Recipe: Gluten Free Spinach Scrolls.

So, you might remember that I bought some lovely spinach at the farmers market on Saturday morning. I also had a box of frozen gluten-free puff pastry I wanted to try and well, it seemed like an obvious combination to me! I googled "spinach scrolls" and adapted this recipe from Souvlaki for the Soul. I omitted the walnuts because my boys' school has a nut-free policy but I would include them [ or maybe pine nuts, yum! ] if I was just making them for home-eatin'.

To start you need some kick-ass BEAUTIFUL fresh spinach. Okay, I lie - you *could* make this with frozen spinach [ I like to keep some frozen spinach in my freezer for smoothies and easy pizza toppings ] but the thing is that you feel like a super-mama when you buy a big head of green goddess goodness to feed your family so that's what I'm recommending ;)

INGREDIENTS:

+ 1 head of fresh Spinach [ wash + chop ]

+ Puff Pastry [ lay out to defrost if frozen ]

+ 250g Ricotta Cheese

+ 125g Danish Feta Cheese

+ 1 large free-range Egg

+ Salt and Pepper to season

* this mix was actually twice what I needed for the amount of pastry I had so you could halve it if you wanted - or do what I did and freeze the remaining spinach/cheese puree mixture in the freezer for another batch!

METHOD: 

1. Preheat oven to 170 degrees C. 

2. Blanch your spinach in a pot of boiling water. It only takes about 5 minutes. 

3. Defrost your puff pastry [ or make your own if you can! ]

I had been wanting to test this gluten free puff pastry from Simply Wize [ you can buy it at Woolworths if you're shopping in Australia ]. It's a bit expensive at about A$8 for five small-ish sheets but I was making these for Kingsley's school lunches and he misses out on so many bakery items so I thought it worth the splurge. I do however think I'll try my own gf puff pastry in the future!

4. Drain the spinach. You want to press out as much water as possible. Use a wooden spoon.

5. Add everything [ spinach, cheeses, egg ] straight into your food processor bowl. Blend til smooth. Season to taste. It's a bit of a pain to wash up the food processor but it makes this step super-easy!

6. Wow - Look at this glorious green puree you should now have! Spoon it onto your prepared pastry and spread it without getting too close to the edges. Now, roll up your pastry and then cut each roll into smaller pieces. This pastry was kind of small so I only got three mini-scrolls per sheet.

That step sounds trickier than it is - but you do need to be careful not to press too hard or you'll lose your filling!

7. Place all of your mini scrolls onto a non-stick baking tray and brush on a milk &/or egg wash [ we had left-over french toast mixture from breakfast so I used that! A little over-vigourously ;) ].

8. Pop your scrolls into the oven.  Sit back and clean up your mess enjoy yourself for the next 15 minutes. I found mine took a little longer to be perfectly brown so add a few minutes if you think they need it. 

Voila! 

Super-cute, yummy, healthy, lunchbox-ready spinach scrolls :) 

Take a bow.

If you make them - gluten-free or not - leave a comment and tell us how they work out! 

XO