Baked Goods, Main Meals, Recipes

The Beet on the Street: Neighbourhood Spinach, Fetta and Shallot

If there were to a quote of the month summarising my ruminations, this would be it:It’s not the size that matters, it’s how you use it. Since we are all fairly aquainted with this saying, so I will get straight to the heart of this month’s affair: let’s talk about keeping firmer and less limp, growing larger and lasting longer and most importantly, satisfying that voracious hunger. Best of all, let’s have a lesson how to heat things up and get a great boost of endorphins to boot. If this sounds like the void that’s built walls within your life and started to charge you rent, then you’ve come to the right place.

All you need to do is put your excuses aside and achieve fantastic results with a sunny corner space, a bag of potting mix and the seeds for your sowing. That is to say, I don’t blame you for avoiding many of the fruit and vegetables that should be filling your shopping trolley. They really should be firm and crisp and last longer than a few days in your refridgerator. But the reality is, supermarkets offer such an incredibly lacklustre selection that severely wants in variety, quality and value.

But enough talk, let’s see about loosing the limpness, gaining the firm flesh and fastening up — in the department of vegetables, that is! (Goodness knows where your mind has been so far…)

When it comes to where you live and how you wish to fit an active lifestyle, in my opinion, size really doesn’t matter. After all, this year marks my tenth consecutive year as an apartment dweller, cast back andforth between Sydney’s Inner West and Eastern suburbs, meanwhile managing a bountiful garden within limited space.

While gardening herbs and tending to vegetables sounds like a pursuit in pure self-interest, my experiences have found it can actually open the barriers once closing you in to your neighbours, family and friends; I believe that there is true altruism in garden-tending and growing, because any surplus stock can easily become the stock of the giving and sharing – emblemising a sense of true community spirit.

During this time, I have read through numerous gardening books for inventive ways to recycle natural and renewable resources to house and grow vegetables. Indeed, there is a growing trend for a certain prized resourcefulness that is learned from working within cramped spaces, and through this recipe and post I have demonstrated my attempt to utilise the most of my dwelling space to capitalise on sunshine and celebrate a late-Summer harvest with the newest beet in town: my very own bunch of home-grown spinach.

Now is the time to discard any bitterness you have ever heard before, compost the criticisms in a box soon to sprout new life and keep only the fleshy, crisp memories on your plate. Gardening at home, for simple crops and herbs, has a therapeutic effect in the copious release of endorphins, gives you the chance to sample your own tending and keep you feeling full and satisfied. It is much quicker and easier to accomplish than you might think. And in the case of spinach, versatility is never questioned: bake it, steam it, fry it, paste it, you name it!

INGREDIENTS
packet of puff pastry
500-700g fresh silverbeet (don’t worry, it reduces when it gets cooked)
3 tablespoons pure olive oil
bunch of shallots, sliced roughly
punnet/packet of Greek feta cheese, cubed by 0.5cm
grated ginger to taste (optional)
1 tablespoon tepid water
4 eggs
3 cloves garlic, diced
pinch of paprika
pinch of nutmeg
plenty of sea salt
pinch of black pepper

  1. Preheat oven to 230c. Defrost and lay-out two sheets of puff pastry for use.
  2. Lightly grease a deep-dish baking pan and carefully lay flat the puff pastry bottom layer.
  3. Rinse and chop your silverbeet by clumping it into tight bunches and slicing with the guidance of your off-hand.
  4. Place the silverbeet into a large mixing bowl. Chop the garlic finely the shallots rough and place both into the bowl.
  5. Whisk three whole eggs in a bowl, with 1 tablespoon of olive oil, until suitably aerated. Pour over the silverbeet.
  6. Add paprika, nutmeg, sea salt and black pepper to taste, and finish off with a tablespoon of tepid water.
  7. Chop and add feta to the bowl, rinsing under water if not in-brine version.
  8. Mix contents of the bowl thoroughly with your hands.
  9. Scoop the entire contents of the bowl onto the bottom layer of the puff pastry in the baking pan. Level the surface with a spoon.
  10. Place final layer of puff pastry over the top of the silverbeet and press down firmly. Allow the liquid from the silverbeet to penetrate the pastry and make it soggy; this is of no consequence to the stability of the pastry.
  11. Gently compress the contents of the baking tray and lattice around the edges with a fork.
  12. Whisk the remaining egg leisurely and brush over the surface of the pastry. Dust with any choice of seasoning for decoration, such as paprika.
  13. Cook for approx. 25 minutes, or until top pastry is flaky and moist and a knife-skewer returns with condensation.
  14. Serve immediately or microwave over the next week – it is delicious the day-after baking.
27 February 2010   ·   Comments Off

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