Recipe: Creamed and souped silverbeet

Silverbeet is a versatile veg and is shown here creamed with nutmeg and served in a soup with garlic croutons. Photo / Janna Dixon

Silverbeet has a hardy leaf and will stand up to being added into curries and stir fries. It can be eaten raw in salads - shred it very finely and use strong flavours with it. A more refined way to serve this green is to "cream" it.

1 Sweat the torn leaves in butter until very soft. Season with salt and pepper and freshly grated nutmeg.

2 Drain by straining in a sieve and giving it a good squeeze to press out the excess liquid.

3 Puree in a blender, streaming in a little cream to smooth it.

4 Gently rewarm and use as a side or a base to sit something on, such as a piece of grilled lamb, fish or chicken.

5 Taking this one step further, after returning to the pot to gently rewarm, add some chicken or vegetable stock and a bit more cream and you have a soup.

6 Serve this with lots of crunchy garlic croutons.