Dolmadakia (Dolmades) with Spinach Leaves

I currently have a glut of perpetual spinach growing in  raised beds, in my kitchen garden.The older leaves are much larger and a bit tougher than normal spinach and I was wondering how to use them up in something other than spinach and feta pie. I suddenly had a brainwave to try another Greek dish, dolmadakia; in case you don't know, dolmadakia (little dolmades) are traditionally made with vine leaves.

• ½ cup risotto rice
• 1 onion, finely diced
• 1 large clove of garlic, crushed
• 1½ cup veg. stock 
• 1 tbsp tomato puree, optional
• ½ tsp sugar
• 2-3 tbsp each of chopped fresh parsley and mint (plus a little dill and oregano if you have them)...the more, the better!
• 2 tbsp olive oil 
• Salt and pepper to season
• Approx .15-20 large spinach leaves (or vine leaves)
• 2 tbsp lemon juice

Heat 1 tbsp of the oil in a pan and gently saute the onion and garlic for a few minutes until softened.

Add the tomato puree, if using and cook for a further minute or so.

Stir in 1 cup of the stock and bring up to a simmer.

Simmer for 8-10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the rice is al dente.

Stir the in herbs and sugar and season to taste.

Remove from the heat.

Bring a pan of water to the boil.

Holding the stem of the spinach leaf, dip each one into the pan (carefully!) for a couple of seconds to blanch. Drain on kitchen paper.

Cut the tough stem off the leaf with a sharp knife.

Place a heaped tsp of the rice mixture onto the stem end of the leaf and roll up, like a mini burrito. Place into a well greased dish.

Pour the remaining stock over and drizzle with the lemon juice and olive oil.

Cover tightly with foil and bake for 30-40 minutes at 180C Fan, 200C, Gas 6, 400F.

Remove from the oven and allow to cool for 10 minutes before serving.
Serve as a starter a meze dish.

Find out how to grow perpetual spinach.

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My Kitchen Garden

This summer I've created my own kitchen garden in raised beds. I bought the raised bed kits from Wickes and built them myself; OK, with a little help from Mr.O! I filled the beds with a lasagne (layers) of peat-free bought compost, soil from the garden, garden compost and barbecue and bonfire ashes.

In an attempt to thwart the millions of rampaging slugs and snails which inhabit my garden, I surrounded each bed with about 20-30 cm of gravel. This does seem to be doing the trick, but I still need to pick out the little blighters which do make it across.

I'll admit that I've rather overcrowded the beds this year, but everything still seems to be growing well. I've planted just a few plants each of: runner beans, green beans, broad beans, courgettes, butternut squash (grown from seeds which I dried and saved from a shop-bought squash), tomatoes, herbs and chillies.

I've also been growing mixed salad leaves including lettuce, rocket and watercress.
As we eat a lot of salad and I like a bargain, I've come up with a thrifty way to grow salad leaves for the price of a couple of bags of shop-bought leaves.

• Lettuce: Buy a 'growing' pack of mixed lettuce for £1-2 from your local supermarket, split them up and plant them out, you can start picking the leaves within 7-14 days and can be harvested for over a month if you keep them well watered.
• Watercress: Just plant a few odd sprigs of left over watercress from a bag of salad. Look out for the pieces which have little roots attached to the base of the stems. Again, with a few weeks, they'll have spread and will be ready to start harvesting. I was quite amazed that watercress doesn't need to be grown in water!
• Rocket: This is really quick and easy to grow from seed. Just sprinkle a row of seeds every couple of weeks and pick the larger leaves off as soon as they're ready.

My courgettes have just started fruiting and my runner beans won't be far behind, so look out for more recipes featuring my kitchen garden harvest.

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