Silverbeet filo triangles

Herbs aside my garden is a bit sparse at the moment in terms of harvestable crops – the main saving grace is my silverbeet which is working really hard to keep up with the rate I am using it.

Here is a recipe that is often done with spinach that I think works brilliantly with silverbeet/chard.  (For information on the differences between silverbeet/chard and spinach see my earlier post called: Is it Spinach, Is it Silver beet, Is it Chard?)

I think there are very few recipes that don’t work with silverbeet/chard instead of spinach.  The only times when I would only use spinach are those where the spinach isn’t cooked, or when you need the velvety texture that only spinach brings.  Otherwise I tend to view the two plants as fairly interchangeable.  They don’t taste the same, its just that the flavour is similar enough that the same ingredients work well with both.  Also both are leaves and so the same cooking techniques work well for both.  Silverbeet is usually slower to cook than spinach though so you do sometimes have to adjust some cooking times accordingly.

Silverbeet & Feta Triangles

• A small bunch of silver beet (About 8 biggish leaves) finely chopped
• 1 onion finely chopped
• 1 egg
• 100g feta
• Pepper
• Filo pastry
• Melted Butter

Cook silver beet (I usually steam mine) and squeeze out excess moisture.  Saute onion until soft.  Mix in silver beet.  Cool.  Mix in remaining ingredients to form filling.

Heat oven to 190 degrees.

To make each parcel take a large sheet of filo pastry and cut it lengthways into long strips approximately 8 – 10 cm across (you usually get 3 strips out of each sheet but this will depend on the size of the original pastry).  How long they will be will vary according to brand of filo pastry – the one I use is just under 45cm long.

Keep the remaining filo under a tea towel as it drys out quickly.

Brush the edges of the strip with melted butter.  Place a teaspoonful of mixture at the end of the strip in the middle of the pastry, as shown below.

Take one of the bottom corners and fold it over the filling to form a small triangle.

Fold that triangle upwards and continue forming triangles until you reach the top of your filo strip.  Brush the top with melted butter and place onto a baking tray.

Repeat until you have used all your filling.

Cook for about 15 minutes in 190 degree over, or until golden brown.