Spinach & Ricotta Cob Loaf

Whether you are stepping ‘nibbles’ up a notch, or wanting to serve it as part of your main – a Spinach & Ricotta Cob Loaf is a vegetarian delight.

It doesn’t matter if the round cob loaf is fresh or stale, it’s a perfect edible container. The contents are so packed with greens you’ll never really appreciate how good it is for you as it is blended to perfection. Usually served as a dip (warm or cold), it’s just as decadent to slice the cob straight from the oven, into serving chunks.

Messy? Potentially. Warm, delicious and packed full of veggie greens? Yes. If it makes eating oodles of greens fun, I side with a ‘risk of messy’ any time.

Use your Loaf: A cob loaf is round and makes the perfect shape for a dish such as this. Part of the instructions is to hollow out the centre (as that’s where the filling will go). While you don’t need the inner bread for this recipe, don’t throw it away #wastenotwantnot. You can create your own flavoured breadcrumbs or croutons for another day. Do it straight away while you are in the mood, or simply freeze the bread chunks and deal to it later. Croutons are perfect to scatter on salads and soups.

Spinach: I’ve used fresh spinach for this recipe. It is available year round in your veggie patch (and supermarkets too). You could use Baby Spinach leaves – the variety you’re most likely to use for a salad, or the big-leafed thick-stalk variety too. For the latter, remove the green leaf from the thick stalk with a sharp knife. Shred the greens, then very finely slice the stalks. Both can be used however the stalks will benefit from being in smaller pieces so it has a chance to cook more evenly with the rest of the dish.

Kale: This was added because I had it growing in my garden. You can use ANY leafy greens for this. Think: rocket, chard (the colourful stemmed silverbeet looking veggie), silverbeet itself or go spinach 100% – the choice is yours. It is less about the type of leafy green, and more about the volume of it. Ensure your total leafy greens measure 6 x firmly packed cups.

Fresh Herbs: Need I remind you? I will keep barking on about this until you do something about it. GROW A HERB GARDEN and you’ll never regret it.

Spinach & Ricotta Cob Loaf

Serves 4-6

Prep time: 20 minutes
Cook time: 30 minutes

Ingredients

• cob loaf
• 4 cups tightly packed fresh baby spinach leaves
• 2 cups shredded curly kale
• 1 cup water
• 1 red onion, finely chopped
• 1 cup of ricotta cheese (approx 250g)
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1 vegetable stock cube
• 1/4 tsp freshly ground pepper
• 1 cup roughly chopped parsley
• 1 fresh chilli, chopped

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 180°C. Line a baking tray with grease-proof baking paper.
2. Cut approx 4cm off the top of cob loaf, set aside lid. Scoop the soft bread from the centre of loaf, leaving a thick crust edge of approx 2cm. Reserve the inner bread dough for croutons (see tip above).
3. In a saucepan, heat water and add greens. Saute for several minutes until the greens have wilted. Drain and squeeze out any excess moisture.
4. In a kitchen whiz or blender, add blanched greens, red onion, ricotta and sour cream until smooth. Transfer to a bowl and add stock cube, pepper, parsley and chilli.
5. Transfer into the hollowed cob loaf, pop the ‘lid’ back on and bake for 30 mins, or until heated right through the centre.
6. Serve as a warm dip, ripping and dunking the crusty bread as you go – or, chilled with crackers.