It's Saint Patrick's Day, a holiday that will be celebrated in many cities around the world where there's a considerable number of Irish. In Belgrade there's an Irish Pub, and I've heard they've planned festivities for the beer-drinking crowd, though few Serbs know who Saint Patrick was. Spring still hasn't shown us much green, so I decided to go out and buy myself some. Pictured above are two kinds of greens I like a lot. The long, thin ones are called zelje (ZELL-yeh) and are often used to wrap around seasoned meat and rice, then covered with a broth and baked. Serve with thick yogurt! The smaller leaves will actually grow much larger (not these; I ate them), and are usually cooked/steamed and served with sour cream and garlic. They're called blitve (BLEET-veh). I think they're called collards in English, and I honestly don't know what zelje are. I've Googled, but nothing looks quite right. Help?Tuesday, March 17, 2009
The Munching of the Green!
It's Saint Patrick's Day, a holiday that will be celebrated in many cities around the world where there's a considerable number of Irish. In Belgrade there's an Irish Pub, and I've heard they've planned festivities for the beer-drinking crowd, though few Serbs know who Saint Patrick was. Spring still hasn't shown us much green, so I decided to go out and buy myself some. Pictured above are two kinds of greens I like a lot. The long, thin ones are called zelje (ZELL-yeh) and are often used to wrap around seasoned meat and rice, then covered with a broth and baked. Serve with thick yogurt! The smaller leaves will actually grow much larger (not these; I ate them), and are usually cooked/steamed and served with sour cream and garlic. They're called blitve (BLEET-veh). I think they're called collards in English, and I honestly don't know what zelje are. I've Googled, but nothing looks quite right. Help?
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14 comments:
Great post! I'll have to remember your technique but take it a step further: I'd show you a photo of these delicious cookies, but I ate them! :) Thanks for the laugh! (Plus, very nice arrangement of greens on a chair--good color contrast, lines, everything!)
So, since Saint Patrick isn't known, does that mean no corned beef and cabbage? Poor you! I'll have an extra piece for you, OK?!?
Great post!
Love your greens post on any day, Bibi! I thought those might be collards in the back. Both those dishes sound wonderful and either one, seems to me, would be great with a pint on St. Paddy's Day.
I think "zelje" is plural of "zelen" which means green. Also, when you change accent, zelen might be used as plural too. Maybe not gramaticaly correct... I know because, on market, you can buy Zelen too. So, zelje is greens :)
Hi, Obelix! I know 'zelen' is green and we do have greens in the US, but I think/thought there's a more specific name, but for the moment, it's greens!
Did I tell you that I've been everything with yogurt lately because of your blog? You recommended cabbage rolls with yogurt and I just loved it!
an excellent photo for st pats day, and i do love my veggies.
I've never seen these greens before. We used to call regular cabbage zelje. But then again, I thought milka was the word for washing machine, only to find out it was the name of the lady who came to do the washing.
Oh, I am wearing gray from head to toe, so totally forgot it was St. Patricks Day. Please forgive me!
Quel joli rendu pour ce légume vert Bibi! Plus vrai que du vrai...
Great idea for St. Patrick's Day, Bibi. I love all leaves like this, some more bitter than others. We have blette in France which is doubtless what you call blitve (I've heard it called collards and also sugar beet so am not sure which is correct). I suppose all are related to spinach and doubtless all are good for us!
Goodness, what good looking greens. In Montenegro the leaf that they called blitva was swiss chard and it looks like from your photo that it is probably the same thing. It's so good with potatoes, garlic, a little lemon and some grilled fish... yum.
Happy Saint Pats ... We ate collards just last night. However, I could not identify the plant. I do know that they have a very distinct smell which some would call unpleasant. But the taste is great.
These greens look tender with delicious possibilities!
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