Horta
One of the simplest dishes in Greek cooking and one of the most underrated. The whole technique fits into three rules: a large pot of boiling water (too little water drops the temperature and the leaves stew instead of boiling), cooking uncovered to keep the colour, and a quantity of olive oil that feels excessive — because the oil is what carries the flavour here.
Your own work in that: 5 min.
- Washing 10 min
- Boiling 12 min
- Serving 5 min
Step by step
0 / 6 doneWash the leaves in a sink of water
Plunge the leaves into a sink full of cold water, agitate them and lift them out from the top, leaving the grit at the bottom. Rinsing under a tap only spreads the grit over the leaves. Repeat twice — wild greens almost always carry sand.
Ingredients: 400 g dandelion leaves · 300 g leaf chicory · 300 g spinach · 2 tbsp salt
Lift from the top; the grit stays in the sink.Trim the tough stems
Cut off the thicker, fibrous stem ends but keep the thinner ones — they cook alongside the leaves and add crunch. Leave young leaves whole; halve large ones crossways.
Ingredients: 400 g dandelion leaves · 300 g leaf chicory · 300 g spinach · 2 tbsp salt
Boil in a large pot, uncovered
Bring a large pot of salted water (about 4 l) to the boil, add the tougher leaves — dandelion and chicory — and cook 8–10 minutes, uncovered, until the stems are tender. Add the spinach for the last 2 minutes. A lid traps the acids that turn green chlorophyll brown.
Ingredients: 400 g dandelion leaves · 300 g leaf chicory · 300 g spinach · 2 tbsp salt
Uncovered — otherwise the leaves turn brown.Drain but do not squeeze
Drain and leave in the colander for 3 minutes without squeezing. Squeezed leaves turn dense and dry; left to drip naturally they keep their lightness and take up oil better.
Ingredients: 400 g dandelion leaves · 300 g leaf chicory · 300 g spinach · 2 tbsp salt
Pour on the oil while warm
Arrange on a plate and pour over all the oil while still warm. Warm leaves absorb the oil rather than letting it run to the bottom of the plate — the same dish dressed cold tastes noticeably poorer.
Ingredients: 6 tbsp olive oil · 1 pcs lemon · ½ tsp sea salt
Warm and generous — the oil should soak in.Squeeze the lemon at the last moment
Squeeze over the lemon and sprinkle with sea salt immediately before serving. Acid added earlier breaks down the chlorophyll and the leaves turn olive-grey within a quarter of an hour.
Ingredients: 6 tbsp olive oil · 1 pcs lemon · ½ tsp sea salt
Before you start
The cooking water is not waste
The water the greens cooked in, called zoumi, is drunk warm with lemon in Greece. It is faintly bitter and mineral, considered healthy, and for generations was simply the thing you do not throw away. If you want to drink it, salt the water more lightly.
Which leaves
In Greece dozens of wild species are gathered. The nearest equivalents elsewhere are dandelion, chicory, beet tops, young nettle, spinach and rocket. Mix bitter with mild — all bitter is wearying, all spinach is bland.
Cold the next day
Horta is just as good cold, and tavernas often serve it at room temperature as part of the mezedes. It keeps two days in the fridge — dress it with lemon again before serving, as the first lemon will have faded.
