Quarantine Episode 4: Quick Greek Pita and Spring Salad

Alevropita is a quick baked pie with feta, done in about 20 minutes, and marouli salata (lettuce salad) is a very simple, very springy complement. Together it makes a good light dinner or lunch that comes together in less than 45 minutes (if you’re not busy talking).

NOT-Shopping List

• Flour (wheat, but substitutions possible)
• Milk
• Egg
• Feta cheese (or whatever you might have)
• Butter (sheep or goat, if you can get it)
• Lettuce
• Fresh dill (or dried, or whatever herbs you have — just think green!)
• Green onions (or chives)
• Olive oil
• Lemon

Alevropita (Quick Greek Pita)

This is a popular snack in northern Epirus, the mountainous region of northwestern Greece. It’s very quick and easy, and it keeps (don’t refrigerate; just cover) for a couple of days. You can also add different toppings (although Greeks never do; it’s always feta), or experiment with different flours. Sourdough starter could sub for some of the liquid and flour.

The only tricky part is figuring out what to cook it in, as you want the batter to spread fairly thin. Probably the thinnest you can go, for this quantity, is two 9-inch skillets, or one large pan with the equivalent area, which is 123 square inches (about 820 square centimeters). Get out your measuring tape and your calculators (area of a circle = pi x radius squared, remember?). Greeks use round pans a lot, but I’ve seen it baked in big rectangular trays too.

For round pans, note that just a small change in diameter makes a relatively large change in area. A 9-inch skillet and an 8-inch skillet, for instance, gives you only 112 square inches. The resulting pitas wind up noticeably thicker and chewier and will take a bit longer to bake.

Serves 2-3
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup water
1 egg
1 cup flour
large pinch salt
3 oz. feta cheese
3-4 Tbsp butter (sheep or goat, ideally; cow is fine)

Preheat oven to 350 F.

Whisk together the liquid with the egg, then whisk in the flour and salt until the lumps are gone and you have a reasonably thick batter. (The whisk should briefly leave a trail.)

Crumble the feta (or whatever cheese or toppings you’re using) into a small bowl.

When the oven is warm, put your skillets or your large pan in the oven with the butter: 2 Tbsp in each skillet, or, if you’re using one large pan, you probably need only about 3 Tbsp.

When the skillets are hot and the butter is melted, pull them out and divide the batter between them. Scatter the feta or other toppings over.

Bake for at least 15 minutes (thicker pitas will take a bit longer), until the edges are crispy and brown and pulling away from the sides of the pan, and there are a few brown spots on the surface. Ideally, the bottom should be crispy enough that you can pick the whole thing out of the pan.

If you are baking a thicker pita (if you only have a relatively small pan/skillet), or you have used toppings that give off liquid, you may want to finish by browning the surface under the broiler.

Marouli Salata (Greek Spring Lettuce Salad)

Simple, green, but not dull. A real testament to how slicing things a specific way can make all the difference. If you only have dried dill, try soaking it in the lemon juice while you prep the rest of the salad, to rehydrate it a bit.

Serves 2-3 people
Half a head of freshest lettuce
Big handful fresh dill
2-3 green onions or chives
Olive oil
Half a lemon
Salt and pepper

Rinse and dry your lettuce, then stack the leaves and slice crosswise into ribbons, between 1/4 and 1/2 inch wide. (That’s it! That’s the trick.)

Chop your dill roughly (perfectly OK if some of the stems get in) and slice up your green onions (white and green parts both) and add to the lettuce. Drizzl