Quick Vegetable and Feta 'Strudel' with Lemon, Dill and Yoghurt Sauce

Why, you might ask, am I thinking about summer food in the crackly depths of the Johannesburg winter? Well, although it gets cold here at night, the afternoons are often gloriously warm and sunny, and the ineffable blue of a winter Highveld sky makes it difficult not to think of spring.

This light, summery roll of phyllo pastry and crunchy little vegetables in a lemony butter makes a lovely starter or lunch. You can prepare this in under 25 minutes, if you buy packs of pre-cut, crisp baby vegetables, and if you use spray-on olive oil (see my notes here), instead of melted butter, to glaze the phyllo sheets.

You can use any combination of quick-cooking, crisp baby vegetables for this recipe: I used two Woolworths packs of mixed vegetable pieces: baby corn, asparagus, green beans, carrot and butternut batons, courgettes and mangetout.

It is important not to overcook the veggies during the quick initial stir-fry, or they will lose their colour and crunch in the oven. Any fresh herb can be used to flavour the dressing, but I think that the combination of dill and lemon is sublime. I am a devoted fan of this most ethereal of herbs, and have discovered that you can freeze fresh dill for use during the dill-less winter months. See my note at the end of this post.

This parcel goes into a very hot oven so that the pastry crisps quickly, and the vegetables don't overcook: watch your parcel like a hawk as it bakes.

Quick Baby Vegetable and Feta 'Strudel' with Lemon and Dill Sauce

2 T (30 ml) butter
1 T (15 ml) olive oil
3 carrots, peeled and cut into pieces the size of your pinky finger
a few sprigs of fresh thyme
4 cups of crisp baby vegetables (see notes above), cut into pieces
1 clove garlic, peeled and crushed
the juice of half a lemon
3 T (45 ml) freshly chopped parsley
salt and milled black pepper
4 sheets of phyllo pastry
spray-on olive oil, or olive oil, or melted butter
1 and 1/2 wheels (or a block the size of a deck of cards) of feta cheese, cubed

For the sauce:

1/2 cup (125 ml) good mayonnaise (Hellman's or home-made)
1/2 cup (125 ml) thick plain white yoghurt
1 T (15 ml) finely chopped fresh dill *
the juice of half a lemon
1 small clove garlic, crushed
salt and freshly milled black pepper

Preheat the oven to 210°C. Heat the butter and olive oil in a frying pan and add the carrot and the thyme sprigs. Cook over a fairly brisk heat, tossing often, for four minutes. Now add all the remaining baby vegetables, and stir-fry them for two minutes, until they are brightly coloured. Remove the pan from the heat and mix in the garlic, lemon juice and parsley. Season with salt and pepper. Set aside and allow to cool.

Cover a large chopping board or a baking sheet with a sheet of phyllo pastry. Brush all over with melted butter, or olive oil, or - the quick way - coat with spray-on olive oil. Add another sheet of pastry, and continue layering in this way until you've used all four sheets. Pile the cooked vegetables in a strip down the middle of the pastry, leaving a gap of an inch or so at either end of the pile. Arrange the cubed feta along the top and sides of the vegetables, and sprinkle with a little more olive oil and a squeeze of lemon juice. Pick up the long edge of the pastry closest to you and flip it over the vegetables. Brush with more fat, and then fold the other long side towards you, as if you are wrapping a present. Now fold the shorter sides of the pastry inwards (don't pleat them first) to make a neat parcel.

Place a greased baking sheet, face-down, on top of the parcel, hold it and the chopping board firmly, and flip the whole thing over so the pastry parcel lies smooth-side up on the baking sheet and the fold seams are on the bottom. Brush with more butter or oil and place in the hot oven for 10 to 15 minutes (depending on the ferocity of your oven) or until the phyllo pastry is crisp and just turning golden. Remove from the oven and allow to cool slightly.

While the parcel is cooking, make the dressing: put all the ingredients in a bowl and whisk until well combined. Place in the fridge.

Using a serrated knife, cut into thick slices and serve warm, with a big dollop of cool dill dressing.

Serves 4 as a light meal, or 6 as a starter.


Freezing dill: It is common wisdom that fresh dill is too fragile to freeze. Well, I beg to differ. You can freeze fresh dill, provided that you have a very cold and reliable freezer. Sure, it will darken and crisp, and it won't be suitable for salads or for garnishes, but it will retain its lovely, delicate aniseed flavour for up to two months in the freezer, and can be used in salad dressings, sauces and the like without losing any pungency. Some pointers: buy the dill in a plastic 'pillow pack' or box. Don't open or unwrap it, or rinse it: place the whole package into the freezer. If you're have bought a bunch of fresh dill, put it into a freezer bag and use a drinking straw to suck out any air. Seal tightly and freeze. When you take it out of the freezer, quickly remove however much you need and immediately crumble it directly into your sauce or dressing (it thaws in seconds).

Did you notice that the picture above has six layers of phyllo, not four? That's because I tore the parcel when I flipped it over, using two spatulas, and had to patch it with two more sheets. I don't recommend using six sheets: far too much pastry. But the filling tasted good!

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Cauliflower with Butter, Lemon, Parsley and Crispy Breadcrumbs

"Training is everything. The peach was once a bitter almond; cauliflower is nothing but cabbage with a college education." I think of Mark Twain's famous words every time I look at the curious 'brain' of a cauliflower, which I reckon is one of the world's most underrated vegetables, along with parsnips and celeriac.

Okay, I concede that overcooked, flabby cauliflower is just revolting - fartily whiffy, slimy, and stinking of boarding school - but a dishful of fresh, springy white cauliflower florets, cloaked in cheesy Béchamel sauce or a zinging salad dressing, or crunchily pickled with peppery spices, is just a joy.

I only ever make cauliflower cheese (or my cauliflower-cheese soup recipe) so I was interested to come across a recipe, in Robert Carrier's seminal seventies book Great Dishes of the World, for Cauliflower à la Polonaise. The combination of lemon juice and cauliflower had never occurred to me; but it works so well here, with plenty of butter, and crunchy fried breadcrumbs.

You can do this with a whole head of cauliflower, or you can break the cauliflower up into florets and coat them in the sauce. I took the picture above with a whole head, trying to be clever - like a cauliflower! - and then decided this was a ridiculous idea, as the sauce wouldn't be able to coat every chunk. I then broke the cooked head apart, tossed everything together, and served it up to the hordes.

Robert Carrier's original recipe calls for diced ham, but I don't think this dish needs it.

Cauliflower with Butter, Lemon, Parsley and Crispy Breadcrumbs

1 small, fresh head of cauliflower
1 tsp (5 ml) salt
a slice of lemon
2 extra-large free-range eggs
½ cup (125 ml) melted butter
4 Tbsp (60 ml) breadcrumbs (blitz a few slices of white bread in a food-processor)
the juice of 1 lemon
4 Tbsp (60 ml)  finely chopped fresh parsley
salt and milled black pepper

Fill a big saucepan with water, add the salt and the lemon slice, and bring to the boil. Remove the green outer leaves of the cauliflower and trim the stalk, and any brown bits.

Submerge the whole head of cauliflower in the boiling water and cook for 15-20 minutes, or until it's just tender and yields to a knife. (Cauliflower cooks beautifully in a microwave oven: see Cook's Notes at the end of this post.)

In the meantime, put the eggs on to boil. Fill a small saucepan with water and bring to the boil. Gently lower the eggs into the boiling water, and cook for 10 minutes. Take the pan off the heat, pour off the boiling water, and run cold water over the eggs until their shells feel cool to the touch. Crack and peel the eggs, chop them into a fine dice, cover with cling film and set aside.

Remove the head of cauliflower from the water and drain, upside down, in a colander over the sink.

Heat the butter in a frying pan. When it stops foaming, tip in the breadcrumbs and fry them for a few minutes, or until they turn golden brown and crunchy. Remove from the heat and stir in the lemon juice, parsley and chopped boiled egg. Season well with salt and pepper.

Put the head of cauliflower into dish, and pour the buttery mixture over it. Or - if you're not looking for a cheffy result - break the cooked cauliflower into florets, place in a dish, and coat with the butter sauce.

Serve hot, with extra parsley.

Serves 4 as a side dish.Cook's Note:

To cook a whole cauliflower in the microwave oven, put it in a deep glass or ceramic dish and add half a cup of water. Cover with a plate or lid and microwave on high for about eight minutes. Push a sharp knife into the cauliflower to test for doneness. If it feels crunchy and unyielding, continue to cook it in two-minute bursts, or until it is just tender to a sharp knife. At this point, remove it from the microwave, douse it in cool water for a minute, and set it upside down in a colander to drain. Don't allow the cauliflower to sit in its steaming dish: it will turn into an overcooked mush. Print Friendly