Cathy Katin-Grazzini
These recipe excerpts are from Cathy Katin-Grazzini’s new book, Love the Foods That Love the Planet. Reprinted with permission from Health Communications, Inc. Photography by Giordano Katin-Grazzini.
Here’s a delicious way to salvage the tough, woody ends of asparagus spears. They make an exquisitely flavored velvety soup that whips up in minutes. We garnish it with chopped chives, a pinch of chili threads, and some homemade whole-grain croûtons. Asparagus Recoup Soup makes an elegant, delectable first course that smiles on the planet, is nourishing and comforting, and costs very little in time, effort, or ingredients. Using the ends of asparagus stems that normally get tossed in the garbage, Asparagus Recoup Soup is one creative and delicious way to reduce your stream of food waste, a major driver of individual greenhouse gas emissions. While more assertive in flavor, recouping the stems of cauliflower, broccoli, and hardy greens like kale or collards, or the cores of cabbage heads also make very nutritious, tasty, and thrifty blended soups. Cook and season them similarly.
The climate footprint of asparagus grown in U.S. fields is 0.40 kg CO2eq per kg, 14% of which is linked to fertilizer production, 32% related to N2O emissions by infield bacteria, 8% by off-field bacteria, 15% from energy used to drain wetlands for farming, 4% from the application of soil amendments, 3% from pesticide production, 7% from operating farm machinery, and 16% from irrigation’s energy requirements.
What a Waste!
The global food system emits about one-third of total annual GHG emissions. According to United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, one-third of all the food we produce is lost or wasted all across the food supply chain, from the time it is harvested or slaughtered to the landfill. To put this in perspective, in 2017 the amount of GHG emissions produced by food loss and waste amounted to the total combined emissions of the United States and EU that year. A 2023 study in Nature Food determined that total food loss and waste amounts to one half of the total GHG emissions from food systems. Meat and animal products account for 73.4% of global food loss and waste emissions, compared with 20.9% from cereal grains and legumes, 3.3% from roots and oil crops, and 2.4% from fruits and vegetables. Because animal products produce significantly higher emissions, the study recommended halving meat consumption and halving the generation of food loss and waste across the supply chain and at waste treatment to reduce total global food waste emissions by 43%.
Crispy Croûtons
The fastest way to make croûtons, of course, is to repurpose stale artisanal whole-grain bread or to toast a slice of fresh bread. Then rub it with a clove of garlic and season with fresh grinds of pepper and perhaps a sprinkle of dried thyme leaves. But, if you are out of bread, here’s a tasty surrogate that’s simple to make from a quick dough using whole-grain breadcrumbs and potato, seared on a hot, nonstick skillet.
Asparagus Recoup Soup with Crispy Croûtons
Ingredients
- 2 (2.25-pound) bags of fresh asparagus spears, lower woody sections only (tops reserved for another dish)
- 2 teaspoons nutritional yeast, or to taste
- 1/8 teaspoon fresh grinds of white pepper
- 2 tablespoons shiro (mild, white) miso, or to taste, diluted in 1 tablespoon warm water to make a thick miso sauce
- 2/3 cup coarse whole wheat bread crumbs
- 3 teaspoons arrowroot
- 1 teaspoon nutritional yeast
- Several grinds of white or black pepper
- 1/4 teaspoon granulated garlic
- 1/4 teaspoon granulated onion
- 1/2 teaspoon dried herbes de
- Provence or dried thyme leaves
- 1 teaspoon shiro (mild, white)
- miso paste, or to taste
- 1 medium yellow potato
Directions
01
Asparagus Recoup Soup
Break off the asparagus stems toward the bottoms to remove the tougher, woodier ends. Simmer in water for 5 to 20 minutes, depending on the stem’s thickness and woodiness. Cook until they are entirely tender when pierced with a knife.
02
Drain and reserve the cooking water. Transfer the stems to a high-speed blender. Puree them, adding only as much of the reserved cooking water as needed to create a smooth, velvety textured soup.
03
Season, using a light hand, with nutritional yeast and white pepper.
04
Before serving, reheat on the stovetop or for a minute, covered, in the microwave. Serve in warmed bowls, stirring in a spoonful of diluted miso, or to taste. Garnish with chopped chives, warm croutons, and if you like, a pinch of chili.
05
Crispy Croûtons
Mix the bread crumbs, arrowroot, nutritional yeast, pepper, garlic, onion, herbs, and miso paste in a bowl. Taste and adjust the seasonings as you like, then mound the mix on a large cutting board.
06
Cook the potato in a microwave for 3 to 4 minutes until it is tender.
07
While the potato is piping hot, cut it in half, and, using a ricer, squeeze two-thirds of the riced potato pulp onto the bread-crumb mix. Use a fork to distribute the potato throughout the mixture and then use your hands to knead it for a minute into a dough. Add more of the riced potato if the mixture remains too crumbly to gather cohesively.
08
Use a wooden dowel or light rolling pin to flatten the dough to 1/4 inch in thickness.
09
Use a straight edge or ruler to square the edges. Cut them into bite-sized 1-inch squares or 1-by-3/4-inch rectangles.
10
Heat a nonstick pan for 3 minutes over medium heat. Toast the croutons for about 2 minutes on each side, lightly browning them.
11
Serve immediately, or if you prepare them in advance, reheat the croutons before serving in a 300°F oven for 5 minutes.
