Steemit Iron Chef 2017 #3 : Grilled Beets Wild Style - with Spruce Tree Balsamic Vinegar, Mallow "Cheesewheels", and Strong GreenssteemCreated with Sketch.

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This is such a simple dish, but so delicious! And there's wild plants here, too!


The Ingredients

Of course, beets are the center of attention for this small dish. What makes them taste so special is slow-grilling them with a home-made balsamic vinegar made from young spruce tree needles, honey, and apple cider vinegar. You can see how I make this great faux balsamic in this YouTube video.

I'll lay those grilled beets on a bed of chopped greens that have distinctive and strong flavors - arugula, spearmint, and Italian flat parsley. Then I'll top the beets with the green seedpods of a common weed -- Common Mallow, Malva neglecta. Mallows are related to hollyhocks and hibiscus.

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Lutz Beets are such a great beet that keeps well all through the winter. Mallow weeds are also known as Cheeseweed because of their little round seedpods that look like little wheels of cheese.

I use mallow greens often, like in this Wild Extravaganza Homestead Salad. But this time of year, these Common Mallow weeds in my yard have set on lots and lots of pods full of seeds. I was glad that the Steemit Iron Chef contest gave me a good reason to harvest these little green pods before they drop their seeds for next year's weed problems!

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On the left, it's easy to see the little round seedpods. I'm after the still immature green ones. I just pull them off their stems and boil them a couple minutes. They turn a bright green and have a little nutty flavor.


Grilled Beets

I peeled the beets and cut them about 1/2 inch thick. I grilled them on a low heat, on a cast iron grill pan, with a little olive oil and the spruce tree balsamic vinegar. Those beets get so tender and are good enough to eat plain, just like that! But with the greens and mallow "cheesewheels", topped with salt and pepper, they are divine! It's a wonderful small salad that goes great with a small beer!

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What Do You Think?

  • Do you like grilled beets?
  • Have you ever eaten the seedpods of Mallow weeds?
  • Do you recognize any Mallow plants near you?
  • Would you eat my grilled beet salad?

I eat a lot of wild plants and show you how, too. Because I believe that we can all have lives that are richer, more secure, more grounded, and more interesting by getting to know the plants and the land around us – in our yards, our parks, and our wilderness.

I would like Steemit to be the premier site for Foraging on the Internet! If you have any thoughts about foraging, or experiences to share, write a post and be sure to use the Foraging tag. And check out the @foraging-trail to see curated quality posts about foraging. Happy Foraging!

Thanks @progressivechef for creating the Steemit Iron Chef contest series. I haven't been able to be on Steemit much lately, but I can't miss the contest series! It's a great incentive! ;D


Plant List

Common Mallow - Malva neglacta
Spearmint - Mentha spicata
Wild arugula - Diplotaxis tenuifolia
Italian Flat-leaf parsley - Petroselinum crispum
Lutz beets - Beta vulgaris


Haphazard Homestead
foraging, gardening, nature, simple living close to the land

All content is 100% Haphazard Homestead!
My YouTube channel: Haphazard Homestead

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Great looking dish! It's awesome that you utilize food straight from your yard

Thanks! I enjoy eating from my yard. It's more fun than going to the grocery store, that's for sure! And I have plenty of weeds, lol. I'm glad some of them are really good to eat!

That’s awesome I need to learn more about what weeds I can eat in my yard haha

I bet you have some good ones -- most people do, if they don't spray weedkiller around.

Upvoted, particularly since you've given a list of the entire plant species used in your dish!

Thanks! I figure it's important to identify the wild plants by their scientific name so people can know what they are, no matter what the local name might be. And then I just include the garden plants, too, because it's neat how many different species of plants we can have in our gardens.

You're such a cool forager! =)

I would certainly eat your grilled beet salad..I want to taste the explosive combo of arugula, spearmint, and Italian flat parsley! Was looking out for the cheese, but then finally read that it's just the name of the seeds lol

Thanks, @foodie.warrior! I like your term of "explosive combo" because that fits perfectly! It's funny how some plants get strange names, like mallow being called cheeseweed just because of the shape of its seedpods. When I forage and eat wild plants, it helps me appreciate their details more. I really look at those little seedpods with a different eye when they are on my plate!

Thanks for educating me and everyone else @haphazard-hstead! It's always a pleasure learning new stuff from you!

I love ❤️ the simplicity of your dish. It doesn't need any more. It's just perfect!

You're welcome -- and I'm glad you appreciate the weeds and simple cooking! Any of the mallows are such good plants to know. And that spruce tree balsamic vinegar is a staple around here, lol. It's great for grilling fruit, too!

Yes, I do appreciate the weeds and simple cooking. And I love learning new things even more!

Looking forward to hearing more from you about foraging, among others. Was hoping to look for fiddleheads earlier this year but it didn't materialize unfortunately.

I watched your spruce tip balsamic vinegar video including the technical difficulty you had ;). Great informative video!

haha -- I hope you heed the warning and don't have your own cider vinegar technical difficulty, lol. I'll have to post about my fortunate fiddlehead meal this spring, from a quick business trip to Minnesota. It's good you know fiddleheads - they are so tasty!

Here
we only eats beets boiled, or in fermented, but beets grilled we never eats but i would try because here in El Salvador people bought beets only cooked, you are wake up my curiosity about its, thank you so much
Best regard.

Hi @galberto! Good to hear from you! I've never had fermented beets. You wake up my curiosity about that! So thank you, too! I have a lot of beets, so I could ferment some of them.

Ohh thanks for comment yes it is very interesting the fermented
beets with vinegar of pineaple or apple or balsamic.
Remember you here in El Salvador our tipic food is pupusas with curtido and tomatoes sausage, well the curtido is basic cabbage fermented in vinegar during around 2 or tree days, first boiled a cabbage during a short time and them you fermented it, and put Origanum vulgare for do not have problem with your stomach, and it is the same with the beets, first boiled and them fermented it, it is nice to you have a lot of beets, i have the first part of hugelkulture and in this garden of high bed i planned grow up some plants more, maybe i would try with beets.
Thanks you so much, we continued here enjoy great content.
Best regard.

Spruce tree vinegar and slow grilled beets! That would be amazing by itself. But then adding the strong greens and the nutty mallow seedpods. This is a salad that I would really enjoy. I do like grilled beets and I would definitely like to try your salad. I have never had mallow seedpods and I do not recognize any mallow plants near me. But now I will look for them. Great post.

Thanks for the kind words, @chefsteve. What part of the world are you in? Mallows of one kind or another are most places. And that spruce tree balsamic vinegar is worth making, if you have any spruce trees in your region. I use it a lot!

I am mostly on the East Coast in New Jersey. But I also spend time in PA and CO. I will look for Mallows in my area. I will definitely make the spruce balsamic. I have spruce trees and in the spring I take the tips and make a spruce seltzer, that is very refreshing.

The wonderful forager is back again to make us discover some wonderful wild products!
How I wish you come to Mauritius one day and we can enjoy some time foraging some herbs/plants here!
That slow cooked beetroot with the homemade vinegar looks so yummy! I wish I could have a taste of the mallow cheesewheels!
Thanks again for supporting the contest my friend!

The rules in your contest are pretty easy to manage. And you've set it up so we have incentives over the long haul.

It would be so cool to learn the wild foods of Mauritius! I bet we have some common weeds that have travelled around the world. And then others, like some of the berries you showed in some other posts, can be related to ones in other places. But then there are surely the plants that are unique -- I wouldn't have a clue! That would be so fun to know them -- especially with you cooking! :D

Beautiful dish! :)

p.s. : I think it's too green for me.....as you know, I'm not a vegetables lover! ;)

Thanks for appreciating my grilled beets, even though you wouldn't eat them, lol. You many not be a vegetables lover, but you do like corn! :D And you are a fruit lover, too. That counts for a lot! :D

With my pleasure! Yes, you're right! I'm a corn and fruit lover! I much appreciate if this can counts for a lot, as you said! ;))

It is realy healthy...

and it tastes good, too! And it helped me get weeds out of my yard! So win-win-win! :D

looks so beautiful

Thanks! Beets have such a nice, deep color. And those greens, too!

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