I'm Popeye The Sailor Man...

or not LOL!

I made Florentine Rolls for dinner tonight and they were delicious. I was suprised that both the kids really tucked into them (I had baked beans in a can for backup). My food processor got a work out - it made easy work of finely chopping the spinach and the semi-dried tomatoes. But my microwave died in the middle of cooking #2's vegies so now I am researching microwaves. I'm thinking about getting a convection one - my reasoning being that it is so hot up here for the majority of the year that I could use the microwave and still cook 'proper' meals (never got the hang of microwave cooking for real meals!) without heating up the whole house or having to resort to BBQ's for 7 months of the year. Anyone have one/had one/used one? Any thoughts or suggestions? All comments would be gratefully received.

Anyway, back to the recipe! The original recipe suggested Florentine Rolls as an entree but I made them for mains and we had a salad with them. In hindsight I think they were maybe a bit rich for dinner. I served a larger portion as the main meal than I would if I was serving them as an entree and I think a smaller serving would be perfect. That said, I will definitely make them again.





Florentine Rolls
from The Ugly Binder

1 bunch English spinach, trimmed, leaves washed I used half a bag of Silverbeet - it was all I could get hold of

200g fresh ricotta I had a 250g tub and used the lot

1½ teaspoon ground nutmeg I only used 1 teaspoon and that was enough

4 green shallots, thinly sliced

100g semi-dried tomatoes, thinly sliced I had a 140g tub and used the lot

Salt and ground black pepper to taste

1½ sheets ready-rolled frozen puff pastry, thawed I used two sheets because of all the extra bits I added

1 egg, lightly whisked

Bring a large saucepan of water to the boil. Add spinach and cook for 1 minute or until wilted. Drain and refresh in cold water. Use your hands to squeeze out any excess moisture from the spinach and finely chop.

Preheat oven to moderate, 180˚C. Line a baking tray with non-stick baking paper. Place ricotta in a medium bowl and break up with a fork. Add green shallots, tomatoes, spinach, nutmeg, salt and peppe, and mix to combine.

Lay sheets of pastry on a clean surface. Cut whole sheets in half lengthways. Spread about ½ a cup of ricotta mixture down the long side of each pastry half. Brush other long side with a little whisked egg and roll pastry up lengthways, pressing to seal. Trim edges. Brush tops of rolls with whisked egg and cut each roll into 4 pieces, Place on lined tray and bake in preheated oven for 20-25 minutes or until puffed and golden.