Using Leftovers - Ricotta and Chicken Stuffed Silverbeet

As often as we can, my husband and I try to drive “down south” to Molloy Island. It’s a little residential island in the Blackwood River in the Augusta/Margaret River area. It’s about a 4 hour drive from where I live, so to make it worth it, we’ll only go if it’s for a whole weekend. To make it even more worthwhile, we do what my husband calls the ‘gun down’. As soon as we get home from work on a Friday, we pack the car and ‘gun it down’ that night. We’ll stop for dinner on the way, then usually get to the island just before midnight, leaving us to wake up and have one whole day away. It’s a process that has served us very well. Sometimes it’ll be just the two of us, sometimes we take friends.

It’s become somewhat of a tradition and a joke that Lance will order dinner and then hum and har the entire time we eat it about whether or not to buy a whole BBQ chicken to take away, in case he gets hungry when he gets there. And anything he doesn’t eat can be used the next day. If we don’t have much planned the next day except lazing around the island, I usually let him buy one. If we’re going out for lunch/dinner then I try to talk him out of it – and invariably we’ll get to our house and he’ll be STARVING. But he’s taken this concept in to our everyday world. If we’re in the rare situation of needing to buy takeaway because it’s the only food available to us - he will inevitably steer us towards getting a whole BBQ chicken, so we can also have leftovers. Which is awesome for me. I shred the remainder of the bird and then use it for salads, or sandwiches or soups or tacos or whatever. It’s great having on hand for really quick meals.

We had such a circumstance recently, and after Lance had eaten the wings and a drumstick, the rest of the chicken I shredded, rolled into silverbeet I bought at a market on Sunday and baked with a basic tomato sauce. 10 minutes prep time, 20 minutes in the oven while I showered after the gym and a delicious meal waiting for me.

 
Ricotta and Chicken Stuffed Silverbeet

8 silverbeet (chard) stalks

2 cups shredded cooked chicken
4 small jalapenos (or to taste)
250g tub ricotta
500mL bottle passata
12 olives, pits removed and sliced
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tsp dried basil
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp dried parsley
1/2 cup panko breadcrumbs
1 tsp smoked paprika
Olive oil

Dice the jalapenos really finely. Put the ricotta, shredded chicken and chillis into a bowl and mix really well to combine. Taste for seasoning. Mine didn’t need any as the chicken was already fairly seasoned.

Cut the stalks out of the silverbeet, then place about ¼ cup of the chicken mix at the top of the leaf. Fold the sides over, then roll up to create a parcel. Sort of like you would for a spring roll/rice paper roll. Place seam side down into a long rectangular casserole/lasagne dish. Continue with all of the mixture/leaves until all used up.

In a new bowl, mix the passata, garlic, olives and herbs. Pour over the top of the silverbeet parcels. Sprinkle the top with panko, then sprinkle the smoked paprika over the top of that. Drizzle with a little olive oil.

 

Bake for 20-30 minutes, or until the sauce is bubbly and the breadcrumbs are golden.