Eco-friendly recipes

Take a green approach in the kitchen - try these sustainable recipes.

Calamari with herb crumb

Ensure you buy Australian calamari, which is fast-growing, short-lived and a prolific breeder. They are usually caught using nets which target them specifically, thus bycatch is not a big issue.

There are other sustainable elements to this recipe. We use up stale bread, we throw in the herb stalks because they're full of flavour and texture too, and we just use one item for prep and one pan for cooking and serving, saving on washing up. Swap out the herbs for basil, sage, oregano or whatever you have.

This recipe also works well with sardines, which are very sustainable and incredibly cheap – I recently bought a whole bunch for 30 cents each. Ask your fishmonger to prepare them or watch Karen Martini's video (karenmartini.com).

500g calamari, cleaned

70g stale bread, roughly torn

1 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp flaked salt

handful coriander leaves and stems

larger handful parsley leaves and stems

finely grated zest and juice of ½ lemon

2 tbsp olive oil, plus extra if necessary

150g rocket, spinach or other leaves

1. To prepare the calamari, cut large bunches of tentacles in half vertically or keep whole if small. The two long tentacles are usually trimmed, but can also be eaten. Cut wings from hood, and slice along the hood to open it out into a flat sheet. Lightly score skin-side in a cross-hatch pattern, then cut into approximately five-centimetre pieces and set aside.

2. Blitz bread, cumin, salt and herbs in a food processor until a rough crumb has formed. Stir through lemon juice and zest. (If you don't have a food processor, chop the bread and herbs with a knife and place in a bowl, then stir through the cumin, salt and lemon juice and zest.)

3. In a large pan over medium-high heat, add the olive oil and heat until it shimmers. Add the crumb and cook, stirring occasionally until golden-brown and slightly crisp.

4. Push crumb to the edge of your pan and add more oil, if necessary, to cook calamari. Again, wait until it shimmers before adding the seafood. Cook calamari on both sides, until it becomes opaque and lightly curled. Stir in crumbs.

5. Turn off heat and add rocket or spinach to the pan. Toss lightly together then take pan to the table to serve.

Serves 4

Millet and beetroot pilaf

Millet is a staple crop in Africa, India and China but we don't eat so much of it here … yet. It needs relatively little water and is able to tolerate high temperatures, so chances are we'll be eating more of it as climate change affects crops and yields in decades to come.

This recipe calls for baby beetroot with small, sweet leaves. If you can only find large beetroot, cut it into three-centimetre cubes before roasting.

250g millet

500g chicken stock (or use vegetable stock or water)

1 bunch baby beetroot (about 700g), leaves retained

1 red onion, in thin slices

1 tbsp olive oil, plus extra for dressing

1 tsp flaked salt, plus extra to taste

1 tsp ground coriander

1 tsp mustard seeds

2 tbsp sherry vinegar, plus extra for dressing

1 tbsp raw sugar

¼ cup currants

⅓ cup pistachios, unsalted, roughly chopped

1 piece preserved lemon, flesh removed and skin finely sliced

freshly ground pepper, to taste

1. Place millet in a steamer basket over chicken stock. If steamer holes are large, line basket with baking paper so millet doesn't fall through. Steam for 20 minutes. Remove lid and fluff millet with a fork. Turn into a bowl to cool slightly. (Retain stock, if using, for another time.)

2. Preheat oven to 190C. Chop beetroot from stems, wash in cold water and place in roasting dish with onion, olive oil, salt, coriander and mustard seeds. Stir, then roast for 40 minutes, or until a knife goes easily through beetroot.

3. Wash beetroot leaves and stems and cut leaves from stems. Finely chop stems. Place vinegar, sugar and a big pinch of salt in a small pot and bring to the boil, stirring to dissolve sugar. Remove from heat, place beetroot stems in hot liquid and steep for 20 minutes. After 15 minutes, add currants to pickling liquid for the final five minutes. Drain beetroot stems and currants, discarding liquid.

4. Toss millet with roasted beetroot, beetroot stems and leaves, currants, pistachios and preserved lemon. Drizzle with extra olive oil and sherry vinegar to taste, along with salt and pepper. Serve warm or cool.

Serves 4