Warrigal Greens and Cheese Pastries
To celebrate the last day of Naidoc Week 2023, I’m profiling a recipe from a fabulous book I recently discovered called Australian Native Food Harvest (Peppermint Ridge Farm) by Julie Weatherhead. Julie is a native food plant specialist and has grown and used Australian native plants for over 20 years at Peppermint Ridge Farm enabling her to identify the tastiest native food plants which will thrive in native and cool climates. Originally published in 2016, it was recently updated and includes detailed information about over 40 native plants suitable for sub-tropical, temperate and cool climate regions plus 70 recipes using native Australian flavours which show how easy it is to include them in our daily diet.
Inroduction
About this Recipe
I’m really keen on Warrigal greens and encouraged our local Community Vegetable Garden to grow this versatile leafy green a few years ago. It grew prolifically, spilling out over the veggie bed but sadly very few of the volunteers picked or cooked with it.
Otherwise known as native spinach, it needs blanching quickly in boiling water, then rinsed immediately under cold water. This is to remove the oxalic acid (though recent research in 2015 at Southern Cross Uni showed it has the same amound of oxalic acid in its leaves as silver beet, spinach and kale).
As with many native foods it has numerous health benefits including being high in antioxidants and vitamin A.
The pesto in this recipe is optional but will add more flavour and texture.
Ingredients
- Serves 12, as a starter
- Filo pastry
- olive oil or melted butter
- sesame seeds
- Warrigal greens, 400g, blanched and chopped (squeeze out excess water)
- mixed cheeses, 700g (ricotta, fetta, grated tasty cheddar)
- Warrigal greens pesto, 1 cup (see below)
- organic or free range eggs, 2, beaten
- fresh chopped native leaves, 1/3 cup (choices include lemon myrtle, mountain pepper, native mint, native thyme, native celery)
- Warrigal Greens Pesto:
- Warrigal greens, 200g, blanched and chopped, (squeeze out water after blanching)
- fresh mountian pepper leaves (or 1 heaped teaspoon dried and ground leaf)
- fresh lemon myrtle leaves, 2 tablespoons, roughly chopped (or 1 heaped teaspoon dried ground leaf)
- garlic, 2 large cloves
- macadamia oil or good quality olive oil, 1/2 cup
- roasted ground macadamia nuts, 3/4 cup
- good quality parmesan, 3/4 cup, finely grated
Preheat oven to moderate (180C/160C fan-forced).
Mix together everything except the filo pastry, oil and sesame seeds to create the filling.
Lay out a sheet of filo pastry, brush the edges with a little olive oil.
Spread 3 tablespoons of the filling mix along the long side of the pastry and roll into a sausage shape. Carefully roll around into a spiral, brush with olive oil and sprinkle with sesame seeds. Repeart with remaining mixture and filo.
Bake for 25 minutes until golden and crisp. Serve with tomato relish or chutney.
For the Warrigal Greens Pesto: process the Warrigal greens, mountain pepper, lemon myrtle, garlic, oil and salt into a thick paste. Add more oil if too thick.
Place in a large bowl and stir through the macadamia nuts and parmesan cheese. Taste and adjust salt