Easy Batsaria

I, along with most Americans, have come to love the golden brown, green-filled spanakopita of Greece. But with layer upon layer of delicately painted phyllo, it’s a commitment to prepare. Batsaria is a deeply flavorful cousin to showy spanakopita, and deserves a place in the limelight, too. This rustic, peppery pie is hefty and satisfying, packed with hearty greens and feta cheese, and no phyllo in sight.

Batsaria is traditionally made with wild greens that are hand-harvested, then blanched and squeezed. For a simpler, modernized version, I call for frozen collard greens and/or kale along with fresh dill, parsley, and mint for bright herbal notes.

It scratches the same flavorful itch as spanakopita while shining as a unique dish in its own right. When you’re craving a hearty serving of garlicky, herby greens laced with feta cheese, try making batsaria.

What Is Batsaria?

Spanakopita is just one of the many pies made from leafy greens that we owe to the Greek tradition. Over the years, I’ve learned that all the Greek green-packed pies spring from horta. 

Horta is a Greek term for the wild greens and herbs that have been picked and served since antiquity. Any combination of purslane, amaranth, dandelions, and other edible plants were harvested and cooked for a nutritious meal, no matter how tough times were.

My friend John Rossakis, a Greek-American who lives in Minneapolis, shared his childhood experiences with horta. “It was a running joke in our family, if you took my Mom or my Yia Yia [grandmother] to a park they would set off to pick horta. We were kind of embarrassed as kids, admitting, yes, that’s my mother up by the highway ramp, picking dandelions.�� The resulting pot of greens was a treasured dish, and one he craves to this day.

His mother’s penchant for horta has a deeper significance. She and his father were refugees during WWII, living in refugee camps in Turkey and Cyprus. To survive, his mother and grandmother would walk out with a bag and a knife to harvest wild greens in the countryside, then boil them up over a fire.

Choosing Your Greens

Frozen collard greens and kale give the batsaria a bit of the bitter-sweetness and a similar depth to wild greens. If you’ve got a garden or CSA box brimming with chard or kale, sub two pounds of greens. Stem, chop, and blanch before using. If you’re lucky enough to have dandelion greens, you can blanch and use them in place of the frozen greens.

But if you don’t have a Yia Yia to pick them, then using frozen greens and fresh herbs is a delicious way to pay homage to the resilience of the horta harvesters.

More Recipes from Greece

• Greek Chicken Skewers with Yogurt Sauce (Chicken Souvlaki)
• Lemon Chicken Soup (Avgolemono)
• Dakos Salad
• Baklava