Wild greens revisited (Και πάλι άγρια χόρτα )

Winter is my favorite season for greens, because this season and on through to spring gives such a wide variety of wild horta. In the summer, vlita (amaranth) greens are readily available, but that's about it. It seems strange that they can grow so prolifically during the hot season - they need a lot of water to remain healthy plants. But in the winter, greens orchestrate a festival of the senses: there is a huge variety available if only you know where to look, and they each have their own appearance, taste, texture and smell. In this season, people all over Greece are getting down to their knees looking for wild greens.

Wild greens, cleaned and ready for use, have just started to appear in the fresh markets - at the hefty price of 6.50 a kilo for a mixture of wild greens. These greens are harvested from the countryside, cleared of grit and dirt (so they only need a good rinse), and sold as a mixture. Despite their weedy looks - they are hardly ever sowed as seeds, but simply grow wildly - most of them are highly aromatic. If you crush a few mixed leaves in your hand and smell them, they enervate you with an uplifting feeling, making you aware of the natural environment with their hands-on effect. Most of these greens are never sold separately, apart from the fennel, which is always sold in small bunches as a herb, in the same way as mint, dill and parsley. In Crete, wild greens are sold by the kilo, all mixed up together, which is also how they are used.

The bag I bought (I was able to fill it myself) contained: wild fennel, the Greek-type wild parsley and wild celery, wild leeks, sowthistle, swiss chard, wild mustard, hawksbeard, kafkalithres (known as hartwort, a species of Tordylium) and one or two more leaves which I couldn't identify; this shows how much progress I have made since last year, when I would buy them and never once wondered what their names were. A year on, I have even managed to track down articles in scientific journals concerning their nutrient values:

"The large variety of wildly grown edible greens differ every season ... and [are] eaten fresh in salads with plenty of virgin olive oil, or mixed and cooked with tomatoes, onions, meat or fish. They are also mixed and prepared as pies, thus increasing the daily vitamin and antioxidant intake. Edible wild plants are a common food source for the older generations of the population of Crete and continue today in families which maintain the traditional lifestyle. The Greek Orthodox religion plays an important role in the traditional diet, recommending approximately 180 or more days of fasting from meat, eggs and dairy products per year... The wildly grown Cretan greens are potentially a rich source of antioxidants in the [Cretan] diet... which plays an important role in the health of the elderly and rural population of Crete. ... The wild Cretan greens are rich sources of vitamin C, K, E and carotenoids, and capable of significantly contributing to the RDA needs of the population. In most cases, it was found that the wild greens had higher micronutrient content than those cultivated. ... further studies are required to evaluate the feasibilty of commercially growing some of the wild greens so that non-rural population can also reap the benefits of enriching their diet with traditional greens."

Out of curiosity I tracked down the sources of the wild greens used in the study, and found (to my chagrin) that they were NOT from Hania, but from every other province of Crete: Rethimno, Iraklio and Lasithi; this is simply because the research was based in Iraklio, and Hania was the province most further away to the study centre, the other provinces of Crete neighbouring Iraklio. But the wild greens being harvested and eaten by the local people are the same all over the island.

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The urban population need not worry about how to obtain these greens - it has expensive access to them via the fresh produce counters of the supermarkets and the daily street markets. But there is also a much cheaper source for the same greens, one that is not always feasible because of the restrictions of urban living.

In actual fact, most of these greens are available in the gardens of most village dwellings. A patch of earth from our own garden revealed fennel, mustard, nettles, chickweed, making my purchase of wild greens sound rather expensive, given their availability at my doorstep. Here's the catch: think of the work required to search for these varieties among the clover flowers (which are also edible - the leaves are used in the Middle East in salad dressings when there is a shortage of lemons), clean them (they are collected at a time when the earth is still very muddy and wet), trim, wash and dry them. Now you know why freshly picked wild greens sometimes cost more than meat.

The stadium in the centre of Hania is full of wild greens. They grow around the tarmac used for track and field events, while tsohos (sowthistle) and radiki (dandelion) can be seen growing from a nutrient-packed sewer...

Just how much weed (in the legal sense) is edible all around us? What I found in my home garden alone made me realise just how much we take for granted. I also took a little tour of the peace-inspiring gardens of my workplace, and found a highly developed, sustainable - and highly edible - ecosystem. Susun Weed summarises the most common garden weeds found the world over in Western gardens if you want to find out what's edible in your own patch of earth. The most important consideration when using garden weeds as wild greens is to make sure you have identified them correctly as edible greens. Then you may also want to make sure animals haven't been treading them, because it will also mean that they've been doing other things there too. A forum discusses interesting ways to use dandelion weeds, one of the most popular garden greens growing in abundance in most people's lawns. And don't forget that these greens are probably the most organic carbon-footprint-less food you will eat in your life..

MAICh gardens: enlarge the photos to see the radiki (dandelion) and tsohous (sowthistle).

I'm not quite sure when I'll bring my own bag to collect the greens I found growing in abundance at MAICh; if my colleagues see me, they may think I've taken to the hills...

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These greens can be served as simple boiled greens dressed with the classic olive oil and lemon juice, accompanied by cheese and boiled eggs. I've also cooked them with rice, like a spanakorizo. In Crete, they are often turned into exotic traditional rustic dishes. They are so versatile that you could easily make a very different dish each day using the same greens.

To soften the pungent scents and tastes of the wild greens, I added some tamer greens (spinach) to the wild mixture:

For those who like their horta raw, try this mixture (with salt, pepper and olive oil added - soft curd cheese optional) on a piece of toasted bread of any kind.

This mixture was used to create the following dishes:
- calamari with wild greens and green olives (kapama) in tomato sauce, served with rice:

The greens can be used chopped or whole - we prefer them cut up into the sauce. This method of cooking greens (in a tomato sauce) is generally known as 'tsigariasto'; adding frozen calamari and olives turns the dish into 'kapama'.

- my latest round of freezing green pies (hortopita; made in the same way as spanakopita) and kalitsounia:

This tray of kalitsounia will last us about a month if served on a regular bi-weekly basis.

- and marathopites, small vegan pasties, a local specialty in Hania, my all-time favorite pie:

This μαραθόπιτα (marathopita - fennel pie) has a seamless look to it. The greens mixture is encased in pastry. This pie is traditionally cooked on a very hot oiled skillet called a 'satsi'. I added more fennel to the mixture for more taste.

This is my entry for Weekend Herb Blogging, hosted this week by Marija from Palachinka.

This one's for Cheryl, who could make a mint by selling wild greens from her own garden.

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Partridge (Πέρδικα)

Many moons ago, I came across PETA. This organisation claims that "Each (British) meat, egg and dairy consumer can claim responsibility for the abuse and deaths of 1000 animals. Each British meat, egg and dairy consumer also consumes antibiotics, saturated fat and cholestoerol, shit and filth, torture and misery, with each mouthful." I found this very blasphemous and untrue, so I wrote an email to PETA (on 27 October 2007 to be precise):

Dear PETA,
All the meat I eat with my family is reared in domestic environments (ie small family-run farms, or one-shepherd businesses), so that the cruelty that you depict in your FREE VEG STARTER KIT could not possibly be taking place; only the salughtering is 'cruel' simply because slaughtering is cruel in any way that it takes place. What do you think of people raising a few chickens in their back yard and using the eggs in their daily diet and the meat on a less frequent basis? Sounds to me that they're doing what people have been doing for many centuries since prehistoric (hu)man became less nomadic (ie feeding themselves sustaibably).
Here is the reply I got:
Thanks for sharing your thoughts with PETA.

We appreciate the opportunity to respond. While PETA is willing to applaud any steps that farmers and ranchers take to improve the welfare of the animals for whom they are responsible, we also know that there is no truly humane way to "harvest" food from animals. The sheer number of animals required to feed (America's) current meat habit, for example, make individual attention to their wants and needs impossible. For us to promote the purchase of any kind of meat would imply that we endorse the use of animals for food 'production', instead of recognizing that animals deserve consideration of their own best interests - regardless of whether they are useful to humans. Like us, animals are capable of suffering and have interests in leading their own lives (?@#^&$^!@ - I added this); therefore, they are not ours to use for food, clothing, entertainment, or for any other reason...

Ultimately, there is the simple moral principle that we do not have the right to manipulate and kill animals for our own purposes. Animals do not belong to us, and their lives are just as precious to them as yours is to you or me. A society that eats animals will always view them as possessions, products, and commodities, as opposed to individuals with feelings, families, and friendships. And as long as people view animals as objects, widespread institutionalised abuse is destined to continue.

The best thing anyone can do to help animals is to not eat them. We have so many choices as consumers today that there's simply no reason to continue to rasie and slaughter animals for food. I hope this helps explain our 'radical' position - to compromise it would be a betrayal of both the animals and our members. Thanks again for writing and for your concern for animals.
What I do know is that rabbits kill their young and chickens clumsily break their eggs - is this how animals keep their numbers in check??? What do cows do if they never get milked? Advertise as nurses for orphaned calves? Just wondering...

Strictly vegan eaters have serious problems keeping their hair on their head (poysanal comoonicayshin), as well as having it discolour and lose its shine. Is it possible to be strictly vegan from birth (apart from mother's milk)??? I'm completely and utterly doubtful. Try reconciling this with the fact that no traditional society is strictly vegan. 'Nuff said.

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My typical understanding of a partridge was the familiar one, that they all appeared in pear trees at Christmas. Little did I know that one day, I would end up cooking partridges that my husband had hunted on the very island we live.

In Crete, hunting in the wild (as opposed to organised game parks) involves hare and various species of migrating and resident birds. The earlier you hunt, the more you are likely to catch. At this point in the winter, most birds will have settled in warmer areas, and won't be passing through Crete so readily as it is quite cold and wet. Each season is very short so hunters have to be on the ready when it starts. This year, my husband, an avid hunter, caught three partridges during our mini-break in Paleohora. After removing the feathers and innards, they were placed in the freezer, where we almost forgot about them, until now when I was doing a fridge clearance.

In its unfeathered form, partridge looks like a miniature sized chicken. It also tastes like chicken, but has a very different smell, something like a woody forest. The breast meat is very tender compared to the wings which are full of tendons. The three partridges, halved and quartered, were cooked in a kapama sauce with green olives, served with fried potatoes and a garden fresh cabbage salad. They can also be cooked with orzo rice, similar to Maria's oven-baked kritharaki, or made into a tomato-based pilafi.

Cooking these partridges gave me the opportunity to cook, as Michael Pollan stated, "the perfect meal", where he challenges himself to cook something that he himself had hunted, gathered and/or grown. In this spirit, I can claim that everything (except the salt and pepper - naughty me, I could have used local sea salt given to me by a friend, and locally grown herbs) in the recipe was seasonally and locally hunted, and gathered or grown by my family, representing both the animal and vegetable (but not the fungus (kingdoms), costing me only the gas I used to cook it with, eaten by my family, and cooked by my very self. Perfect. And delicious.

Happy Tsiknopempti to everyone who celebrates it!

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Greek comfort food (Γεύμα παρηγoριάς)

Just look at our weather today:

There were signs warning of the ominous weather yesterday, despite the sunshine; that was just a ploy to keep the tourist activity alive. People were still walking around in their summer clothes, and we even managed to go to the beach. But the rain couldn't stay away for too long and by all means, it's more than welcome. We've had more than the average rainfall for this time of year.

Of course, I love it. It's cooling, refreshing, cleansing, invigorating, like a battery recharger, unlike the summer's stifling heat, which saps the energy out of you, leaving you with a feeling of suffocation, as if the heat is drowning you. It's still humid, but at least we've cooled down by a few degrees. And we don't need to water the garden any more; the rain does a great job. Maybe it slows down the growth rate, but the coffers are full anyway; there's little more room in the deep freeze. The perfect weather to stay at home. The best weather to cook a hearty meal and still have the stamina to eat it in the midday sun, which was well hidden today amongst the puffy rainclouds.



I found a rather large piece of beef at the butcher's the other day. If you like your meat, then you may have experienced this feeling some time in your own life: its colour (dark red) seemed to be screaming out to me: "I'm fresh, I'm tender, EAT ME!" There were very few marblings in this cut, which means very little fat; a very lean cut of beef, all meat. Greek beef tends to be rather tough to cook and eat, which is why we don't often buy or cook it in our own home (except for minced beef). It was my lucky day. This recipe - beef in tomato sauce with peas and carrots: μοσχάρι κοκκινιστό με αρακά και καρότα - is very popular right around the country, especially in this weather.

You need:
lean beef, approximately 800-1000g, cut in small chunks
1/2 cup oil
4 large onions, cut in medium slices
2 large cloves of garlic (optional), chopped finely
1/2 glass of red wine
4 large tomatoes, pureed (I used my own preserved summer tomato sauce)
1 teaspoon of tomato paste
salt and pepper
500g frozen peas (something we might try growing this winter)
2 large carrots, cut into chunks or sliced into rounds

Heat the oil in a large saucepan. Add the onions and garlic, and coat till they are well oiled. Cook for a few minutes (do not burn), then add the beef chunks. Let them cook till there is no red colour on the meat, turning them over to make sure all sides are coated and cooked in the oil, over a moderate heat. Add the wine, and let the meat cook for another five minutes to soak up the flavour. Then add the tomatoes and seasonings. Turn the heat to very low, place a lid on the pot, and don't open it for at least an hour; if this is Greek beef, it will need at least two hours to cook thoroughly (which is why we often buy French beef from the Carrefour supermarket, or locally raised beef from a nearby village; they are fed and slaughtered differently, creating tastier beef).

After the first hour has passed, take the lid of the pot (everything should be looking creamy and saucy), add the peas and carrots, place the lid on the pot and let the vegetables cook away, until the beef is also tender, according to your taste spectrum. I cooked this beef for two hours; we like it to fall away from the knife. This recipe is an adaptation of stifado; beef can also be cooked in that way, the main difference being the addition of spices and whole onions. Instead of the carrots and peas, a local alternative to vegetables is a handful of green olives, in which case, this red sauce is called kapama (καπαμά).

The traditional way to serve this meal is with fried potatoes and a green salad. A healthier alternative is to present it on a bed of plain steamed rice.

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Squid kapama (Καλαμαράκια καπαμά)

When I was young, I was very lucky to have access to fresh fish, as it was in my parents' line of business. My father would bring home fresh seafood every now and then when he returned from his daily shopping at the wholesale fish market. We were privileged to be able to eat fresh lobster, crayfish and squid, which my mum usually cooked in a tomato sauce. We hardly ever ate it fried at home in this sense. My mother also bought canned California squid in brine, which she would turn into a salad dressed Mediterranean style: on opening the tin, she would pour out the brine, wash the squid and pour olive oil and lemon juice over them. We'd have them (the PORTOLA brand) as an accompaniment to a bean dish.

Great Lent is a time to indulge in seafood, something we don't do very often in our house because, apart from the price of fresh seafood, they are also high in cholesterol. Here's another way of preparing tinned California squid (otherwise known in Greece as 'calamari') that is often enjoyed in Crete, which is available very cheaply here (2 euro per can).

You need:
1/4 cup olive oil
5 medium onions, thinly sliced
2 cloves of garlic finely chopped
3 tins of baby California squid, drained and rinsed (I'm feeding a lot of people at the moment - and some of them don't have many teeth left!)
400g of pureed tomatoes (tinned ones do fine)
salt and pepper
a handful of chopped fresh parsley

Heat the oil and saute the onions and garlic till the onions are transparent. Add the calamari, and stir it in, to coat all the squid with oil. Add the tomatoes, salt and pepper and enough water to cover the squid above 1cm. Cover the pot and let the calamari cook until the onion is tender. Add a handful of chopped parsley towards the end of cooking time. It's very simple to prepare, and very Mediterranean.

This dish can also be made with fresh squid: for a more elaborate meal, stew fresh (or freshly frozen) baby kalamari (or cuttlefish chopped in large pieces) in the same sauce, along with chopped pieces of fennel bulb. Ripe treated green olives are also added at the end of cooking time (although I wouldn't say I prefer this). This stew is often served with fried potatoes, but it's also fantastic (and healthier) served on a bed of plain rice and a lettuce salad to accompany it.

©All Rights Reserved/Organically cooked. No part of this blog may be reproduced and/or copied by any means without prior consent from Maria Verivaki.

MORE SEAFOOD RECIPES:
Bakaliaros - bakaliaraki
Octopus stew
Mussels sauce
Psarosoupa
Shrimp in lemon
Squid fried
Taramasalata