Name: Traditional Greens Pie (Hortopita)
Yield: Serves 6-8
Cuisine: Greek
Ingredients: ½ cup olive oil; 1 pound mixed greens (sorrel, dandelions, mustard greens, watercress); 4 sheets homemade phyllo or 16 sheets thick commercial phyllo; 1 cup chopped fresh dill; 1 cup chopped fennel or finely sliced fennel bulb; 1 cup chopped scallions; 1-1½ teaspoons minced fresh chili pepper, or ⅓-½ teaspoon dried red pepper flakes; Olive oil, for brushing; 1½ cups shredded kefalotyri, Parmesan, or pecorino cheese; 1½ cups crumbled feta cheese; 2 medium leeks, finely chopped (white part with 2 inches of the green); 1 pound fresh spinach; 2 eggs, lightly beaten (optional); Sea salt

Preparation info

Serves
6-8

Difficulty
Medium

Appears in

The Foods of Greece

By Aglaia Kremezi

Published 1993

About

Every Greek cook has a version of this classic pie. In the villages, very little spinach is used. Instead, a combination of different wild greens, gathered from the hills and fields, are used for the filling. Village people never buy the greens, which are not sold in stores; everyone gathers his or her own.

As the women in Metsovo told me, for the perfect Hortopita you need seven different kinds of wild greens, some sweet, some bitter, some sour, some with a light fragrance,