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A major component of the Greek Mediterranean diet are “horta” or wild greens, usually gathered in the countryside, all year round but especially during spring when fields are full of tender young greens. Often, when driving down country roads people will jump out of their car when they see a beautiful field full of what most in the US would consider weeds with a knife and plastic bag to gather enough for a salad. These greens are usually “vlita” or amaranth, dandelion greens, mustard greens, radicchio greens, chicory and many other wild greens I do not know the name of, as well as beet greens. These greens are boiled and made into a salad or put into a phyllo pie, called “pita” in Greek, and eaten a few times per week. (The US notion or pita is pita bread, which in Greece is a kind of fast food, eaten with souvlaki or gyros). Phyllo pies make up an abundant category of food that vary from region to region, and about which I will feature a series of posts beginning next week.
Salads have a very wide range in Greek cooking because the word “salata” in Greek is not just for raw vegetables cut and covered in EVOO, but also comprise a wide range of boiled vegetables and spreads eaten cold or at room temperature. All salads are very simple in nature and do not have “dressing” as we know it, but copious amounts of high quality Greek EVOO (like EVGE) as a base and, depending on the vegetable and your taste, EVOO will be combined: 3 parts EVOO to 1 part either red wine vinegar for lettuce, boiled small zucchini or beets–and in some regions cabbage or lemon for “horta” or boiled salad greens and also on the cabbage and carrot salad. “Salates” are also spreads (eaten on fresh bread) such as eggplant “melitzanosalata” which is roasted and mashed with EVOO, a bit of vinegar and salt in its simplest form, but also garlic (roasted for less bite), walnuts, feta, yoghurt or tomato can be added as various combinations according to taste. “Taramosalata” or fish roe spread (made with onion, bread, lemon & EVOO), is another popular one which paradoxically is considered vegan for fasting.
