Day 45: Holy Wednesday - Hortopita; Vegan Greek Wild Greens Pie - May 1, 2013

Hortopita.  It is not a word that rolls off your tongue, but it IS a food that rolls on your tongue!  We love spanikopita (spinach pie) and tiropita (cheese pie) and we have really enjoyed other people's hortopita (greens pie), so we wanted to try to make our own.  Of course, with a look at our handy cookbook from Vefa Alexiadou, 99 recipes small book, we found out how we could make this ourselves.  And, it is stilll nistisimo (Lenten), since the recipe is made with oil instead of butter, and no cheese.

Before we begin the recipe, we want to address some of the information about horta (wild greens).  We have written a post on red swiss chard and kale, both of which fall under the category of "horta" (or greens).  Now, we are adding dandelions and endives to the mix.

Kale is a food we have worked with before on this blog, and you can use it for hundreds of dishes from breakfast to dinner.  We don't know about a kale cake yet, but you never know!  Kale is available in different varieties, and all offer high levels of nutrients such as vitamins K, C, and calcium.  As one of the newest "superfoods," kale gives a richness to any dish.

Dandelions are the beautiful yellow flowers that decorate the front lawn every year.  Most people hate dandelions -- or at least in the yard, but on the dinner table, so many of us like them.  The leaves are long and pointy, they are a bit tough and bitter, but they are packed with iron, calcium, and vitamins.  The dandelion green is readily available at grocery stores, or you can pick them up wherever you go -- just join the crowds on the side of the road picking them fresh!

Endives are another green in the horta family.  They are actually a flat leaf variety of escarole (yes, flat leaf).  Typically, the curly leaf variety is known as chicory.  But, endive, escarole, and chicory all refer to the same plant -- the yummy kind!  We like the slight bitterness and peppery flavour of endive.  But, more so, we like the folate, Vitamin A, and Vitamin C that it gives us.

Combining these greens may give us the Greek version of a "superfood" that has not been publicised yet.  Our grandparents and ancestors knew the value of horta, and we should, too.  Since there are some people who don't like the bitter nature of many wild greens, putting the greens in a pita changes that perception of green, bitter, and slimy to green, healthy, and yummy.

For this pita, we used store-bought filo dough.  For many things, this is a great convenience and gives us a light and crunchy texture to any pita and to many desserts.  We are aware, however, that many people who make pites (Greek word for "pies") in general make their own dough.  The homemade doughs definitely give a different crunch than the store bought thin sheets, but we did not have the time to do it right, so the store bought convenience was a good choice for today.  It is easy and practical for a busy cook of any level.

For this recipe, you will need the following ingredients:

8 cups wild greens (any combination of endive, spinach, kale, dandelions, vleeta (amaranth), chard, or your choice)
Salt, as needed
1/2 cup dill
1/2 cup parsley
1 leek
6-8 scallions
1/2 cup oil
1/2 cup club soda
1 box pre-made filo dough

When we started this recipe, we did not  know exactly what the combination of greens would end up tasting like, but we knew that we wanted the little bitterness from the dandelions, the little bit of smoothness from the kale, and the special texture from the endives.  We know there are dozens of combinations that we could make, but this was today's choice.  You can pick whatever combination you like, or whatever greens you have.  Many times, especially in the summer, we have vleeta (amaranth), and if we had any in the freezer, we would have thrown those in this mixture, too!

Let's really start by washing and cutting the greens, the leeks, and the scallions.  With the greens, each one has a different kind of leaf and stem, so you have to treat each green a little different.  We just hope they don't turn green with envy of one another!  The three horta that we chose are (as pictured below) Kale, Endives, and Dandelions (left to right in photograph).

Kale, we have discussed before (here, here and here).  Kale has thick stems, and can get a little too stringy and fibrous to eat, even when cooked.  We cut off the thickest part of the stems at the bottom, then, tore the leaves off some of the "smaller" stems.  Then, we gave a rough cut to all the kale that we were using, just so it would be closer to bite sized.  Greens shrink when they cook, so they did not really look bite sized.  We washed the kale after cutting it to make sure to get rid of all the dirt that may be trapped in the waves of the leaves.

Endives have curly leaves that can capture dirt and bugs, and without a very thorough washing, these things may end up in your food.  The endive stems are thinner than other greens and usually not too stringy.  The stems that are attached to the leaves are hardly noticeable once the endives are cooked.  We did still cut off the bottom part of the stems, where the bunch was connected.  Then, we separated the leaves to find any specks of dirt hiding inside.  The easiest way to clean endives is to cut large pieces, then put them in a sink full of cold water.  Wash the leaves in the water, as if you were hand-washing some clothing.  Then, drain the sink and run water over the endives.  By this method, most of the "icky stuff" will drop to the bottom of the sink, and then the running water will wash it all away and your endives will be clean.

Lastly, we have the dandelions.  These are dandelions with red stems, which are similarly coloured to vleeta (amaranth).  The dandelions stems are tender, right down to the base of the stem (at the root).  We just chopped the stem parts that had no leaves, and chopped them fine so they would spread through the pita and add colour all around.  We discarded the bottom inch of the bundle of dandelions.  Once again, gave a rough chop to the leaves and the top of the stems.  Those were added to the kale, and put in a colander to wash the greens.  Running water will go through and over the dandelions with nothing really to hide.

Once the greens were washed, we had to prepare them for cooking.  From the recipe, we followed the directions and put the greens all into one bowl, mixed together, and then sprinkled salt all over the bowl.  Mix the salt all around, and toss the greens so they are all coated.  Then, do this all over again.  What you will see is that the greens are wilting and the salt is drawing all the water out of the greens.  Make sure that everything is coated with salt, and let this sit aside.

While this is sitting for about 10 minutes to draw much of the water out of the greens, we are going to prepare the other ingredients.

To prepare the other ingredients, you need to clean and chop the scallions (green onions), the leeks, the dill, and the parsley.  Cleaning the leek is the most involved step, because leeks, like horta, have layers where dirt and bugs can hide.  When you clean a leek, start by trimming off some of the dark green at the top of the leek, and then, remove the "beard", which is the root end of the leek.

Then, cut the leek in half lengthwise, or cut it into slices.  It depends on the use of the leek, but you have to get to the inside layers.  When a leek grows, it grows from the inside out, so each new layer grows in the core and pushes out the outer layers, so that is where the dirt hides -- between the new and the old layers.

You have to rinse it well to make sure that the water gets in between the layers to remove the dirt.  Sometimes, if you are chopping or slicing a leek, it is easier to wash the leek after it has been cut.  If you are not using the leek chopped, then cut the length, and then slice or prepare as you need it.

You have two choices on how to prepare the scallions.  You could do it the same way as the leek -- trim the top half inch of the greens, then trim the beard.   And, you would typically remove the the outermost layer of the scallion, since it is the one that has that fine, kind of slimy film, and the dirt that remains.  Then, wash the scallions well and chop them into little slices.  Or, you could take the easier way and leave the bundle of scallions bound, as it came from the grocery store, and then, chop what you need and wash it after cutting.  This way keeps the bundle together, so it is easier and faster to chop down the length of the scallions.   Whichever is easier for you, just have washed, chopped scallions.

With all the vegetables ready to go, now is the time to check on the greens and see what has happened.  If you look at the greens that we salted earlier, the bottom of the bowl has water.  This is the discharge from the horta -- this is the effect from salting the greens.  By doing this step, the volume of horta has lessened, and the amount of water in them has too.  That means that when we cook the greens, there will be very little, if any, shrinkage in the pan, so you will now have a good idea of whether or not you have enough horta to make the pita you want.

Take the horta out of the salting bowl, and put them in a colander.  As much as you can, you need to squeeze any remaining liquid from the greens.  We pushed down on the greens, pressing them into the side of the colander, and watched more water drip out of the holes.  You can press, you can use a spoon and push, just try to apply as much pressure to squeeze out any excess liquid.

DO NOT RINSE THE HORTA!  Leave them salty, since this is the only salt you are adding in the entire recipe.  And, by nature, the pita should have a slight saltiness to it.  If you have a great sensitivity to salt, then rinse the greens, but you have to allow them to dry very well before cooking them.

Now we are into the cooking phase.  First, we are going to use a frying pan or sauce pan that is big enough to hold all of the vegetables, herbs, and greens at once.  They should all comfortably fit in the pan, without counting on shrinkage factors.

Saute the scallions and the leeks together with a bit of oil (1/4 cup).  This is about half the amount of oil in the entire recipe.  Use the 1/4 cup (half) now on this step, and the other half will be for brushing the layers of filo dough in a later step.  Cook until the leek and scallions are soft.

Then, add the parsley and dill.  Make sure these two herbs are distributed well through the onions (leeks and scallions are both in the onion family).  Mix well and cook until this mixture becomes aromatic, meaning the entire kitchen will smell like onions and dill cooking on the stove (yum!).

Then, it is time to add the greens to the pan.  You just want to put them all in at once, without separating or differentiating - just put them in the pan.  Now is the time that mixing well will matter.  You need to mix everything together to make sure that all the leeks, herbs, and greens are evenly distributed in the pan.  You will see all the individual colours coming through.  For us, using the red stemmed dandelions was for colour boost.  But, the light green of the leeks and endives against the dark green of the kale and dandelions is very attractive.  Mix the ingredients well so that you can see all the pretty colours.

Once everything is mixed very well, turn off the heat.  You can leave the pan sitting on the heat, but you do not want the temperature on.  This mixture needs to cool a bit, and you don't want to cook it for too long, since it is going into the oven later.  So, once everything is mixed, turn off the heat and leave the pan on the burner.  While this "rests" on the burner, we will prepare the filo layers.

Working with filo can be tricky if you have never done it before.  But, there are a few things to know before opening the package.  First, filo dough does dry out quickly, and once the sheets are dry, you cannot work with them.  If you are walking away from the filo for more than 2 minutes, cover it with a towel or with plastic wrap.

Secondly, filo is temperature sensitive.  This means that the box of dough must be fully thawed before you start to use it.  It may feel cool to the touch, and that is good.  It should not, however, feel like it just came out of the refrigerator.  "Just below body temperature" is the best phrase to describe the temperature.  Do make sure that there is not a frozen centre, because when you try to separate frozen filo, you will tear and rip the sheets and make it unusable for most dishes.  To avoid making tears in other ways, use two hands when handling sheets of filo.  Yes, there are some people who will try to use one hand for filo, and the other hand for something else.  But, filo is fragile, so you need to take care with it and use two hands.

Lastly, filo sheets need to be brushed or sprayed with a fat of some sort -- butter, oil, margarine, whatever -- but in between each and every layer, you must put some sort of a "glue" which will create the layers of crunchiness and the little air pockets that make it rise.

Now that we have the basic rules about filo, we can start to look at our baking pan.  We chose a 9 x 13 inch (23 x 33 cm), rectangular pan.  This was about the same size as half the sheet of filo dough. So, to make it easy for ourselves, we cut the sheets of filo in half, along the line that comes from the packaging.  This gave us sheets of filo that were the same size as the pan that did not need any extra turning, trimming, or worrying.  This is always a good idea if you want the easiest work -- trim the filo sheets.  If we had a smaller pan, we may have cut the sheets into fourths, and then overlapped in a clockwise pattern while building the layers.  It depends on the size of your pan.  If you don't cut the sheets of filo, then you will have to fold over each layer and trim the edges at the end, before putting the dish in the oven.

We prepared our baking dish by brushing it with oil.  After we did that, we realised that it would have been easier to use the non-stick pan spray to make sure to coat the corners and sides of the baking pan.  Well, this is when we "wised up," you could say.  We coated the bottom of the baking dish with oil and then we used the pan spray in between the layers of filo!  You could brush or you could spray -- it is up to you.  But, that spraying motion was so easy...

Grease the bottom of your baking dish.  You need to do this so the filo does not stick and so the bottom will get some crunch like the top.

Lay down the first piece of filo.  Try to centre it in the pan.  Do not press down on the filo, let it fall naturally in place.  If you have a wrinkle or an air pocket, then you pick up the piece of filo and re-lay it.  Then, spray or brush this layer with some oil.  You want to make sure to cover the entire surface without pressing too hard.  The more you press, the flatter the pie will be, so don't press very much.  It is like the difference between sketching and drawing -- sketching is light, drawing is hard.  We want you to sketch, please.

Continue this process of laying filo, brushing / spraying oil; then laying filo, brushing/spraying filo until you have laid 10 layers of filo on the bottom of the pan.  It sounds like a lot, but you need the strength and support to hold up to the weight of the horta.

Once you have the bottom layers in place, press a little bit in each corner, and along the bottom edge to make the filo square with the pan.

Then, add the filling to the baking pan, on top of your laid filo dough.  You want to spread the horta all around to make a nice, even layer.

Now it is time to layer the filo on top of the horta.  Lay the first piece over the greens.  it should fall into place without too much fuss.  Brush or spray the oil on this layer, and then repeat the above steps, placing a total of 8 (eight) layers of filo on top.  We put fewer on top than on the bottom to make the pita more about the filling and less about the filo.  You can put even numbers if you want, we just prefer the lighter top.

If the filo tears while you are laying it or working with it, either follow the tear and use half a sheet of filo at a time, or stop touching that side of the sheet of filo.  You will be able to put the tear back together once that sheet is laid in the baking dish. (see pictures below).  The only thing we are particular about is that the top two layers of filo are centred and look beautiful.  Those are the ones that will be seen when the dish comes out of the oven, so they should be the prettiest layers.

Now make sure that all the corners are tucked in, and that all the greens are fully covered.  Run your fingers along the edges of the baking dish to make sure of this.

Spray or brush oil on the final layer to make sure that all the filo is completely coated with oil.

One of the last steps is to score the pita.  Scoring is the process of cutting the food without cutting all the way through it.  To score is really to mark, so we want to mark exactly where the cuts will go once the pita is baked.  We do this now because later, after baking, this will be difficult while trying to keep the top filo layers in tact.  If we score the filo before baking, then it will cut clean and make nice pieces, as opposed to crumbling and falling apart.  Score the whole pan.  We cut our pita into 25 pieces (5x5), but you can pick how many you cut, depending on the size of your pan.  Perhaps 5 x 4 would have been better for larger pieces, but we liked this as appetisers!

Score the pita and then you will put it in your preheated oven at 400° F for 15 minutes.  At the 15 minute mark, the pita will look half-baked, and it is.  But there is one more step!

Take the pita out of the oven and sprinkle the club soda all over the top of it, trying to get some club soda into the cut marks.  We used our hands, dipped into the half cup of club soda, scooped some liquid in our fingers and generously dripped all over the top of the pita.  We went three rounds of dripping club soda on the pita, and then, we returned the pan to the oven for another 35 minutes.

Finish baking the pita in the oven at 400° F for 30-35 more minutes, until a deep golden brown colour has been achieved, and the edges of the pie are pulling away from the baking dish.

Let this sit at room temperature until it cools.  Cut through the entire pita using the score marks as your guide.  And, be aware that the pita may never make it to the table, depending on who is in the kitchen with you!  Hortopita can be eaten hot, cold, or at room temperature.  At our house, it is eaten as a side dish, a main dish, breakfast, late night snack... well, you see the versatility of such a food.  But, this one is completely appropriate for Great Lent, and quite the delight.  We are pleased that over the next week, we will have this pita to get us through the hectic schedule.

Hymn of Kassiani (Troparion of Kassiani) (with English subtitles)

This extremely beautiful Hymn, composed in the 800's by the abbess Kassiani is one of the most prolific of hymnogrophers in the Orthodox Church. This troparion, masterfully sung in English (although we love hearing in Greek) by the St. Symeon the New Theologian Orthodox Church (OCA) in Birmingham, AL as part of their album "Fire and Light".