Paula Wolfert is one of a kind. She is as gentle and sharing as her books are interesting and thorough, and we love her intensity, focus and best of all, her sense of humor. She is a pioneer; she was among the first cookbook authors to travel to many of the places whose cuisines she studied, wrote eloquently about, and helped make popular. She learned her craft in the kitchens and homes of Morocco, southwest France and Turkey, and then came home to figure out how Americans could approximate the tastes of those very local cuisines in the United States. This took years of research and testing, and it is one reason her cookbooks and writings have been such a powerful influence on America’s leading food professionals. This is Paula’s favorite recipe for greens, adapted from her book Mediterranean Grains and Greens. This recipe makes us recall fondly her trips with Oldways to Turkey, Greece and southern Italy where she relentlessly pursued horta, or greens, and older ladies who would show her their “old ways” of cooking them.
1 ¾ cups dried black-eyed peas
2 ½ packed cups mixed tender leafy greens (three or four of these sweet greens-beet greens, baby spinach, Swiss chard, miner’s lettuce, pea shoots, mache, orache, nettles, lamb’s quarters, and green amaranth-with a sprig of cilantro added for fragrance)
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
¾ cup chopped onion
3 scallions, white and tender green parts, finely chopped
1 cup diced fennel bulb
1 sprig fresh cilantro, stemmed and coarsely chopped
1 cup grated tomatoes
Pinch of fennel seeds, bruised in a mortar
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Water (optional)
Paula Wolfert from “The Oldways Table”
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