There are many types of wild greens that we eat here in Greece and are not commonly known abroad. We name them in general “Horta” and if you’ve ever been to a Greek restaurant you’ll have seen them served usually as salads- after being cooked- and served with olive oil and lemon.
In many parts of Greece they use horta to make pies, and to be honest these pies are much more delicious than the world famous Greek spinach pie. But horta are hard to find- if you don’t live in the Greek countryside that is-, so what we’re going to do today in our new recipe is to replace the “horta’ with wild greens that are often used and easier to find but have a resemblance or a botanic connection to our horta.
Hortopita (Greek pie with wild greens)
For the horta we will use a combination of:
Spinach 300 gr
Swiss Chard 150 gr
Wild chervil ¼ cup
Kale 75 gr
Cavolo nero 75 gr
Wash and chop all the vegetables. From the cavolo nero and the kale remove the stalks before chopping.
4 spring onions chopped
1 tablespoon freshly cut dill
250 gr crumbled feta
Esti extra virgin olive oil
Salt
Pepper
2 eggs
6 sheets phyllo dough
Preheat the oven at 180 degrees Celsius.
Dry all the chopped vegetables well.
In a large saucepan heat some esti olive oil. add all the greens plus spring greens, slat, pepper and sauté well until there is no liquid let in the pan.
In a bowl beat the eggs. Add the feta cheese and the sautéed greens. Mix well.
Take a rectangular oven pan (20cm x 30cm) or around one (30cm). Brush well with olive oil.
Cut the phyllo sheets in half. Place 6 halves in the pan brushing each sheet individually with olive oil.
Empty the greens-feta mixture in the pan evenly .
Cover the mixture with the remaining 6 halves of filo sheets, always brushing each one with olive oil. Brush very well the top sheet. Pinch the sides to encase the mixture.
Cut the top phyllo layers in 6-8 pieces but do not cut all the way through to the bottom layers.
Place in the oven and bake for about 45 minutes or until the top is golden brown.
Allow to cool and serve.