SPINACH ROULADE WITH MUSHROOMS – FRENCH FLAVOURS IN AN EASY BUT IMPRESSIVE DISH
This healthy mix of eggs, spinach, mushrooms, cheddar cheese, carrots and Dijon mustard sauce is a vegetarian delight. And it’s gluten-free!
When I first discovered a recipe for spinach roulade many years ago, the filling was chunky cottage cheese. To make it more interesting I added smoked salmon and a horseradish sauce. I see there is an abundance of recipes with spinach roulade with cottage cheese and smoked salmon all over the internet now! I’ll post my recipe sometime soon too.
I’ve also perfected my version of the roulade and I think my gluten-free version is tastier, more nutritious and rolls up better than the wheat flour which is usually used.
I developed this new spinach roulade with mushrooms and cheese recipe for the vegetarian and non-fish eaters in my life, and I think I might even prefer it. It has the added bonus of being a good meal to serve hot or cold whereas the cottage cheese and salmon recipe is definitely a *served cold* version. Something I have to say about the cottage cheese and salmon dish, though, is it looks more stunning on a plate! The contrast of colours is a vision. Almost like giant French sushi!
The main reason I have revisited this dish recently is because of my discovery of the reusable non-stick baking sheet I mentioned a couple of months ago. The time consuming irritation for me was always trying to peel the wax paper off the roulade when it came out of the oven. Non-stick pans and wax paper just never worked properly, and I felt I left too much of the roulade sticking to something. By the time I’d liberated the roulade it was a bit too cool to roll properly as well. The Wizbake reusable non-sticking baking sheet has revolutionised this dish for me. It’s no longer a hassle. When it’s done from the oven you just turn it over onto a board and it falls out – intact. Bliss!
Quite a strange coincidence. One of the ingredients I was convinced this filling needed was tarragon. It’s a taste I remember with certain combinations but I realised I hadn’t come across it for a long time. In restaurants, recipes or grocery stores. I went in search of the dried version, which is what I used to use. Nowhere to be found. No tarragon in any form! In Cape Town, anyway. I have been thinking it must have become unfashionable and obsolete. And then, a couple of weeks ago, right after my unsuccessful quest, Nigella‘s Recipe for the Day was Chicken With Tarragon Salse Verde! So tarragon is not merely a figment of my imagination. I still hope to find some, even in seed or plant form, but I used dried sage as a substitute in the meantime.
I usually serve this as an appetiser, but it also works well as a main meal served with vegetables. I like asparagus or garlicky fried courgettes as a side. I prefer my courgettes (zucchini) julienned and I always add garlic, but this link to a recipe is close enough.
And of course add cherry, romanita or similar tomatoes cold or cooked for bite-sized extra vitamins and their lovely colour. They always look good on a plate.
Recipe
Course: Appetizer, Main Course
Cuisine: French
Servings: 4
Calories: 466kcal
Total Time 40 mins
Ingredients
- 30 ml butter (I use ghee) (2tbsp)
- 1 large onion, finely chopped
- 250 g finely chopped fresh spinach (9 oz)
- 4 large eggs
- 50 g almond flour (can substitute with wheat flour) (1/4 cup)
- 50 g flaxseed flour (can substitute with wheat flour) (1/4 cup)
- 250 g mushrooms (I use button or brown) (9 oz)
- 125 g grated carrots (4 1/2 oz)
- 150 g grated cheddar cheese (3/4 cup)
- 3 finely chopped cloves fresh garlic
- 15 g finely chopped fresh rosemary (1 tbsp)
- 5 g dried sage (1 tsp)
- 60 g Colman’s Dijon Mustard (4 tbsp)
- 60 ml milk (4 tbsp)
- pinch freshly ground black pepper
- salt to taste
Instructions
- Grease and line a 35 x 25 cm Swiss roll pan with baking paper.
- Melt butter in a saucepan and sauté half the onion until transparent. I add half the garlic and half the rosemary to this while cooking.
- Add spinach, salt and black pepper to taste and cook over high heat, stirring frequently, until no moisture remains.
- Chop mixture finely or use a food processor. Cool.
- Beat eggs with a little salt until thick and creamy.
- Fold in spinach mixture and then the almond and flaxseed flours.
- Turn mixture into the prepared Swiss roll pan and smooth out the surface. Bake in a pre-heated oven at 200 °C (392 °F) or until firm.
- Turn out and and evenly spread the cooked mushroom and carrot stuffing mixture and sprinkle with the grated cheddar cheese.
- Cut the roulade into 8 slices with a very sharp knife. I use a cutting blade (clean off the oil!) I also slightly trim both ends before slicing to make it neater.
- Roll it up carefully and leave for at least 10 minutes before cutting.
- Heat in an oven or microwave just enough to melt the cheese.
- Lastly, neatly pour or spoon the Dijon mustard sauce around the bottom of the roulade slices.
STUFFING
- Sauté half the onion, finely chopped mushrooms and grated carrots with 2 cloves of garlic, half the rosemary and the sage. Salt and black pepper to taste.
SAUCE
- Slowly add the milk to the Dijon mustard while stirring until you get a consistency that pours but doesn’t run.
Notes
*I specifically use Colman’s Dijon Mustard because it has a different taste to some others I’ve tried.This can be prepared well in advance, even the day before.I prefer it served hot but it has also been enthusiastically received cold!
Nutritional Summary:
466 kcal per serving
13% carbohydrate . 65% fat . 22% protein
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