Maria Kraus

We tried to use OUR own garden for these recipes - at the moment we have silver beet and herbs growing in our garden pots.

The children were surprised how good silver beet tastes.

With the F/1's, I stuck to the original recipe, and we made a "torte", but with the larger grades we made individual pastries.

Stephanie Alexander's "olive oil pastry" from this recipe is so easy and quick to make - you can fill it with whatever you fancy or have in the fridge.

Highly recommended.

Silver Beet and Potato Torte

This lovely dish originates in northern Italy. The cheese is supposed to be a fontina from the Italian Alps, but the first time I made the torte I substituted a well-made Australian cheddar. It was still delicious, but I must admit that a cheese with a little more 'stretch' is a better choice. Having said that, I am sure the torte would also be delicious made with crumbly fetta. I have also used rainbow chard from the garden instead of the silver beet, and the coloured stalks look very dramatic. This quantity will serve 6 as a light lunch or 8-10 as a first course.

150g young silver beet or rainbow chard

salt

150g potatoes

extra-virgin olive oil

1 onion, finely chopped

parsley

150g 'stretchy cheese' (fontina, asiago, mozzarella), chopped or grated

freshly ground black pepper

1 large egg

olive oil pastry

200g plain flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

11/2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

1/2 cup cold water

To make pastry, whizz flour and salt in a food processor. Drizzle in oil and then water. Process for about 1 minute until mixture forms a ball. Transfer to a floured work surface and knead for 2-3 minutes until supple and smooth. Put into a bowl, cover with a clean tea towel and refrigerate for 2 hours.

Separate silver beet stems, then chop finely. Wash leaves, then roll them up and slice finely. Put stems and leaves into a colander and toss with 1 teaspoon salt. Set aside for 20 minutes. Meanwhile boil the potatoes in lightly salted water or 15-20 minutes until tender, then drain, peel and dice.

Preheat oven to 200C and lightly oil a 28cm pizza tray. Quickly rinse silver beet and squeeze it dry in a clean tea towel. Combine silver beet with potato, onion, parsley, and cheese, then add pepper to taste. Whisk egg with 1 tablespoon oil and add to silver beet mixture. Taste for salt.

On a floured surface, roll out two-thirds of the pastry to round that will easily cover the pizza tray. Spoon filling, leaving a 2 cm border around pastry. Damper border with water. Roll remaining pastry to a round a little smaller than the pizza tray and drape it over filling. Seal edges, then fold extra pastry from base over sealed edges and press together. Pierce top here and there with a fork and drizzle with 1 tablespoon oil. Scatter with a little salat. Bake 20-30 minute until golden brown. Allow to rest for 10 minutes before cutting. Serve with a tomato salad or other salad.

Variations: This pastry is a delight to work with and can be used to make other savour vegetable tortes. Try substituting a mixture of fried, drained wild and cultivated mushrooms for the silver beet. Or what about pumpkin or leftover risotto instead of the potato?

Lemon Biscuits

100g Soft Butter

50g Castor Sugar

add 150g SR Flour

Zest of 1 lemon (finely grated)

Mix all ingredients with a wooden spoon.

Knead into a dough.

Line a baking tray with baking paper.

Preheat oven to 160 degrees.

With a teaspoon, portion little balls, flatten them with the back of a fork.

Bake for 12 minutes or until golden.

Icing sugar sprinkled on the top.

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