What Vegetables Are In Season in October?

Artichoke

Asparagus

Avocado

Beetroot

Broad Beans

Broccoli

Cucumber

Eggplant

Green Beans

Herbs

Lemongrass

Lettuce

Onion

Peas

Silverbeet

Spinach

Zucchini

Wilted Spinach Salad

I found this recipe years ago in The Greens Cook Book by Deborah Madison and it’s made a regular appearance at the table since then. I love a salad of some sort with our main meal so I’m always on the lookout for variations in colour, texture and taste.

Try to use really fresh, young spinach. Small, tender bunches or baby leaves can be used, depending on whether you want to spend that little bit of time preparing a bunch - you know - washing it many times, making sure the dirt and grit have gone and that the bigger stems have been removed.

Just a couple of things to note. Silverbeet, the ’spinach’ many of us grew up on here in Australia, is not really spinach. It’s actually Swiss chard but is related to beetroot and spinach. Sometimes when I can find baby silverbeet leaves at the greengrocer’s I use them in this recipe, along with baby spinach leaves. The other thing is that although the recipe seems to use a lot of spinach the volume will decrease because it’s wilted by the hot oil.

Ingredients

• 1 small red onion - quartered and thinly sliced
• 1 handful Kalamata olives - more or less to taste
• 500g spinach - approximately one bunch, otherwise use baby leaves
• 1 garlic clove - finely diced
• 1T mint leaves - finely chopped
• 2T sherry vinegar
• 180g feta cheese
• 1 baguette
• 6T extra virgin olive oil - or more as required

Method

1. Preheat oven to 200C
2. Lightly brush baguette slices with some of the oil and toast in oven until light brown - allow 4 slices per person
3. Cover the onion slices with iced water till needed - a nice trick to remove the pungency of onion
4. Take seeds from the olives and slice flesh into quarters
5. Prepare spinach as per usual - washing generously to remove dirt - dry well
6. Put the spinach in a large bowl
7. Add drained onion slices, garlic, mint, olives and vinegar - gently mix with your hands
8. Crumble cheese over spinach mix
9. Just before serving heat the rest of the olive oil until very hot
10. Immediately pur over the spinach and toss well with tongs to wilt most of the leaves - you want just enough oil to gently coat the leaves, not drench them
11. Taste - it may need more vinegar
12. Tuck the croutons around the edge of the bowl and serve immediately

Depending on how your serving this salad it will make four ‘large’ salads or around six small ones

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