alternative. I was raised a vegetarian and getting familiar with more pulses, grains and beans is a way of ensuring your meatless meals are full of flavour and nutrition. With mince now costing an all time high of $25 per kilo at the supermarket (more expensive than free range chicken), think about swapping the meat from your chilli con carne and create a three-bean version. The secret is making sure you pack it full of flavour and don’t scrimp on the herbs and spices.

REDUCE WASTE

Food waste is a critical factor when running a restaurant. Keeping this in mind at home will ensure your weekly purchases stretch that bit further. Here at The Falls Retreat, we make sure we utilise every inch of the vegetable and even save the odds and ends that normally end up in the bin to make a super tasty veggie stock.

To save money you do need to invest time, whether that’s growing your own veg, making food from scratch or adopting methods, such as pickling, to make your food last longer. And as with any investment, you’ll reap the rewards in the long term with highly nutritional meals and a few extra dollars spare to spend on a locally bought latte!

Falls Retreat | 07 863 8770 25 Waitawheta Road, Karangahake Gorge www.fallsretreat.co.nz

Veggie Scraps Stock

All sorts of scraps can contribute to a flavourful stock, but the ones that work really well are leek tops, fennel fronds, carrot tops, herb stems, corn cobs, mushroom stems, spring onion roots or tops, onion skins and ends, garlic skins and ends. Steer clear of veggie scraps from cruciferous vegetables like cabbage, as they can make your stock bitter. Keep a bag or container in your freezer for veggie scraps and keep adding to it until you have enough to make this super easy stock, which can be used as a base for a soup, a broth for a noodle dish or added to a stew, risotto or other dish for flavour:

6 cups of veggie scraps 10–12 cups water handful of fresh parsley 2 tsp sea salt 3 bay leaves 1 tsp black peppercorns 1 small bunch fresh thyme

Make sure veggies have been washed – you don’t want to simmer any dirt or sand in your stock! The shape isn’t important – just chop them up enough so that they fit neatly in your large pot. Add the salt, bay leaves, peppercorns and thyme to your veggie scraps. Add 10–12 cups of water and simmer, covered, for 1 hour. Finally, strain the stock through a fine mesh strainer to remove the vegetables and peppercorns. Allow the stock to cool to room temperature. Then, store it in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 5 days, or freeze it for several months.

Learn More at A Falls Retreat Workshop

Book online at www.fallsretreat.co.nz

COOKING WORKSHOPS:

$150pp includes morning tea, lunch and informative workshop with Brad King Sunday 18th September - Pickling, Preserving & Fermenting Sunday 16th October - Salads & Dressings

GARDENING WORKSHOPS:

Saturday 24th September - Edible Gardening for Beginners - $85pp ( half day)

Sunday 18th September and 16th October - Full Monty Organic Gardening $150pp (full day including morning tea and lunch)