Rustic Mediterranean Roulade

Mediterranean Roulade

Dinner Express by George Georgievski, Published by Plum, RRP $29.99, Photography by Nikole RamsayMediterranean Roulade

When I think of Mediterranean food I think of antipasti, such as olives, feta, sundried tomatoes and cured meats, and fresh salads with balsamic vinegar. I thought there had to be a way to combine all of these delicious ingredients into a dinner that my family would love. So I created this rustic roulade that’s easy to make, quick to cook and delicious to eat.

Serves 4

What you’ll need

  • 3 sheets of frozen puff pastry, just thawed
  • 200 g feta, crumbled
  • 200 g pitted black olives, roughly chopped
  • 200 g sundried tomatoes, roughly chopped
  • 100 g sliced prosciutto, torn
  • 100 g sliced Italian salami
  • 120 g baby spinach leaves
  • 1⁄2 eggplant, sliced into thin rounds
  • small bunch of asparagus, woody ends trimmed, roughly chopped
  • 2 tablespoons balsamic glaze (see Handy Hints on page 32)
  • 1 egg, lightly beaten
  • leafy salad, to serve

Now what?

  1. Preheat the oven to 180°C. Line a baking tray with baking paper.
  2. Now, lay your sheets of pastry side by side with a 2–3 cm overlap. Gently press down where the pastry sheets meet so they’re stuck together and you will have one large rectangle.
  3. Scatter the feta, olives, sundried tomato, prosciutto, salami, spinach, eggplant and asparagus over the pastry in an even layer, leaving a 2 cm border on all sides. Drizzle the balsamic glaze over the top, then, starting at a short end, gently roll up the pastry into a roulade. If any of the ingredients fall out, simply eat them (although maybe not the raw eggplant).
  4. Brush the pastry with the beaten egg and whack it in the oven for 20 minutes or until the pastry is golden and cooked through.
  5. Slice it up and serve with a delicious leafy salad.

Extra awesome stuff

You can chop and change any of the ingredients to create your own roulade – there are no hard and fast rules here. It’s about discovering the foods you love and incorporating them into my recipes.

You can easily make this a vegetarian delight. Simply swap out the meats for your favourite veggies.