Non Si Butta Niente.

One of the first phrases Allan, owner of Cantina del Vecchio, translated into Italian for me was "non si butta niente," don't throw anything away. 

I'm frugal. I'm resourceful, I'm an environmentalist of sorts. I must have a depression mentality because it's hard for me to throw anything remotely useful away. Which is why every year when I purge my house of superfluosity, I call the Salvation Army or Purple Heart rather than bag it and trash it. 

So, when I saw the perfectly good ends of red bell peppers find their way to the special compost rubbish tin, I nearly burst an artery. I fished them out, washed them and asked, "can I have these." Of course. I carefully wrapped the pepper ends in pellicola (plastic wrap) to take home to chop and add to fritatta (bell pepper in fritatta -- they thought I was crazy). From then on, "non si butta niente" became my mantra. On a day when fresh orange juice was being squeezed, I snatched up the peels and made candied orange peel, which Guiseppe, from Palermo, said was absolutely Sicilian (see my recipe below).

You might be wondering, how can they be so wasteful! Here's the answer. In a commercial kitchen, there is a lot of rushing around. Here, time IS money. To spend an extra 30 minutes cutting citrus peel into thin strips and boiling it three-times before rolling it in sugar costs more in time money than the finished product is financially worth. Sometimes it's simply not economical to use everything. 

I would say to the kitchen staff, "See these peppers? They cost $3 a pound in the U.S. This is about 1 Euro worth -- if you found a Euro on the ground, would you pick it up?"

For the rest of my time in the kitchen, the staff jokingly taunted me when the dish-washing person threw away any food (usually it was from diners' plates who didn't finish their meals). And I always answered "che peccato" -- what a shame. 

Candied Orange Peel

You can use any citrus peel for this. Mine is a simplified recipe in that I don't cook the peel in sugar syrup. But everyone agreed it was delicious. 

6 large oranges (with thicker skin)

Water

Granulated sugar for dredging the cooked orange peel

Cut the peel fro to remove most of the white part, the pith. Cut the peel into thin strips and place in a medium saucepan. Cover the peels with water and bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce heat slightly and cook the peel for about 5 minutes. Drain and repeat the process two more times. Drain the peel for the last time and place the peels in a dish or on a baking sheet with sides. Add sugar (about 1 cup is more than enough) and toss the peels so that they're well coated.  Spread the candied peels on the baking sheet and leave out overnight to dry. 

When no longer wet or very sticky, the peels are ready to eat. Makes about 2 cups of candied peel.