691/1038 -Silverbeet gratin

Silverbeet is a wonderful vegetable but I don't buy it often - a good sized bunch takes up almost an entire shelf in my fridge and it can be a pain to prepare. But today I received my first "mystery box" of produce from Funky Food and I was secretly thrilled to find the most enormous bunch of silverbeet staring up at me when I took off the lid. Sometimes we need a push to change things up a little!

The concept behind Funky Food is brilliant - it saves the oddballs of the fruit and veg department from landfill and delivers it at a discounted cost to people who are unafraid of the undersized or the funky shaped. There is absolutely nothing wrong with the quality of the produce and receiving 18 kilograms of the fresh stuff every week will ensure we don't take our eye off the fruit and vegie eating ball. 

Having grown up without smartphones, I may never lose my fascination for tracking delivery vans as they make their way to my home. I found it difficult to hide my excitement today as I watched the tiny little car on my phone-screen turn into my street. The Funky Food driver may or may not have been surprised to find me standing on our front porch, arms outstretched, anticipating his arrival. But perhaps everybody is this excited when their first order arrives! 

My kitchen looks as if a bomb has been dropped on it, but the resulting gratin was absolutely worth it. The silverbeet was trimmed, washed, separated, chopped and boiled. It was then pan-fried with garlic and so much oil and butter that I am already mentally calculating how much extra weight I will need to strap to my body when I head out for my run tomorrow. A simple white sauce was added the mix which was then baked in individual portions, sprinkled generously with breadcrumbs and a dash of olive oil. Every bite was creamy, crunchy and absolutely humming with garlic - yes, more Funky Food fabulousness! 

The diners at my table tonight had the choice of pairing their mini gratin with either a barbequed chicken thigh or spicy beef sausage. Not one person left the table unhappy.