Trash Talk

In two weeks, I am supposed to be the guest chef for a farm to table fundraising dinner in a place where the abysmally cold, wet weather has kept the farm from growing anything that can be usefully harvested by then. So I've been madly improvising to put together an attractive menu guests will feel was worth the price of admission. I've got rhubarb sauce for spring chicken and finally today found Hakurei/Tokyo/salad turnips which I can cook with their greens in sesame oil and seeds. (See How to Fix a Leek..., the book.)

But what I now plan to feature is my new creation: trash torte. Or, if you will, scavenged spring greens torte. This is to say, I've grabbed any greens I can get right now--beet greens, radish greens, flat leaf parsley, pea shoots, spinach, baby kale and arugula--and fashioned them together into a crustless pie that's a cross between the Italian chard torte and no phyllo spinach pie in my book, Veggiyana, the Dharma of Cooking. It's turned into a tasty confection. And it fits in with the super new ethic of using up everything from the farm, not just the choicest morsels.

 (Here's my haul of pea shoots, spinach, radish greens, beet greens and behind cilantro and parsley.)

So here's my Scavenged Spring Greens Torte for 8

Olive oil the bottom and sides of a 9" springform pan. Heat the oven to 400º.

I can't give exact measurements for the greens because the two times I've made this I've just used what I could find and that differed every time. All I can say to guide you is this:

pea shoots: a fat handful
beet greens: from a bunch of beets
radish greens: from a bunch of radishes
spinach: about a pound
arugula: maybe 1/4 pound
baby kale: a handful
cilantro: half a bunch, leaves only
flat leaf parsley: half a bunch, leaves only
mint: 4-5 fresh leaves only

6-8 scallions with greens, cleaned
1/4 lb feta cheese
1/2 cup grated Parmesan or Asiago cheese
1/8 tsp red pepper flakes
salt and pepper to your taste
1 jumbo egg
pinch of ground nutmeg

Using a food processor or your best knife, finely chop all the greens and scallions.
Crumble to feta.
Combine everything in a large bowl and blend well.

Spoon the greens mix into the prepared springform pan and be sure to level the top.
It should be about 1/2" high.  Lightly sprinkle nutmeg around the top.

Bake at 400º for 18 minutes. Remove from oven and cool.
Carefully run a spatula around the rim to loosen the torte from the pan. Remove from the pan.
Garnish with chive flowers or scallion flower buds.
Serve warm or at room temperature.

You can also gussy this up by encasing it in layers of butter brushed phyllo dough.
I'd say six on the bottom and six on top. And I'd say it would be a lot easier to do this in a square or rectangular pan.

To be even fancier, you can make this into a jellyroll inside the phyllo. For that you will need 8 layers.

Whatever, it's going to be very tasty trash.