With excess broccoli florets and loads of spinach leaves, it seemed the perfect start to a Flaky Feta and Broccoli Roll.
The beauty of having your own vege garden is not really knowing what’s going to be on the menu – not through lack of choice may I add (as there’s plenty growing) but to make the most of the ripe harvest.
Our challenge not to buy supermarket vegetables for a year is going well. We are eating what we can and freezing what we can’t to prepare for winter months when the variety of veges just won’t be available to us fresh.
The great thing with this recipe is that a ‘handful of this’ and a ‘handful of that’ soon makes up for a plentiful supply of fillings. In this case: broccoli, spinach, spring onion and coriander.
The beauty of this roll is its flexibility. No broccoli? Use silverbeet or kale. No spring onion? Swap in red onion, chives, or garlic scapes. Feta can be replaced with ricotta, grated cheese, or whatever you have on hand.
It’s a brilliant way to use odds and ends from the garden before they go soft, bolt, or crowd out the next planting.
This roll is freezer-friendly too. Make a few at once, bake, cool, and freeze in portions. Ideal for lunchboxes, quick dinners, or those mid-winter days when fresh greens are in short supply.
For now, it’s another small win in our year of homegrown eating. And proof that sometimes, the best meals aren’t planned, they grow on you.
Flaky Feta and Broccoli Roll
Prep time: 10 minutes
Cook time: 15 minutes
Ingredients
- 3 sheets of ready made flaky pastry
- 2 cups of blanched spinach/broccoli mix (cooked measure)
- 2 large spring onions
- 3 Tbsp of mixed seeds (pinenuts, sunflower, pumpkin)
- fresh herb (parsley or coriander)
- 1 egg (slightly beaten)
- 100g crumbled feta cheese
- 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
- salt/pepper
Method
- Pre-heat the oven to 200ºC. Cut the thawed pastry sheets in half.
- Shred or finely chop the spinach leaves and cut the larger broccoli heads into small florets. Don’t waste the stalks! These can be diced finely and added to the mix too!
- Quickly blanch (or microwave for 1 minute) the spinach and broccoli. This will make them wilt slightly. Then measure the quantities (otherwise if measured raw, 2 cups may not quite be enough).
- Finely chop the spring onion and coriander (including the stalks).
- Mix all ingredients, pile spoonfuls of mixture into the centre of the pastry all the way across the half sheet. Brush one edge with milk (to help secure the long edge once rolled). Carefully roll. Turn up and pinch the edges of the short sides to stop the goodness escaping.
- Prick top of pastry with a fork. Brush top with milk. Bake for 10-15 minutes (or until brown).
