Spring Greens & Cheese Rolls

Probably the most delicious way to eat a whole HEAP of gorgeous leafy spring greens: held together with cheese and wrapped in a blanket of golden, buttery puff pastry! These are super easy to make if using store-bough puff, and are a treat in any lunchbox on the go.

INGREDIENTS

• 3 tbsp. olive oil
• 300g mushrooms, finely minced (or whizzed in a food processor!)
• 1 bunch fresh silverbeet, stalks removed
• 2 bunches fresh english spinach, stalks removed
• 250g fresh ricotta cheese
• 200g feta cheese
• 1 egg
• 1 clove of garlic, minced
• 50-100ml milk
• 1 sheet of store-bough puff pastry, thawed in the fridge (around 30cm x 50cm)

For the eggwash:

• 1 egg
• 2 tbsp. milk
• nigella seeds or sesame seeds for sprinkling

METHOD

1. Heat the olive oil in a large non stick pan over high heat and add the minced mushrooms. Season with a little salt and cook, stirring occasionally, until the mushrooms are brown and dry & no liquid remains in the pan. Set aside to cool.
2. Bring a large pot of water to the boil. Blanch the silverbeet & spinach leaves by immersing them into the boiling water for 1 minute until just wilted, then drain and rinse them under very cold water immediately.
3. Using your hands, squeeze out as much liquid as possible from the blanched greens (they will shrink like crazy!), then finely chop them. Set aside.
4. Preheat oven to 200C. Line a baking sheet with baking paper, set aside.
5. In a large bowl, combine the blanched, chopped greens, the cooked, cooled mushrooms, the ricotta and feta cheese, the egg and the garlic. Use a potato masher to mix & mash everything together, adding a little bit of milk as needed just to make the mixture come together (you don’t want it to be loose and runny or too wet!)
6. In a small bowl, prepare the eggwash by beating the egg with the milk. Set aside.
7. Prepare your bench by sprinkling some flour onto it, then spread the sheet of puff pastry on it. Use a sharp knife and any long straight object to cut the sheet in half lengthways into 2 equal rectangles (I used a rolling pin, but a ruler or the edge of a baking sheet will work. This is not important, it just helps to cut a straight line).
8. Spoon half the cheese mixture onto each rectangle in a line along the middle, then use your hands to shape into a log. Brush one edge of each rectangle with the eggwash, then roll up the rectangles tightly onto the filling, keeping the seam-side facing down.
9. Cut each roll into 4 or 5 equal portions (depending how big you want your finished rolls), and transfer them to your prepared baking sheet. Make sure you give them enough room to expand, don’t place them too close to each other on the tray!
10. Brush each roll generously with eggwash, and sprinkle with nigella or sesame seeds.
11. Bake in the oven for 30-40 minutes, until golden and puffed! Cool before serving.

Notes:

• When preparing your greens, make sure to remove all the tough stems and stalks, and using only the leaves of both the silverbeet & the spinach. You can also use either all spinach, all silverbeet, or even exchange with swiss chard or kale or a mixture of all the above! Just make sure to keep the total amount the same.

Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 1 hr
Serves: 8-10 

Recipe & photos by Matters of the Belly.