Silverbeet Recipes

[Lucy]

Girls,

DH's veggie garden is produccing HUGE quantities of Silver Beet.......I am at a loss as to what to do with it all......

Any tried and true methods of prearing & serving silver beet?

[Rouge]

Soup

Indian side dishes with potatoes and peas and spices... (forgotten the name)

A spanakopita type thing?

Basically anything you'd do with spinach I'd imagine?! Just watch out for the stalks. Some recipes are ok with it others aren't...

OOooOOOOOo and don't forget Cannelloni with ricotta YUM!

*mwa*
Cailin

[Trillian]

Apart from quiche lorraine, I can't really think of anything else - and there is only so much quiche you can eat LOL. Silver beet doesn't preserve or freeze very well, so it makes it hard when you have a heap of it ready now. I suppose you could make a heap of quiche and freeze that?

ETA - I just had a look in DH's grandma's recipes books we have and there are two recipes if you're up for something different.

Spinach Supreme
Drain and chop the green of one large bunch of spinach (more if needed for large numbers). Add 1 cup of milk and 120grams of kraft or similar cheese. Mix well and place all in a pyrex dish. Cover with another 120grams of grated cheese, and bake in a moderate oven until cheese in melted and slightly browned. Before taking from oven, cover the top with thin srips of bacon and allow bacon to cook to a golden crisp. Serve as a vegetable or as a luncheon dish.

Spinach Loaf
Three cupfulls of cooked spinach
2 tablespoons melted fat
2 tablespoons flour
salt and pepper to taste
1 loaf unsliced bread
butter
1/4 cup milk
1 hard boiled egg

Remove the crust from from a small loaf of bread. Hollow out the centre and refill with the spinach mixture made as follows;
Melt the fat in a frying pan, add the cooked and finely chopped spinach. Cook for 3 minutes. add the flour and the seasonings. Stir well, add milk and cook for 5 minutes. Butter the outside of the loaf well. Stand in the oven and bake until a light brown. Garnish with hard boiled egg, cut into slices.

[Lucy]

Girls, you are legends! As soon as I posted I wondered if you two would have some ideas!

Thank you!

[Curmon]

Hey everyone,

I decided to plant some silverbeet in the vegie garden and now that its ready to harvest i have no idea what to do with it. To be honest i have no idea why i planted it in the first place as i have never used it in the kitchen before so any ideas would be appreciated.

Claire

[suse]

You can pretty much use it for anything that you would use spinach for - it's also used in spanakopita (greek silverbeet and ricotta pie/pastries, there is also a turkish equivalent), it's great in vegie lasagne, vegie curries and stirfries. It can be lightly steamed/wilted and served as a side with butter, pepper and a bit of nutmeg.

Good luck with whatever you do with it - it would be delicious fresh from the garden! Yum!!

[canberramomma]

Yup, go the spinach substitute!!! Snails got all mine!!

[dusty]

Simple Silverbeet and Ricotta Pie (dusty's own recipe for home grown silverbeet).

Get big bunches of fresh silverbeet from the garden, and slice into thin strips. Place as much as you can in a pot with little water on the bottom (to steam) and cook for about 5-10 mins until softened. Drain and squeeze out any excess water you can.

Add a tub of ricotta (fresh from farmers markets is best) (about 300-500gm), some cubed feta (100-200g), fresh grated nutmeg, salt and pepper.

Fry some chopped onion and add to the mix.

Spray olive oil spray (or rub OO on) a baking dish (like a lasagne dish).

Take some frozen puff pastry and line the base of the baking dish (and sides if you wish). Add the silverbeet mix on top and smooth down. Add more puff pastry to the top to cover.

Baste top of pie with olive oil.

Cook in a med-hot oven until the puff pastry is golden brown and cooked.
Serves about 4-6.
Serve with home grown salad.

Yummo!

[Nelle]

Yum! Dad always grew silverbeet in his vegie patch! We had it mixed in with mashed potato and bacon (tasty way for mum to give us greens ), you can use it as a green in salads, man...anything!
Use it instead of spinach in spinach dip! Mmm....with some crusty bread...

ETA: Dusty! Yuuuummmmm! Sounds delish! What actually is nutmeg, not sure I'd know it by sight - I only have dried ground? Is it a root like ginger?

[dusty]

lol Nelle at your edit - it is a hard round brown smooth nut about the size of a 5 cent piece. best used freshly grated rather than bought ground. You can buy it at good shops. They last a long time so even if they look a bit exxy (can't remember how much they are) well worth it whole. Also really good to use in fresh banana smoothies/milkshakes. ummmmm!

I agree Nelle, silverbeet is really good mixed in with lettuce as part of the base of a green salad. Just use the softer bits (not near the stalk). Fantastic energy salad food, with roasted almonds or pepitas and sunflower seeds.

[Kazbah]

I made a lovely silverbeet risotto with mine - use veggie stock, soften your onion and then add the stock / wine. Add a handful of silverbeet after every stock addition until you've put in about 8 cups of silverbeet, then add in your cheese etc at the end.

If all else fails, find some chickens cause they help the chooks give lovely deep yellow yolks.

[Bathsheba]

You can pretty much use it for anything that you would use spinach for - it's also used in spanakopita (greek silverbeet and ricotta pie/pastries, there is also a turkish equivalent), it's great in vegie lasagne, vegie curries and stirfries. It can be lightly steamed/wilted and served as a side with butter, pepper and a bit of nutmeg.

Good luck with whatever you do with it - it would be delicious fresh from the garden! Yum!!

Yum! I was going to say this... looooove spanakopita!!!

[AngelPunks]

steamed/wilted with butter, lemon juice and black pepper - by the bowlful - YUMMMMMMMM
or
straight from the garden eaten raw (if you've not used chemicals on your garden, if you have then a good wash in LOC then eaten)

[ll80]

My dad always grew it in the garden and so do I now too.

I just wilted it down, get rid of excess water, drizzle liberally with extra virgin olive oil, a little balsamic vinegar (if you want can leave it out) as much garlic as you like salt and pepper.
Eat with some good crusty bread yummmmo!