Χόρτα βραστά με λεμόνι - Boiled Grass With Lemon

This recipe is included in my Spaghetti Alla Pouttanesca entry but I would like to re-blog it here for search engine reasons. This is a GREAT side dish that you will love. It is very simple to make and you can find this type of grass just about everywhere. If you choose to pick your own grass you must go to a virgin field and not your back yard or a field or a property where people will have added fertilizer or weed killer.

About 23 years ago my parents were visiting from Hellas. My wife and and I had just purchased a nice house in NY and we were trying to make it our home. It was summertime and my wife and I were outside working in the backyard, pulling weeds and putting them in garbage bags. Sometime later I turned and looked towards the house and I saw my parents standing behind the sliding door knocking on the glass trying to get my attention. I knew something was wrong and I ran towards the house to see what was wrong. As soon as I opened the door my parents yelled at me because they couldn't understand why I was pulling the grass from the ground and putting it in plastic garbage bags. To make the long story short, they told me that I was throwing away good food.

Fast forward many years to...yesterday, May 26, 2013, at the farmers' market in Rhinebeck, NY, I purchased two bunches of grass, a.k.a. χόρτα or ραδίκια. From now on I will refer to them as "grass" because it is just a generalization.

Here are the two bunches of grass I purchased. This grass MUST be washed thoroughly because it is just full of dirt.

Before starting to wash the grass you need to get a large pot, I used an 8 qt pot, fill it 3/4 the way with water and set it on the stove on high heat. It will take about 15 minutes for the water to begin to boil. Let's concentrate on the grass now.

I took one bunch and cut the roots with a pairing knife. Make sure you let the grass sit in the bowl of water for a few minutes and stir it with your hand(s). Rinse the grass many times to remove the dirt.

Here is one bunch of grass with the roots cut off in the colander.

Add the grass to the boiling in the pot and cook it for 20 minutes while stirring it every few minutes.

After boiling the grass for 20 minutes I grabbed a large colander and poured in the contents of the pot. I used a wooden spoon to press on the grass to get rid of as much water as I could.

I moved the grass onto a plate where I drizzled some olive oil. I also added to the plate a lemon, cut in half, because its juice adds a different dimension to this dish. My wife said that this grass I cooked was just as good as the one she had in Hellas. Thanks for the nice complement honey.

If you go vacationing to Hellas make sure you order a plate of grass. Every restaurant or taverna offers this plate and it is served just like you see in the picture above. The lemon adds so much flavor to this dish.

---