I was particularly excited by this week’s Open Salon Kitchen Challenge, because green leaves of all shades have been my constant companions, starting in my Maine childhood where summertime romps through the hills were always accompanied with nibbles of all manner of edible greens, and right up to these days when I’ve been spending a lot of winters around the Aegean, famous for its countless wild greens that grow throughout the year and ever more so in the rainy season when they pour forth in abundance.

This past winter on the Bodrum peninsula I’ve regaled myself with constant munching, be it of my own picking or purchased for pennies from the farmers’ markets.    

All greens can of course be eaten raw in salads, finely chopped, if one can stand the bitter aftertaste and chewiness of the uncooked version. They, however, all benefit from some brief boiling in salted water (some less brief than others), and then a topping and a nice olive-oil based dressing. 

Being, as I said, extra blessed with profusion here in Bodrum, I cannot be content with just one kind. Normally I prepare two kinds of greens and dress them differently either as a light lunch on their own, or alongside any main course as a vegetable/salad.

Here’s a dual-recipe, one with stinging nettles and the other with wild radish greens. This can be endlessly improvised depending on what greens one has on hand and what condiments:

TANDEM GREENS

Ingredients:

A bunch each of two kinds of greens, washed

Dressing for wild radish greens

2Tb balsamic, pomegranate or red-wine vinegar

1/4 cup olive oil

salt to taste

2 cloves finely sliced garlic

some chili flakes (optional)

fresh pomegranate seeds

browned walnut halves

Dressing for stinging nettles

2 Tb lemon juice

1/4 cup olive oil

salt and pepper to taste

2 oz feta cheese

some thinly sliced red pepper

some thinly chopped green onion

Method:

1) Quick-boil the greens separately for minutes until al dente. Transfer each into colanders and pour iced water on them to retain green colour. Let drain thoroughly without pressing on them. Arrange them on two separate platters.

2) Mix lemon juice, oil, salt and pepper and evenly dress one of the greens with it. Top decoratively with feta, red pepper juliennes and chopped green onion.

3) Mix vinegar, oil, salt, garlic and optional chili flakes and evenly dress the other greens with it. Top decoratively with pomegranate seeds and walnuts.

Serves two as a lunch with bread, or four as a side course

 Stinging Nettles (Isirgan) salad made from the nettles below.

Then it was The Secret Life of Plants  by Peter Tomplins and Christopher Bird , this  got me into talking to flowering plants which I did a lot of when making My Wild Flowers with their ectoplasmic energy.  A technique I use here to get plants to attract my eye that might be good for what ails me. Currently I'm dealing with a condition that requires surgery which I'm trying to avoid by curing myself with wild greens (wish me luck). 

     Then traveling on Crete with Byron Ayanoglu who was writing his  book for HarperCollins called Crete on the Half Shell  (to be made into a movie), I learned how the people of that island had a huge variety of wild edibles and this was the staple of one of the world's healthiest diets. While building free standing stone sculptures I used to delight in the wild greens that were all about. Some only had a few weeks that they would live and other only grew along a sandy beach and the road. While others like the prize of all prizes dictamon, an ancient healing herb even mentioned by Aristotle, only grows in rock crevices high up in the mountains. making it very trecherous and costly to obtain. 

    Currently on this  trip along Turkey's Aegean coast, I was reading the book called The Physician by Noah Gordon .The story is about a young man's life and his quest to become a Physician. Rob Cole, the title character, is always learning about different plants from his first teacher the Barber Surgeon. The book is a fascinating  novel, with a love for one's life and the journey to become a Doctor in 1013 AD, which   meant traveling into the heart of the Moslem world to learn the sacred knowledge. Highly recommended. So this story  influenced me greatly (it too is currently being scripted for a movie). Also before I forget The Secret Teachings of Plants: The Intelligence of the Heart in the Direct Perception of Nature by Stephen Harrod Buhne. Land mark book on the influence of plant vibrations and what you can expect to achieve by dealing with them. Finally, last but not least the influence of reading The Teachings of Don Juan: A Yaqui Way of Knowledge by Carlos Casteneda.  It was this book that  made talking to plants a possibility for me way back in 1975 when I first read it and did a term paper on the book in High School.

    So with all that influence under my belt I found myself enjoying a place where practically everything green that grows here in the spring can be eaten. I feel it is these greens that have the healthiest effect  and that their mineral and chemical ingredients  actually have a profoundly positive influence on you.

Below is a collection of everything I have been eating here (I have noted some of their names. The rest will have to remain unidentified).

 

 

                                                      

 

                                                      

 

                                                      

 

2 Tb Grapefruit juice

1/4 cup olive oil

salt and pepper to taste

1 small mandarine orange

Squash or Pumpkin seeds lightly toasted

and a sprig of fresh Mint for the smell and contrast.

Note: I did not put the boiled greens under icy water after boiling and see they turned dark.