We have had my Parents in Law visiting for 3 weeks and I have finally secured Dina's recipe for a family favourite--her Spinach Strudel.

Ingredients.

400g Plain Flour, preferably Pasta Flour
4 Eggs
Salt & Pepper
Nutmeg
1kg Frozen or fresh spinach
1 onion finely chopped
Olive oil
Tomato paste
2 Tins Chopped tomatoes
Spinach

Add ½ finely chopped onion to saucepan with olive oil
Sautee onion until golden in colour
Add frozen spinach without any extra water
Add salt, pepper and good pinch of nutmeg
Cook spinach until quite dry in saucepan. Stir to stop sticking.
When cooked dry let spinach cool.

Sauce
Heat olive oil in saucepan and add rest of finely chopped onion and brown lightly.
Put in 2 tins of chopped tomatoes, some tomato concentrate and salt and pepper for seasoning.
Cook slowly for 30 minutes to concentrate flavour even more.

Pasta
Put plain flour, about 400 gms, into a bowl. Add salt to seasoning.
Break 1 egg into middle of flour, use either beater or large spatula to blend egg in. Add more eggs when flour starts to dry and continue beating. Do this until you have 4 eggs in flour. Make sure dough is quite dry. Add more flour if needed.
Spread flour on table or bench
Knead dough to make sure it isn’t too wet.
Use rolling Pin to form pasta into a large horizontal shape sheet. Does not have to be paper thin.
Get cool spinach and spoon over the flattened pasta. (For variation can add Ricotta, toasted pine nuts or other favourite tastes).
Roll dough into a “Rolley Polley”, like a jam pudding. Fold in the ends to keep spinach inside.
Get a clean tea towel and roll the strudel onto the towel. Roll up the tea towel to form a long round shape.
Have a large pot of boiling salted water ready and “snake” the tea towel into the boiling water.
Cook the pasta for 15 to 20 minutes depending on the dryness of the pasta.
Carefully take the cooked pasta in the tea towel from the hot water when cooked and let it cool. Open the tea towel to help the pasta cool.
When cool cut the roll into 1 to 1.5 inch sections and place in a baking dish where you have spooned some of the tomato sauce into the bottom of the dish
Spoon over the tomato sauce and place in the oven to heat through.

Serve with good parmesan cheese and salad.

Ian Bird
Slow Food Oxon
April 2005