Something out of nothing

During one of my walks around West End recently, I stumbled upon the Jane Street Community Garden which was overflowing with a wonderful variety of herbs and vegetables, and it got me thinking how much I miss not having a garden of my own.

Before moving back to Brisbane we were living in a rental house in Millthorpe which is about 25kms from the town of Orange in NSW. The house had established garden beds which had been planted out with rhubarb, potatoes, broad beans, carrots, beetroot and a number of different herbs which we made full use of.

On the odd occasion when the pantry was getting empty I was still able to knock up a meal from a few staples and some things I found in the garden. And if we ran out of bread, I found it easier (and less stressful) to mix together a dough from flour, water, salt and yeast and make a loaf of bread rather than pack up the kids and drive into town to buy one.

One day some spinach, which self-seeded, started to sprout from the ground and it grew into a massive bunch - I simply picked off the outer leaves when I required them and the plant just kept on growing.

Harry standing in front of the spinach which self-seeded

One afternoon when I was stuck for something to make for dinner, I remembered a recipe my mother used to make called Pita, which is a traditional Bosnian dish very similar to the Greek Spanakopita, or Spinach Pie.

I knocked up some filo pastry (which is not that difficult once you get the hang of it), filled it with a mixture of cheese and spinach, rolled it up and then baked it in the oven for 45 minutes until it was golden brown.

So a wedge of this Spinach Pie along with a side of salad was our dinner that night. Beats driving 50kms with a car full of kids to buy a bunch of spinach and packet of filo.