Green Roulade

This is one of my holiday recipes this year. Find the other ones here: 

Cornbread Muffins | Fruitcake Mini-muffins | Gingerbread Snaps

Green Roulade (pictures below)
The idea for this recipe came from a recipe for a ham and spinach roulade in one of my favourite cookbooks: The Viennese Kitchen. 

The Recipe: 
Ingredients for cake: 

• 1 1/2 cup chopped kale
• 1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley
• 1/2 cup cold milk (any fat content is OK)
• 1/3 cup barley flour
• 2 tbsp butter (don't need to pre-melt)
• 1 tsp black pepper
• 3 egg whites
• 2 tbsp white sugar
• 1/2 tsp salt

Wash kale and drop into boiling water to cook for about 3 minutes. Drain and put into food processor or blender. Quickly add cold milk and butter to kale, and process or blend. Add chopped parsley and black pepper, and process or blend again. Transfer to another bowl and stir in flour. Set aside. 

In a large clean bowl, beat egg whites with the sugar and salt until you get medium peaks. Whisk about 1/3 of the egg whites into the green mixture first. Then gently fold in the rest of the egg whites. Spread in an even layer into a lined 9 by 13 inch jelly roll tin and bake for 325 °F (165 °C) for 12 to 15 minutes. Remove from the oven, and let cool for 1 minute (and admire the beautiful pale light green surface and dark green speckles :-) Roll into a log shape along the short side with the parchment paper to let the shape set in. Parchment paper should face the outside. I followed this rolling technique. Allow to cool completely and make the filling in the meantime. 

Ingredients for filling:

• 1 large avocado (dark skin ones)
• 2 tbsp softened cream cheese
• 1 tbsp Miracle Whip or mayo
• 1 tsp lemon juice
• 1 small can (57 mL) tomato paste

Heat tomato paste thoroughly on stovetop and allow to cool. This step is purely precautionary because food processors may not expect canned tomato paste to be eaten without cooking. Peel and chop avocado. Mix with sour cream, Miracle Whip, and lemon juice, making sure avocado is completely coated in dressing. 

Gently unroll cooled roulade and remove the parchment paper. Spread tomato paste in one layer over top surface, leaving just over 1 inch (or about 3 cm) of border on all sides. Add avocados in one layer over the tomato paste. Gently roll up cake again, but without the parchment paper this time. Allow cake to set in the fridge for a few hours before slicing. 

Beautiful, vibrant, magical-looking pureed greens.

Rolled up and cooling.

Probably should have let it set for a while longer, but this is tasty nonetheless.