Steve's website

This is our simple website - running on a beaglebone black, it hosts our favourite recipes and cakes, and things that interest us. There's an area for the kids for when they start to learn computing at school, and a personal blog for us all

Veggie Meals

    Chard pie and chard rolls

    So this is our development on the greek spinach and/or cheese filo roll.

    The quantities are flexible, but we tend to cut the whole chard patch down and make in bulk. For four times this recipie, we used two carrier bags of chard stuffed to busting, which after cooking and steaming filled our 10inch steamer - it's like spinach - it reduces signifiicantly.

    ready made filo roll
2 blocks of feta
1 tub cottage cheese
70g parmesan
large quantity chard
1/4 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp nutmeg
seasoning (salt and pepper kids !)
1 tblsp parsley
4 tblsp fennel leaf
1 egg
1 leek
1 bunch spring onions, or red onion
olive oil to sweat the leeks and onions down.
Large block of butter

    We use fennel rather than dill because we have a large bronze fennel in the garden which provides our yearly fennel seed for the pork, and the fennel leaf for these pies.

    First wash and separate the chard stalks from the leaf - the stalks are tougher and take more steaming. Chop it all up. I steam the stalks for a good 20mins and the leaf for about 10mins and then let it cool. I tend to do this when I've picked the chard - and then make the pies the next day as this is not a quick process.

    Sweat the leeks and onions down until soft and leave to cool.

    Mix everything - the cheeses, the onions, the chard, the herbs, the egg and the spices - there's no easy way - it's hands I'm afraid.

    Time to make the pies. We tend to do a big pie when we have guests and rolls for individual meals. For the individual rolls, we used on sheet of filo brushed with melted butted, and roll the filling within. Brush with butter to stop it cracking when frozen. For the big pie, we line a buttered tin with three to four layers of buttered filo, fill with the mixture and then seal with another three to four layers of filo.

    The pies and rolls freeze well, and if you coat in butter, then they don't break up. Cook at 200 deg for about 25 to 30 mins when not frozen and about 40 mins when frozen.