This is the time of year when I harvest lots of fresh vegetables from our garden. As I prep them for storage in our freezer for use in the months ahead, I generate even more plant scraps than usual as I trim, peel and de-seed various vegetables. Before I learned about the many connections between food issues and the health of our planet, I didn’t fully realize how important it is to be thoughtful about what to do with food scraps.
In the United States, we waste about 40% of food every year, and consumer waste is directly responsible for almost half of that. Those are astonishing figures! Buying just what you actually need is the best way to reduce consumer food waste, but there will always be some food scraps that wind up getting tossed. Composting is a good way to turn non-meat food waste into nutrient-rich soil mulch, which you can use to grow more flowers and vegetables in the future.
Nationwide, most food scraps unfortunately go into landfills, where they release methane, the most-powerful type of greenhouse gas. For information about food waste and compost options, go to harriscenter.org/waste-less.
An advantage of being vegan or vegetarian is not having to worry about what to do with meat scraps. That said, some people think that people who choose to eat a plant-based diet don’t like the taste of meat. I’m sure there are those who fit that description, but as for me, I thoroughly enjoyed it. And with an Italian mother, I was blessed with the “Sunday gravy” – that is, tomato sauce simmered for hours with meatballs, sausages and braciole. Oh my, what a feast!
Sausage gravy was a close second in my book, usually served over rigatoni, a thick, tubular pasta. So when I learned how to approximate the taste of Italian sausage without using any meat, that was a happy discovery. (Side benefit: no cholesterol!)
I have made this recipe for many family members who are carnivores, and they all love it. “Oh sure,” you’re thinking. “They’re just humoring you.” I might have thought that as well, but several of them are around 5 years old, and believe me, they tell me the second food crosses their lips whether they like something or not. They don’t hold back.
So give this a try. No, it’s not sausage in the traditional sense, whereby the meat is stuffed into a cylindrical intestine. These are what I call sausage “crumbles,” which resemble the texture of what we used to call “loose meat” in a tomato sauce. (Don’t tell my mother that I’ve transitioned to using the word “sauce” instead of “gravy.”)
As the sauce simmers on my stove, it definitely brings me back to many happy childhood memories, when my mother would let me taste the gravy with a piece of Italian bread before it was served for dinner.
Meatless sausage crumbles (vegan)
The key to the sausage taste is in the fennel seeds; be sure to press them with the back of a spoon to gently crush them before adding them to the mix in order to release their full flavor.
Ingredients
–1 package (16-ounce) firm tofu
— 1 small onion, chopped
— 3 tablespoons nutritional yeast
— 1 teaspoon tahini
— 1 teaspoon garlic powder
— 1 teaspoon fennel seeds
— 1 teaspoon oregano
— 1/2 teaspoon basil
— 1/2 teaspoon sage
— 1/2 teaspoon thyme
— Salt and black pepper, to taste
— Crushed red pepper, to taste
Directions
Let tofu drain and press out as much liquid as possible. Cook onion in a frying pan with tahini and a little olive oil. Add all of the spices and stir for a minute or two, being careful not to burn them. Take frying pan off the burner; crumble tofu into the pan. Break off pieces with your hand and squeeze it into the pan.
Put pan back on burner; mix well, and cook on medium heat for about five minutes, stirring often. Put mixture onto a small cookie sheet and flash freeze for about 30 minutes; use it immediately or store it in a Ziploc bag in the freezer for future use.
To use the sausage crumbles in tomato sauce, heat a 28-ounce can of tomato puree and add the frozen sausage crumbles (I usually only add half of this recipe and save the other half in the freezer for another time). Simmer on low for about 30 minutes, stirring every now and then. Serve over pasta of your choice, although my favorite with this sauce is the aforementioned rigatoni.
For those who want the taste of cheese sprinkled on their pasta, but don’t want to use dairy products, try Dr. Michael Greger’s nutty parm recipe found on his website nutritionfacts.org. Greger is a font of knowledge about food, your health and how your food choices affect the planet.
Lisa Murray has a passion for exploring the impact our food choices have on human and planetary health