Borrajas Rebozadas Aragonesas

Borrajas rebozadas are Aragón's, especially the huerta around Zaragoza where borraja is treated like a proper winter vegetable, not a weed with pretty blue flowers. The stalks usually go into the pot with potatoes, but the tender leaves have their own small reward: flour, egg, oil, salt, and a few minutes in the pan until they crisp at the edges.

What makes this the Aragonese dish is the borraja itself. It has a clean, green, slightly mineral taste, a little like cucumber met a winter leaf. Don't bury it under a heavy batter. Wash the leaves well, dry them harder than you think you need to, and keep the batter thin enough that the green shows through after frying. That is the whole trick.

If you can't find borraja where you are, use young Swiss chard leaves, acelga, or tender beet greens. They won't have the same mineral bite, and they fry a little softer, but they are the honest substitute a Spanish kitchen would reach for before pretending spinach is the same thing. No hace falta haber pisado España. You do need good leaves and hot oil.

In the Margin beside this one I wrote only: "secan o fallan," they dry or they fail. It sounds severe, but it isn't. Nadie nace sabiendo. The first batch teaches your hand the oil, and the next one comes out right.