There’s a story in our family that goes something like this…..
My parents were away and I was at home alone with my older sister, while my young brother was staying with friends.
I would like to think I wasn’t very old when this took place, but the family reminds me that I was in my mid-teens.
In my attempt to keep the normal home routine going (and probably a little because I was missing them), I went about the jobs that I thought my mum did each day. I remember wearing her apron and sweeping the floor a lot, but I can’t remember much more than that.
Other than soak silver beet.
In my mind, there always seemed to be a sink full of silver beet soaking, so I took it upon myself to keep this important tradition going in my mother’s absence.
Apparently after a few days, with a bit of an odd smell emanating from the kitchen, my sister discarded the over-soaked silver beet.
This story makes me smile. A little with embarrassment, as I clearly had no idea what I was doing. But also because it reminds me of the power of food in our lives and stories. In my mothers absence, there was obviously something comforting about doing what she did that made me feel just a little closer to her, even though we were apart.
My mother’s Silver beet Pie was a simple staple in our home and we all loved it.
I was therefore a little shocked when I served it up to my boys, with the story of how loved it was in my home growing up, that they didn’t feel the same way.
This is the first recipe I have posted on cook fast eat slow that my boys don’t like, but I decided to post it anyway.
Because I love it. Because I loved it as a little girl. And so did my brother and sister.
This simple, cheap, vegetarian dish is so easy to make and highlights a wonderful and nutritious leafy green vegetable that we often don’t know what to do with. A relative of the beetroot family, silver beet often gets confused with spinach. The distinctive white stems of silver beet help tell it apart from English Spinach or Baby Spinach. Where english or baby spinach can be consumed raw, the leaves and stems of silver beet need to be lightly cooked by steaming or sautéing, before eating.
- 2 sheets of frozen store-bought puff pastry, thawed
- 1 bunch of silver beet (also known as swiss chard)
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 brown onion, peeled, finely diced
- 1 clove garlic, peeled, finely sliced
- 2 eggs
- 3/4 cup grated tasty cheese
- 1 teaspoon of grated nutmeg
- 1 egg yolk, extra, for brushing the pastry
- 2 tablespoons of sesame seeds
- Preheat oven to 180 degrees celsius.
- Wash the silver beet and roughly chop the stems and leaves. You may find it easier to soak it in a sink full of water and then drain.
- Put the silver beet in a saucepan and add a tiny bit of water.
- Place the lid on and over a medium heat, steam the spinach gently until lightly wilted. This will only take a few minutes.
- Drain, pressing down on the silver beet to remove as much moisture as possible and set aside to cool slightly.
- Using the same saucepan, heat the olive oil and gently sauté the onion and garlic over a medium heat until soft.
- Add to the silver beet and stir through the eggs, grated cheese and nutmeg.
- Line the base of a 20cm pie dish with one sheet of pastry.
- Add the silver beet mixture.
- Place the remaining piece of pastry on top, at a different angle to the bottom piece, to form a star shape pattern.
- Fold the edges of the pastry back on top of the pie, so that the filling is enclosed.
- Using a pastry brush, brush the egg yolk over the pastry and then sprinkle with sesame seeds.
- Bake in the oven for 30 minutes or until puffed and golden.
