I have always considered myself quite a nice person. I like food of all shapes, flavours and colours. From every country and continent. I don’t discriminate, I am an equal opportunity eater. It’s only the doctors who say I’m intolerant. And certain foods who refuse to tolerate me. They certainly refuse to recognise and respect my right to eat them without major physical discomfort and distress.


Gluten and lactose are not my friends.


Despite the negative attitudes surrounding me from many of those I love best, (cakes, ice cream, hot toast) I decided to become a chef. Not always easy when you live in a bread and milk filled world. I like to think that this has helped me become a better person as I embrace my differences and refuse to let the gluten get me down. I believe InTolerance. I am the InTolerant Chef.

Food should not be about what you can’t eat, but what you can and what you enjoy eating. This blog is about my journey of cooking and eating and discovery. It’s not a definitive guide to allergy awareness nor do my intolerances make me an expert. Your body is your responsibility, not mine. I only know what works for me.


I can tell you this..... No glutens were harmed in the making of this website.

June 20, 2011

I'm On A Roll!




Flushed with the success of my Sponge Roll earlier in the week,





I was inspired to revisit an old friend of mine, the Rolled Spinach Quiche.

I'm craving some fresh tasting greens and this is stuffed full of greeny goodness. Watercress has a nice bit of iron-y tasting zinginess, and spinach has a mild sweetness that balances it out. The winter is starting to get to me, and a plain salad is not as exciting as it could be, so getting greens by the mouthful in a quiche is much more appealing.  Although this is a cold meal, I'll eat it sitting in the feeble rays of sunlight struggling to break through the sleet, and dream of the warmer days to come......



The very original recipe for this came from an old Womens Weekly Cookbook, and I first made it back in the '80's. Its a cute, if somewhat dated, way of presenting a crustless quiche, and the green colour is quite stunning when it's sliced.


1 packet of Frozen Spinach
1 bunch of Watercress
1cup of lactose free Milk
1/2 cup of gluten free Flour
5 Eggs
50 gr hard goat cheese
3 tablespoons of Butter
Salt and Pepper

Defrost the spinach patiently in a fine mesh strainer lined with a chux cloth, and squeeze out all the excess water. Or... defrost the spinach IMpatiently by throwing it whole in a pan over medium heat and stirring until all the water has evaporated leaving you with a nice moist paste.


Chop or process the zingy watercress finely.

In a pan (by the bits of green, you can see I re-cycled the spinach pan) melt the butter then add in the flour and cook it off for about a minute to get rid of the 'raw' taste.


Whisk in all the milk, and let it come to the boil and thicken. Take it off the heat and cool down quite a bit.




In the meantime, separate your eggs and grate your goat cheese.

To the milk and flour base, add in the spinach, watercress, egg yolks, cheese and seasoning and stir until all combined into a lovely green goopiness.


Beat the egg whites on their own until they reach stiff peaks.







Mix a spoonfull of them into the other mix to lighten it, then gently fold in the rest without knocking out all the air bubbles in the whites.















Spread it out evenly into the lined pan, and bake at 200*C for 20 minutes.


Turn it out the same way as you did for the Sponge Roll (see step by step in the previous post) Then roll up in a clean teatowl, place on a cooling rack and let cool to room temperature.


Open the quiche out gently, it might have a few deep creases, but don't worry, you'll cover them up with a yummy filling anyway.


Now spread with a yummy filling- I used soft goat cheese whipped with a tbs lactose free milk until light and smooth, roast capsicum, avocado cubes, smoked salmon and a squeeze of lemon juice. Cream cheese would be great too. Pop into the fridge until nice and firm then cut into groovy green slices.


I served this with a nice little salad for crunch, and some slow roasted tomatoes to add sweetness and a touch of moisture to the whole dish.





Well Readers, what do you think- is the spiral still in style,



or is it a throwback to an earlier culinary era? And can we help it make a comeback?

20 comments:

  1. Love this! I'm all for bringing back stuff from the old days, I'm definitely going to try this recipe. It looks SO delicious! :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Its still in style, why would you want to mess with the classics! Ive made this years ago and absolutely loved it, will be making this again soon.

    ReplyDelete
  3. My my you certainly are on a roll! I am yet to attempt making a log roll and your posts really make me want to some time soon!

    ReplyDelete
  4. This, I've got to try. The colour is fabulous & I'm craving some green & colour...... the other day I made something & realized almost everything I'm eating looks orange.... & I'm exactly the same as you with this sleety nasty grey cold (OK, enough Anna... she gets it) horrible weather..... UUUUGHHHH!!!

    ReplyDelete
  5. I love the spiral! And with spinach it's the fanciest thing ever! :D (I can't believe you used Heinz spinach. I actually didn't even know there was something like Heinz spinach - not in Germany, I believe, we have Iglo here - I just know the ketchup.)

    ReplyDelete
  6. What a grand idea, looks fantastic :) i will have to try it!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Wow! I love this. Of course I would never be able to recreate this myself but I can still marvel that you did it:)

    ReplyDelete
  8. Ooh yum! I thought it was a green tea roulade with strawberries inside at first! :D

    ReplyDelete
  9. I love old world food as it reminds me of my childhood. I definitely think the spiral is still in style, especially if you give it a twist with some unusual colours combination and flavours!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Wow, this roll is great...very creative and it sure looks delicious.
    Have a great week :-)

    ReplyDelete
  11. Girl, you really ARE on a roll! Love how the brown exterior hides the gorgeous green scroll!

    ReplyDelete
  12. Oh gosh, now I feel stupid! Yesterday I found a log of goat cheese in my fridge that expires tomorrow... so I ate it all, all 120g, in one sitting. Plain. I wish I'd known you had this recipe up last night! :P

    ReplyDelete
  13. So good!!! Goats cheese and spinach is such a fab combo.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Don't worry, retro is in... In my belly! Lol. I love quiche, and who doesn't love a good spiral on their plate? Well done!

    ReplyDelete
  15. Oh my goodness! This is absolutely brilliant! Brilliant! What a perfect way to get lots of spinach into the family. I will totally make this recipe. It looks amazing! ;)

    ReplyDelete
  16. Is that a veggie swiss roll? Well, it certainly looks like one :p

    ReplyDelete
  17. OMGoodness who said old world food! This was a star in the mid 90's staring in the Womens Weekly Cookbook Series. That wasnt soo long ago even if it feels like another life ago.

    ReplyDelete
  18. Oh it totally needs to come back, and you're doing your part woman!! Well done :) It's just so pretty, all rolled up! I love watercress - it's a new love.
    Heidi xo

    ReplyDelete
  19. Hello there Lovelies! I'm glad to see the roll can make a comeback, and is no longer relegated to retro cooking. Perhaps like the paisley, it will always be a classic :)

    Theresa- Thanks, it was lots of fun

    Simcha- glad to reaquaint you with an old friend then!

    Ladybird- They're not nearly as hard as they look, trust me!

    Anna- yeah, winter cooking can be a bit boring looking can't it. Stews are also not very photogenic :(

    Lisa- Thanks, I ca nbut try my humble best ;)

    Kath- Hi there friend, there's a couple of types here, I just got the cheapest:) Frozen veggies are great when you can't get fresh

    Muppy- I bet your daughter would love to help roll it with you too

    Sassy- Of course you can do it, it's all about attitude, show it who's boss

    Lorraine- ooh, good idea, I might have to try that one too!

    Chopinandmysaucepan- I think it still looks cool too

    Juliana- Thanks, it's nice to have a change now and then

    Celia- I have tried in the past to trim it to just have the green showing, but can't manage it without it looking like the cat's licked it all over :)

    Hannah- At least the cheese wasn't wasted! Hope it was yummy. I have a 2kg log of cream cheese that's about to hit use-by, I better think of a recipe so I don't have to do what you did :)

    Christie- Sweet earthiness, and green tanginess, yummm...

    JasmynTea- Thanks, mine too :)

    Kim- It looks so pretty that most kids eat it without complaining that its full of veggies

    Tigerfish- Yep, but what's life without whimsy?

    Simcha- it does seem like a lifetime ago sometimes doesn't it?

    Heidi- Watercress is something I always used to read about in my British cookbooks years ago and was so glad when it started becoming available here at the supermarket. It's so nice a nd zingy isn't it, yumm...

    Have a lovely Rest-Of-The-Week Readers, and look out for another give away in my next post!

    ReplyDelete