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Baked Greek Omelette with Wild Greens, Herbs, Leeks and Feta

A delicious baked Greek omelette with wild greens, herbs, leeks and feta cheese, this dish from Rick Stein is perfect for a late breakfast or light lunch.

Introduction

The Greeks call the greens and herbs they gather from the hills and mountains, especially in spring, by the general name of horta. In the market in Corfu town I met a lady called Effie who was selling wild greens. She had spent twenty years as a hairdresser in Melbourne and appeared to have come home mainly because she couldn’t gather her beloved wild chicories, thistles, peas, poppies and sow’s thistle in Australia. We went picking on a sunny spring morning in a meadow splashed with the reds, yellows and blues of wild flowers, against a background of cypress trees and mountains. I was back in Cornwall a month later when our wild greens were about as advanced. Walking through the meadows beyond the church at Morwenstow, with a beautiful view of the bay beyond, I noticed lots of the plants in the hedgerow but I had no one like Effie to give me guidance as to what was good to eat. Bitter is a flavour we don’t understand much, though any member of the chicory family is naturally bitter and easy to grow. By using some ruggedly flavoured brassicas like curly kale, cavalo nero, watercress or rocket, together with members of the beet family such as chard, and some spinach or sorrel, you will get something close to the real thing. Slipping in the odd dandelion leaf and some wild garlic is also a good idea. Serve the chunky omelette with a simple tomato and onion salad and some bread.

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Ingredients

3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
250g leeks, trimmed, cleaned and thinly sliced
250g mixed leaves (see above), washed, dried and shredded
8 large eggs, lightly beaten
3 tbsp chopped mint
3 tbsp chopped dill
175g Greek feta cheese, crumbled
25g grated Greek kefalotiri cheese or parmesan cheese
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Essential kit

You will need a shallow, round, 20cm non-stick cake tin.

Method

Preheat the oven to 160°C/Gas Mark 3. Heat 2 tablespoons of the olive oil in a deep frying pan over a medium heat. Add the leeks and cook gently for 10 minutes until soft.

Add the remaining oil and the mixed leaves to the pan and cook for 3-4 minutes until they have wilted down and are just tender.

Tip the greens into a bowl and add the eggs, mint, dill, crumbled feta, grated kefalotiri or parmesan cheese, ½ teaspoon salt and some black pepper. Oil a shallow, round, 20-cm non-stick cake tin, pour in the mixture and bake for about 45 minutes or until just set.

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