Davin and I went on a dandelion picking mission at the community garden the other day, harvesting what we thought was enough to make the dandelion Hortopita recipe. As we picked, I repeatedly muttered that I didn’t think we had enough. I went to the garden without reviewing the recipe for amounts but I was certain that whatever we picked would boil down to a smallish blob. It turns out that this 9″ wide bowl holds what does not come even close to 2 lbs of dandelion greens. In fact, what you see here is more like just over half a pound.

Lacking the correct amount of greens called for slashing the size of the finished Hortopita significantly and reducing the ingredients accordingly. I don’t think I have ever in my life followed a recipe exactly as written so not one to be deterred we marched ahead rather than waiting another day until we could go collect more. It still came off famously! I have never before boiled dandelion greens. They smelled surprisingly like spinach while boiling and completely lost their bitterness in the process. They were so delicious on their own as a boiled green that I plan to continue harvesting them with vigor for what remains of the growing season and eating them as-is with a dash of salt and sprinkle of oil.

The Hortopita itself was light and crispy on the outside, salty and fresh on the inside. In the future I will try adding eggs for protein and supplementing with other greens or veggies as I don’t expect to harvest enough dandelion leaves at any one time to make the full-sized pie.