Silverbeet and Feta Cheese Rolls – makes lots

This is a really tasty and easy recipe to use up silverbeet grown in your garden. Unless you are having a party, don’t cook and eat them all at once because, once the rolls are made, they can be frozen. Remember to ask a grown-up to be your assistant and help read the recipe plus do all the things that might be tricky or dangerous for you to do on your own.

 
Method:

• Wash your hands in warm soapy water then dry them with some paper towel.
• Put the feta cheese in the mixing bowl and use your hands to crumble it into little bits.
• Using kitchen scissors, cut the silver beet leaves and a bit of the stem into the mixing bowl.
• Gently pinch a sprig of thyme at the top and pull it through your fingers so the little leaves fall into the mixing bowl.
• Crack the egg into a cup or small bowl, and use a big bit of the shell to scoop out any broken shell, then use a fork to gently beat the egg so the yolk and the white are mixed together.
• Tip the beaten egg in with the other ingredients and use your hands to gently stir them all around.
• Now wash and dry your hands again and turn the oven onto low (100 degrees celsius).
• Lay a spring roll wrapper on somewhere flat and place a spoonful of the mix onto one side of the wrapper. Brush the edges with a little water, then wrap and roll it up. (Your grown-up helper is useful for this part.) Keep doing this until you run out of wrappers or mixture!
• Now ask your grown-up helper to heat some oil in a frying pan and fry the rolls until they are golden brown on each side They can put the cooked rolls on a tray lined paper towel to soak up any oil and keep them warm in a low oven. (Make sure you tell them to be careful because stoves can be very hot.)
• While your helper is frying, get the serving plate and dip ready with some paper towel or serviettes.
• (All good cooks should taste their dishes before serving so share some with your helper.)
• Arrange the cooked rolls on the serving plate with a bowl of beetroot dip and decorate it with some extra sprigs of thyme!
• Hooray! Carefully carry your amazing dish it to the table and start eating.

In the pursuit of her passions, Kay Richardson withdrew from a successful corporate career and has spent the last decade immersed in the myriad of issues surrounding food, education and the health of children. In 2003 she became an inaugural recipient of a Master of Arts (Gastronomy) awarded by Adelaide University and Le Cordon Bleu; the major focus of her Master’s Dissertation was children’s food education.
She is now a food education and wellness consultant, writer and publisher via her company Young Gourmet (www.younggourmet.com). Kay is also the founder of The Children’s Food Education Foundation (www.childrensfoodeducation.org.au), a charity established to promote an understanding of food, health, nutrition and healthy food choices. The Foundation has recently begun a social enterprise called The Big Feed (www.thebigfeed.com.au) in order to improve the well-being of young people facilitate the realisation of their potential through the development of life-skills, literacy, entrepreneurship, cultural awareness, aspirations and resilience.