Horta So Good

C'mon baby, make my horta so good

Horta is the Greek word for wild greens (from whence we get “horticulture.”) This is one of those not-even-a-recipe recipes that I adore, because by nature it’s open-ended—it’s just a dead simple method for preparing whatever armful of greenery your environs have provided you with on a given day. This time of year, as plants begin to emerge in my part of the world, is an exhilarating time for edible leaf enjoyers such as myself. If you share that affinity, join me in adding this technique to your culinary quiver.

First, you need to choose your greens. I’m blessed with both yard and garden, and there are a bunch of hardy greens still kicking in both places. Depending on where you live you may have a very different array to choose from—it may even be the end of summer if you’re in the Southern Hemisphere, and many of you are (since I am also blessed with brilliant and discerning readers all over the world).

So I may not be able to help you with your selection, but I can tell you what I picked for this: spinach, garlic mustard, field garlic, several kinds of chicory, scallion, ground ivy, dock, oregano, sage, chrysanthemum, dandelion, and plantago. This is obviously a mix of wild and domestic plants, where traditionally this dish is made from wild varieties. But winter is harsher here than in Greece, and I can’t be too choosy this early in the season. In a month or two things will be very different. And the wild/domestic dichotomy is less fixed than you think.