Silverbeet and ricotta galette, the proper way

Six dollars for a bunch of silverbeet the size of a small shrub at the greengrocer on Terrigal Esplanade last week, and I nearly walked straight past it thinking of soup again. Silverbeet always ends up in soup, or wilted into something at the last minute because nobody planned for it properly. I reckon that’s a waste of a good vegetable, and this silverbeet and ricotta galette is my answer to that problem. It treats the stuff like it deserves top billing instead of a supporting role.

A galette is just a free-form tart that doesn’t need a tin, which is half the reason I like making them. No fiddly blind-baking, no fighting a fluted edge that won’t release. You roll the pastry out, pile the filling in the middle, fold the sides up roughly, and bake it. The rustic look isn’t a compromise, it’s the whole point.

Why silverbeet earns the main event

Silverbeet gets lumped in with spinach constantly and it’s not the same plant at all – sturdier leaves, a proper rib running through the middle that holds its shape in the pan instead of collapsing into slime. That rib matters here. You cook it down with the leaves rather than discarding it, and it gives the filling some bite rather than turning to mush the second it hits ricotta.

Nutrition Australia and most of the dietary guidelines keep banging on about getting more leafy greens into regular rotation, and silverbeet is one of the easiest wins going because it’s cheap, it’s hardy, and it doesn’t sulk in the crisper like rocket does. Have a look at the Australian Dietary Guidelines if you want the official line on why vegetables should be taking up more of the plate than they usually do. I’m not going to lecture you on it, I’d rather just get you cooking the thing.

The pastry nobody should be scared of

I use a rye and plain flour mix for the pastry here, nothing complicated, just cold butter rubbed in properly and iced water added a tablespoon at a time until it just comes together. Don’t overwork it. The rye gives a slight nuttiness that sits well against the ricotta, and it’s a bit more forgiving than an all-butter shortcrust if your kitchen runs warm, which most Australian kitchens do for half the year.

If you’re short on time, a good-quality shop-bought shortcrust will do the job. I’m not going to pretend otherwise. But don’t bother with puff pastry for this. It puffs where you don’t want it to and goes soggy in the middle under all that moisture from the filling. Shortcrust holds its nerve.

Getting the filling right

The mistake most people make with silverbeet is skipping the squeeze. You wilt it down, and it looks dry enough, but there’s still a surprising amount of water locked in those leaves. Skip wringing it out properly in a clean tea towel and you’ll end up with a soggy-bottomed galette and a filling that slides around instead of holding together. Takes thirty seconds, makes all the difference.

Ricotta needs a bit of seasoning before it goes anywhere near pastry too – on its own it’s bland, almost chalky. Lemon zest, a good grind of pepper, and proper parmesan worked through it wakes the whole thing up. Taste the mixture before it goes in. If it tastes a bit flat in the bowl, it’ll taste flat out of the oven too, pastry doesn’t fix that.

Ingredients

• 1 bunch silverbeet (about 400g), stems and leaves separated
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 small brown onion, finely diced
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed
• 250g fresh ricotta, drained
• 50g parmesan, finely grated
• Zest of 1 lemon
• 1 egg, plus 1 extra egg for egg wash
• Pinch of nutmeg
• Sea salt and black pepper
• 150g plain flour
• 50g rye flour
• 125g cold unsalted butter, cubed
• 60ml iced water
• 1 tbsp sesame seeds, for scattering (optional)

Method

1. Make the pastry first so it has time to rest. Combine the plain flour, rye flour and a pinch of salt in a bowl. Rub in the cold butter with your fingertips until it looks like coarse breadcrumbs – don’t overdo it, you still want flecks of butter visible. Add the iced water a tablespoon at a time, bringing it together with a flat-bladed knife until it just holds as a dough. Shape into a disc, wrap, and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.
2. Finely slice the silverbeet stems and roughly chop the leaves, keeping them separate. Get your pan properly hot with the olive oil, then add the onion and silverbeet stems. Cook for 5-6 minutes until softened, then add the garlic and cook for another minute until fragrant.
3. Add the silverbeet leaves in batches, letting each lot wilt down before adding more. Once everything’s wilted, tip into a colander and let it cool slightly, then wring it out firmly in a clean tea towel to remove as much liquid as you can. This step is not optional.
4. In a bowl, combine the drained ricotta, parmesan, lemon zest, nutmeg, one egg, and a generous amount of salt and pepper. Fold through the squeezed silverbeet mixture. Taste it and adjust the seasoning now, before it goes anywhere near the pastry.
5. Preheat the oven to 200°C (180°C fan-forced). Roll the chilled pastry out on baking paper into a rough circle about 35cm across – it doesn’t need to be neat. Transfer the paper and pastry onto a baking tray.
6. Pile the filling into the centre of the pastry, leaving a 6-7cm border. Fold the edges up and over the filling, overlapping roughly as you go, leaving the centre open.
7. Brush the folded pastry edge with the second beaten egg and scatter with sesame seeds if using. Bake for 35-40 minutes, until the pastry is deep golden and the filling has set and coloured slightly on top.
8. Rest for 10 minutes before slicing. It holds together far better warm than piping hot, so don’t rush it to the table the second it’s out.

How I’d serve it

This wants a sharp, acidic salad alongside it, something to cut through the richness of the ricotta and butter. A shaved fennel and orange salad does the job nicely, or if you’ve got silverbeet to spare and want to keep the theme going, the approach I use for roast pumpkin lentil salad works well as a heartier side if you’re feeding people who’ll complain about “just a tart” for lunch.

It’s good cold the next day too, which not everyone believes about pastry until they’ve tried it. Wrap it well and it holds in the fridge for a couple of days without the base turning to cardboard, provided you squeezed the silverbeet properly in the first place. If you didn’t, well, that’s on you.

A variation worth trying

Swap half the ricotta for soft goat’s cheese if you want something sharper and more assertive. It changes the character of the whole dish, in a good way. Caramelised onion folded through instead of the raw diced onion is another option if you’ve got the patience for it on a slow Sunday; it adds a sweetness that plays well against the bitter edge silverbeet naturally carries.

I’ll admit I used to add too much garlic to this when I first started making it at home, overcompensating because restaurant kitchens train you to think more is always better. It isn’t, not here. Two cloves is plenty: the lemon and parmesan should be doing more of the talking than the garlic.

If leafy greens and proper vegetable cookery are your thing generally, have a browse of how we talk about why fibre matters more than most of us think, and if lunch planning in general feels like one more thing on the list, the piece on healthy eating when life gets busy has some sensible ground rules worth keeping in the back pocket. Betterhealth Victoria also has decent, practical guidance on vegetable intake if you want the broader context beyond just this one tart.

– Dave Forsythe, Golden Door Living kitchen