These days, when Alexandra Panousis takes her girls to cut weeds for dinner, she stays in the car, directing the action from the front seat of a new Jaguar. Not those, she tells her daughter, Elaine Panousis. You want the type with the yellow flowers. Get the ones with the thinnest stems and the finest leaves, she tells her granddaughter, Alexia Haidos. And when you clean them, bend the stems so they snap at the most tender part.It’s not that Alexandra is all that bossy; it’s just that she’s 97 years old. And although she still gets hungry for horta, it’s getting to be a little hard for her to hunt the hillsides and vacant lots of coastal Los Angeles the way she has for 75 years.”Horta” is Greek for “greens,” including the yellow-flowered wild mustards that light up Southern California in the spring. And Elaine and Alexia are happy to help Alexandra find them. For them, hunting for wild greens – and Greek cooking in general – is not only the way to eat well but also the way to renew family bonds and to keep alive a culture that could have been lost to assimilation.When it comes to cooking, Alexandra’s rules are simple but firm. “Use good stuff, good quality, and you’ll be a good cook,” she says. That includes buying the right cut of meat, and using fruits and vegetables in season (the epitome of which is using wild food such as the greens).Even more important: “Cooking takes time, and you have to be patient.” For her tourlou-tourlou, Greek-grandma cooking at its best, the vegetables bake at high heat for more than an hour. Tender-crisp it’s not, but it is certainly delicious.And most important: “You have to enjoy cooking. If you don’t enjoy cooking, I don’t care, you’re never going to be a good cook.”Those wild mustard greens, gathered in a small lot around the corner from the Panousis home, can be used in a variety of dishes. Blanched in boiling, salted water to soften their tough texture and take away some of their bitter edge, they might then be folded into an earthy white bean soup, wrapped up in crisp phyllo spanakopita, or added to richly flavored braised lamb.Or maybe, best of all, there’s the dish Greeks call horta (just as Southerners serve a dish called simply “greens”). It couldn’t be easier: Blanch the greens, drain them well and put them in a serving bowl. Heat a quarter-cup or so of olive oil in a saucepan until it’s really hot and then pour it, sizzling, over the greens. Season with salt, and that’s it. The way the fruity olive oil plays off the fresh, verdant taste of the greens is remarkable.Of course, to prepare any of those dishes, you really need wild mustard greens – spinach, frequently recommended as a substitute, isn’t close. And to gather wild mustard greens, you need an experienced guide, though perhaps not necessarily one as experienced as Alexandra Panousis.She grew up in Vasiliko, Greece, on the Peloponnesian peninsula, the youngest of 12 children born to a family of grape growers. She came to the United States in 1934 after marrying Jimmy Panousis on the heels of a two-week courtship. Her husband, his father and his brother owned a stand called Coney Island Hot Dogs in the San Pedro area of Los Angeles, and he had gone back to Greece to find a bride. The restaurant was a hot spot, and after World War II, Jimmy went into the real estate business, in which he was even more successful.Through it all, Alexandra raised three children, and cooked and cared for her extended family in the Greek tradition. One such tradition is the “peripato,” a Greek word meaning something like “jaunt” or “stroll.” In an American context, it might translate as “Sunday drive.” And it usually involved cutting wild greens.Elaine cringes when she remembers accompanying her mother and father on their peripato when she was a youngster in the 1950s. The whole family would pile into the Cadillac and head off hunting for weeds.As Alexia says, if someone ever records a “You Might Be Greek If …” comedy album, “having a knife in the trunk to cut greens” should definitely be included.”It’s like you’re living a double life. You’re living a Greek life, and you want to live your American life at the same time,” Elaine says. “I loved my family and loved my Greek heritage, but I’m certainly not going to say I wasn’t self-conscious. Stopping by the side of the road and going to pick greens, all I could think of was ‘Oh, my God, if somebody drives by and sees us!'”But you just grow out of it.”By the time Alexia was growing up in the 1960s and ’70s, that wasn’t as much of a problem. She says one of her favorite parts of family dinners is the postgame show, listening to her grandmother analyze everything that was served. Even at 97, Alexandra is acute in her food observations. She has a satellite dish that brings her Greek television stations, including a Greek version of the Food Network. And, her granddaughter laughs, Alexandra sometimes confides that she’s amazed the chefs somehow learned her cooking secrets.”Oh, my God, she’s a tough reviewer,” Elaine says. So tough, in fact, that Elaine says she didn’t really start cooking until she was 28, and then only from diet guru Adelle Davis. “I guess I lived on wheat germ and soy flour for years. It was like my mainstay.”It was only fairly recently that she began cooking Greek food. But when her mother had her first bout of illness five years ago, Elaine decided, “I’ve just got to do it and we just went through it.”One dish Elaine has mastered is a wonderfully subtle dessert called koliva, which in the Greek Orthodox tradition is served as a memorial to the departed. Made from wheat berries that have been boiled until tender and chewy, then mixed with chopped nuts and dried fruit, it is spiced with cinnamon and anise seeds and blanketed with ground graham crackers and powdered sugar. The final dish is a complex mix of earthy, nutty, spicy flavors delivered with a very delicate hand.

TOURLOU-TOURLOU (GREEK BAKED VEGETABLES)-Yield: 8-10 servings

5 medium artichokesJuice of 2 lemons1/2 cup olive oil2 onions, cut lengthwise into 1/2-inch slices4 cloves garlic, crushed5 plum tomatoes, peeled, seeded and chopped1 teaspoon salt, divided, or to taste1 pound green beans, ends trimmed1 cup water1 green bell pepper, diced2 Japanese eggplants, cut into 1/2-inch slices2 zucchini, cut into 1/2-inch slices2 potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch slices6 carrots, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch slices1 (16-ounce) package frozen lima beans1/4 cup chopped Italian parsley1/4 teaspoon pepperProcedure:1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Clean and trim artichokes: With sharp knife, peel outer stem of artichoke and trim stem, then peel tough, thick outer leaves until you reach tender leaves toward the center. Using kitchen shears, trim tips of leaves. Quarter artichokes lengthwise and, with spoon, scoop out fuzzy center and tough, pointed petals. Place trimmed artichokes in large bowl of cold water along with lemon juice; keep submerged until needed.2. In large pot, heat olive oil over medium heat, then add onions and garlic. Cook, stirring occasionally, until soft and fragrant, about 5 minutes. Add tomatoes and cook, stirring frequently, until they begin to break down, about 5 minutes. Season with 1/2 teaspoon salt or to taste. Add green beans and cook an additional 5 minutes, stirring frequently. Stir in the 1 cup water and bring to simmer.Spread green bean mixture evenly across bottom of large roasting pan. Add artichokes, bell pepper, eggplant, zucchini, potatoes, carrots, lima beans and parsley. Season with 3/4 teaspoon salt and the pepper.3. Bring mixture to simmer on top of stove and cook, without stirring, 5 minutes. Transfer pan to oven and bake until vegetables are tender and covered with glaze, with no remaining sauce in pan, 1 to 1 1/2 hours, gently stirring every 30 minutes. If there is still sauce in pan when vegetables are done, place pan on stove over medium-high heat to finish cooking.Source: Alexandra Panousis

KOLIVA (GREEK WHEAT BERRY DESSERT)-Yield: 6 servings

1 cup wheat berries1/2 cup toasted slivered almonds1/2 cup walnut pieces1/4 cup raisins1/4 cup dried cranberries1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon1/4 teaspoon anise seeds1 teaspoon toasted sesame seeds1/4 cup ground graham crackers (from about 1 1/2 whole)2 tablespoons powdered sugar1 1/2 cups lightly whipped, unsweetened heavy cream, or to tasteProcedure:1. Bring large pot of water to full boil and salt lightly. Add wheat berries, reduce heat to a fast simmer and cook until wheat berries are tender but still chewy, about 1 hour. Drain wheat berries, rinse under cold, running water to stop the cooking and drain again, shaking strainer to remove as much water as possible.2. Lay a kitchen towel in bottom of jellyroll pan and distribute wheat berries evenly across it. Lay another kitchen towel on top and set aside to let wheat berries dry thoroughly, at least 1 hour to overnight. (The dish can be prepared to this point up to 48 hours in advance; when wheat berries are dry, refrigerate them in a tightly sealed plastic bag.) Transfer wheat berries to mixing bowl.3. Pulse almonds and walnuts in food processor to small pieces and add to wheat berries. Pulse raisins and cranberries in food processor and add to wheat berries and nuts (if raisins and cranberries stick together, break clumps with your hands while stirring them into wheat berry mixture). Season with cinnamon, and anise and sesame seeds, and mix well.4. Transfer wheat berry mixture to serving bowl, arranging it in a shallow dome. Sprinkle graham cracker crumbs evenly over top of wheat berry mixture. Shake powdered sugar through strainer or sifter over the top to lightly cover mixture.Serve with whipped cream on the side.Source: Elaine Panousis

BAKED GIGANTES (OVEN-BAKED WHITE BEANS)-Yield: 6-8 servings

1 pound dried gigante beans or large lima beans2 teaspoons salt, divided1/4 cup olive oil6 cloves garlic, crushed1 onion, grated1 1/4 cups hot vegetable broth, plus more as needed1/2 cup chopped Italian parsleyPinch dried red pepper flakes2 large tomatoes, peeled, seeded and chopped2 tablespoons tomato paste1/8 teaspoon pepper, or to tasteLemon juiceProcedure:1. Soak beans. To cold-soak them, cover with plenty of cold water and let stand overnight. To hot-soak them, cover with plenty of boiling water and let stand 1 hour.2. Drain beans and place in large saucepan. Add cold water to cover, season with 1 teaspoon salt and bring to simmer. Continue to simmer until crisp-tender, 30 minutes-1 hour (timing can vary widely and will depend on type and age of beans), then drain beans.3. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine olive oil, garlic and onions in baking dish, and bake until onions soften and turn golden, about 15 minutes. Add beans to onion mixture, stirring to coat, and return to oven 15 additional minutes.4. Gently stir in hot broth, parsley, dried red pepper flakes, chopped tomatoes, tomato paste, remaining salt and the pepper, and bake until beans are tender and buttery, 20 minutes-1 hour, stirring every 20 minutes. If mixture begins to dry out before beans are tender, add a little more broth.5. Before serving, season to taste and add a squeeze of lemon juice.Source: Alexia Haidos

Elaine Panousis, left, and Alexia Haidos picked mustard greens on the Palos Verdes Peninsula in Southern California. Photo by LOS ANGELES TIMES

Family matriarch/head chef Alexandra Panousis directed the harvest from the car. Photo by LOS ANGELES TIMES

Tourlou-Tourlou Photo by LOS ANGELES TIMES