A weekly menu from the winter stores: freezer, jar, and pantry

Seven February dinners without a single fresh leaf: freezer pucks, pesto cubes, pickled stems, and dried silverbeet salt do the work.

It is February, the bed is empty, and yet silverbeet is on the menu every day this week. Everything comes from the stores: blanched freezer pucks, pesto cubes from the ice-cube tray, pickled and fermented stems from the jars in the fridge, and dried silverbeet salt from the pantry. Each day notes which form the stores contribute.

All the forms come from the methods in the storage guide, and this menu is in many ways their final exam: the proof that the hours of blanching and pickling in September were worth it. If the shelf runs empty in February, you know exactly how much more next autumn's freezer session needs to put away.

Monday

Silverbeet & Red Lentil DalSilverbeet & Red Lentil Dal
From the storesTwo freezer pucks straight into the pot for the last minutes, no thawing.

Tuesday

Pasta with Silverbeet PestoStem-and-Leaf Silverbeet Pesto
From the storesThree pesto cubes from the freezer, melted in a ladleful of hot pasta water.

Wednesday

Silverbeet, Potato & Chickpea SoupSilverbeet, Potato & Chickpea Soup
From the storesOne large freezer puck into the pot, and a pinch of dried silverbeet salt in the stock.

Thursday

Green Omelette Wrap with SilverbeetGreen Omelette Wrap with Silverbeet
From the storesOne small freezer puck, thawed and squeezed hard before it is folded into the eggs.

Friday

Silverbeet Börek with Filo PastrySilverbeet Börek with Filo Pastry
From the storesTwo freezer pucks, thawed in the fridge since yesterday and squeezed bone dry.

Saturday

White Bean Stew with Silverbeet & TomatoWhite Bean Stew with Silverbeet & Tomato
From the storesFreezer pucks in the pot, and lacto-fermented stems as a sharp topping at the table.

Sunday

Creamy Silverbeet & Potato GratinCreamy Silverbeet & Potato Gratin
From the storesThawed frozen silverbeet between the potato layers, squeezed harder than you think it needs.

Tips

Move tomorrow's freezer pucks down into the fridge the evening before: thawed, firmly squeezed silverbeet is the key to all the dry dishes.
Pickled and fermented stems are winter's fresh element, and the brine in the jar is a ready-made vinaigrette base.
Take stock of the shelf in January: at roughly two pucks a week, you'll quickly see whether the supply lasts until April.