Easy Spinach Triangles
These puff pastry triangles are an easy light meal served with salad. I cook this recipe when the garden is packed with silver beet and chard. It takes a lot of preparation up front but then you can prepare them from the freezer in minutes.
These puff pastry triangles are an easy light meal served with salad. I cook this recipe when the garden is packed with silver beet and chard. It takes a lot of preparation up front but then you can prepare them from the freezer in minutes.
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 1 bucket silver beet washed and trimmed to remove stems
- 2 medium brown onions finely sliced or chopped
- 1 dash cooking oil
- 1 large bunch fresh dill leaves finely chopped
- 400 grams goats milk feta
- 150 grams cottage cheese well drained or squeezed
- 100 grams tasty or any hard leftover cheese grated
- 10 sheets frozen puff pastry to be defrosted and used as needed
- Carbohydrate 3.5159845833337 g
- Cholesterol 3.6503125013081 mg
- Fat 2.21474812549349 g
- Fiber 0.409000010490418 g
- Protein 2.28289270833851 g
- Saturated Fat 1.05977683364587 g
- Serving Size 1 1 Serving (41g)
- Sodium 75.7620000035045 mg
- Sugar 3.10698457284328 g
- Trans Fat 0.140539958367879 g
- Calories 43 calories
Step-by-step
- Fry onions in butter with a dash of oil in a large pot until soft but not brown.
- Add trimmed washed silver beet.
- Turn down heat with a lid on to thoroughly wilt the silver beet.
- When cooked allow the silver beet to cool.
- Put into a colander and squash out as much liquid as possible.
- Put drained silver beet into a large bowl and mix in all other ingredients.
- I usually divide this mixture into small portions in sandwich bags and freeze it at this stage for future use.
- To make spinach triangles defrost as many sheets of puff pastry as you wish to cook (each sheet makes 4 triangles).
- Cut each sheet into 4 squares.
- Place a dessert spoonful of silver beet mix onto each small square and fold diagonally to make a triangle with filling enclosed.
- Crimp edges of triangles with a fork to seal them and prick several times with a fork.
- Preheat oven to 220 degrees centigrade for fan forced oven.
- Cook until puffed and golden brown (10 to 15 minutes).
Flaky layers of laminated dough shatter under pressure, releasing a steaming, mineral-rich core of greens and sharp dairy. Puffed pastry relies on precise thermal dynamics to achieve its airy texture. When water trapped inside the butter layers reaches the boiling point of one hundred degrees Celsius in a 220 degree centigrade oven, it turns to steam and forces the dough sheets apart into distinct strata. Moisture is the eternal enemy of this physical reaction, which makes the preprocessing stage mandatory. Silver beet carries a high water content that can easily turn pastry dough into a soggy, unbaked paste if not rigorously managed. Cooking the greens down until thoroughly wilted breaks down their cell walls, allowing the liquid to be physically forced out through a colander. Draining cottage cheese as well ensures that excess whey does not compromise the structural integrity of the filling. Combining soft goat milk feta with a hard leftover cheese creates a moisture-buffering matrix where the proteins melt and trap residual water during baking. Leftover filling stores securely in standard sandwich bags in the freezer for months, transforming weeknight preparation into a matter of mere assembly. Defrosting only the required number of puff pastry sheets prevents the butter from melting prematurely at room temperature, keeping the lamination intact before baking. Cutting each sheet into four squares and crimping the edges tightly with a fork locks the steam inside the pocket, forcing the pastry to inflate into crisp golden triangles within ten to fifteen minutes.
