In this week’s Torah portion, we read about the requirement to leave some of the harvest for the poor. “When you reap the harvest of your Land, you shall not completely remove the corner of your field during your harvesting, and you shall not gather up the gleanings of your harvest. [Rather,] you shall leave these for the poor person…” (Leviticus 23:22)

It is our responsibility to make sure the poor have enough to eat and to stop the huge amount of food waste that goes on in first-world countries.

This week’s dish is inspired by not wasting food. I happened upon “kaleidoscope scapes” at the farmers market this week. The farmer said that these were shoots that happened to grow unexpectedly off the kalette plants (kalettes are a popular new hybrid between brussel sprouts and kale). Rather than throwing away the bizarre greens, the farmer decided to sell them at the market. I eagerly grabbed a bunch and they are the main ingredient in this dish. I also added roughly chopped carrots, symbolic of corners.

Ingredients

  • 1 large bunch of “kaleidoscope scapes” (you could also use kale, arugula or spinach)
  • 1 yellow onion, chopped
  • 5 carrots, roughly chopped into triangles or 1/2 moons
  • 1 cup of garbanzo beans
  • 1 tbsp. tahini
  • 1/2 tbsp. olive oil
  • juice from 1/2 lemon or a few pinches of lemon salt
  • pinch of lemon pepper
  • tiny pinch of red pepper flakes or schug

Directions

  1. Chop onions and carrots.
  2. Heat olive oil over medium heat. Add onions and sauté for 3 minutes. Add carrots and continue to cook until carrots are tender, about 10 minutes. If the mixture starts to stick to the pan, add some of the reserve water from garbanzo beans.
  3. Add greens and fold into mixture. Cook for 2-4 minutes until wilted.
  4. Add garbanzo beans and cook for 2 minutes.
  5. Remove from heat. Add lemon juice or lemon salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes to taste. Drizzle 1 tbsp. tahini over the dish.