Sharing Plates
Johnny, on vegetables.
It’s a bitterly cold January afternoon at 4pm and darkness has already crept in. Comically dressed in multiple layers, the michelin men (sharing plates volunteers) congregate to deliberate the ingredients and menu plan for the evening. A rainbow of vegetables; glistening aubergines, courgettes, red peppers, carrots and celery cover the steel counter tops. With the additions of red kidney beans, chickpeas and plenty of herbs we settle on a vegetarian lasagna. The brief for the food is hot, hearty, nutritious and satisfying. We believe we have covered all bases with this one. At our disposal we also have a large bucket of apples, pleading to be transformed into hot apple crumble
We get to work immediately. We are lucky to have Vic our iconic commis chef steering the ship, guiding the office team through the recipes. Alys, our sales manager is laser focused on our pudding prep. A keen and experienced cook herself, she makes headway on chopping the apples and baking a delicious crumbly top, bursting with warming cinnamon and allspice. I am supporting Johnny, our operations guru who is leaving no vegetable in his wake. Together we slice through 40 veg and begin to add them to the pot, to soften and caramelise with onion and garlic.
To replace the mince we are using beans and chickpeas, both high in protein and fibre, to boost the nutritional value of the meal. We prepare the beans in a similar way you would the mince, infusing them in flavour and coating in a rich and satisfying tomato sauce. Finally, we start the last but most crucial element to the dish, the thick and oozy cheese sauce that graces each delightful layer of the lasagna. Once we have a large pot of creamy white sauce made with flour, milk and cheese, we assemble into a production line.
Lily and Johnny, team assemble.
It’s a military operation and each of us is responsible for adding an element, the tomato beans serving as the base, followed by roasted vegetables, lasagna sheets, unctuous bechamel and a grated cheese top. Rinse and repeat we continue, layer on layer, until we have built up 5 whole trays of goodness.
Johnny and I drive to Camden station to meet Caroline, who volunteers for Streets Kitchen and brings food either from their depot, or from donating restaurants and cafes to hungry Londoners who congregate here. Their efforts are really admiral and just from seeing the queue of people beginning to form at 7.30pm, you can tell this organisation are a real life line. The hot food is game changing on such a cold night, as it is not always possible for them to receive this.
Then we wait amongst the wonderful aromas spilling out from the oven. After around 30 minutes we are ready to portion and box up both the lasagna and the apple crumble. A team effort is required again, to work quickly and accurately. We portion and spoon into boxes, quickly attaching lids to the steaming hot food and bundling the portions into our thermo boxes. These are cleverly designed to keep food hot, for at least an hour and a half, so we can guarantee a hot meal once delivered the other end. Once we have portioned out 60 portions of both the lasagna and crumble, we use trolleys to wheel the boxes into our van.
Vic and Alys, team portion.
Boxed up and ready to go.
We hand out the portions to whoever wants one in the queue. Some eat it straight away and I am glad to see steam coming from the pots. Some even eat two portions straight away. The food is definitely much needed and appreciated, it isn’t long before we run out.
We came up with our sharing plates initiative to try and tackle two problems, food waste and food insecurity in London. What we want to do is to use produce that would otherwise go to waste and turn it into hot and hearty meals for those that need it. We want to give the opportunity for the clients we work with to contribute to the scheme, so we can staff, supply and transport the food to where it needs to go. We are also encouraging our clients to volunteer with us, learn how to cook something new and donate time or money to our initiative, to help feed the hungry and the homeless in our local area.
Lily, Johnny, Caroline and the Streets Kitchen voluenteers.
