Asparagus and Sorrel Delight

A farmer friend of ours from market suggested this recipe a few weeks ago and we’d been looking for a chance to try it out.

All you need is some sorrel, some asparagus, and some chives (as always this spring, chives feature in this meal).  Sorrel, if you’re wondering like we were, is a common garden plant that also grows wild and is sometimes considered a weed.  It is spinach like in texture and looks somewhat like spinach, but with longer lighter leaves.  But it’s flavor is different.  There’s a slight bitterness in the flavor and it’s very lemony.

So, wash and lightly dry the sorrel and chop it roughly just a few times.

Melt two tablespoons of butter in an oven-safe casserole pan and mix in some salt and pepper.

Stir the chopped sorrel into the butter until evenly coated.

Break the tough ends off of the asparagus and cut the stalks in half.  Lay the cut asparagus on top of the sorrel and stir a little.  Make sure the sorrel remains on the bottom. Sprinkle a little finely chopped chives.

Sprinkle a little more salt and pepper and add a little butter on top of the asparagus.

Bake the whole thing uncovered at 350 for 12-15 minutes.

We ate ours with homemade bruschetta which was lovely.

Loaf of Awesome

This recipe is roughly based off of a Turkish spinach roll recipe a friend taught me years ago.  Since she made me memorize the recipe, and since it’s been six years, I had to somewhat reconstruct it.  But it came out wonderfully.  Instead of making individual rolls we made one big loaf.

I should also say that this is tagged under “fast and easy;”  it really is.  From getting started to getting this thing in the oven was under half an hour.  It does bake for a while though.

The dough, smooth and ready to roll.

Spinach and asparagus filling spread out over the dough.

Finally, the loaf, sliced at a slight angle into spiraled rounds.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The dough:

3 ¼ cups flour (I did 2 white and 1 ¼ wheat)

2 ¼ teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
1 cup milk, at room temperature
½ cup oil, neutral or olive

Lightly beaten egg yolk for glazing (optional)

1. Combine all the dry ingredients and use a whisk to mix evenly
2. Add the oil, stir a bit.
3. Add the milk and mix with a spoon until it is too solid for the spoon, then use your hands.
4. Knead the dough just a little until it is smooth and pliable.
5. At this point make the filling.  Do everything on the filling list now.
6. Roll it out until it’s a bit more than a ¼ inch think then spread the filling over most of the dough and roll it from one end towards the other.
7. Use your fingers to press it shut at the ends and bush it with a lightly beaten egg yolk.  Last sprinkle coarse salt and ground pepper on top.
8. Bake on a lightly oiled and very lightly floured sheet at  350 for 35-40 minutes

Filling:

½ lb spinach

A handful of chives

Asparagus

Green garlic, 1-3 stalks

Salt, pepper,

¼ – ½ teaspoon each oregano & basil

Olive oil

1. Chop the asparagus into 1 inch pieces
2. Finely chop the chives and green garlic.
3. Put the asparagus, chives, and green garlic in a sizeable saucepan with the olive oil and cook on medium low heat for about five minutes.  Add some salt, pepper, oregano, and basil.
4. Meanwhile, wash and roughly chop about of spinach.
5. Turn off the heat, mix the spinach in the saucepan and cover, with heat turned off.
6. Add to the dough as explained above.