Avocados and dandelion roots in a roasted puree! To me, avocados seem like summer fare, all light and bright. But it's winter and I want food that's rich and complex. That's what's I got by combining avocados and dandelion roots in a roasted puree. And by grilling honey-glazed avocado slices, too. With a side of roasted beet and wild chickweed, this small plate turns avocado on its head, in a seasonal and culinary way -- and in a good way!
Public Service Announcement
This is a blatant pitch to check out my BLACKLUX Holiday Fund-raising Party posts that are coming out every day from now through New Year's Day. All the SBD from those posts is going to help @blacklux recover from Hurricanes Irma and Maria that devastated Puerto Rico. The holiday season is a time of gratitude and giving -- and it's amazing that Steemit and the Steem blockchain make it so easy for us to help our distant friends when they can use a hand. My party will have music, food, games, prizes, and more over the coming days -- so I hope to see you there!
Now, back to the regularly scheduled Steemit Iron Chef post! Avocados! :D
Getting My Ingredients Together
I had to go buy my avocados, but everything else I could rustle up here on the homestead. I dug some dandelion roots and found some tender chickweed leaves. I retrieved a garden beet from where I store them outdoors for the winter -- in a large tote filled with sand that I foraged from a clean river in the Siuslaw National Forest. And I still have honey left from the three beehives I kept a few years ago - those bees made a lot of honey, thank goodness!
- Large, tender dandelion roots can come from even scraggly-looking plants in the winter. The best roots are from areas where the soil is light and fluffy -- easy for the roots to grow and easy for me to dig them out!
- The wild chickweed is small this time of year, but there are protected spots where I can find some good-sized greens.
- I soak the dandelion roots in a couple changes of water to clean them up, before taking them into the kitchen to cut the roots off the plants I dug. I lightly use a carrot peeler to remove any hairs and the thin skin of the roots. Those lighter-colored roots are perfect for eating!
- Avocados and a garden beet. Avocados don't grow around here in Oregon!
- I put the dandelion roots, peeled avocados, and beets in a small roaster, in the oven at 400 degrees Fahrenheit. The dandelion roots cooked first, into a soft, mild-flavored, earthy mush. I pureed that with the roasted avocados when they got soft and cooked through. The beets took the longest to get tender and rich-flavored.
I grilled more avocado on a cast-iron grill pan, after lightly coating it with homestead honey. And then plated it all up!
Serving It Up!
Now this is a wintertime avocado plate! I like that it uses local ingredients, from my own yard - except for the avocados. I topped the balls of avocado-dandelion root puree with thin discs of roasted beets. That makes this a nice holiday treat that looks seasonal and tastes wonderful!
It seems like a weird combination of ingredients, but it's all really delicious! The puree is like richly flavored mashed potatoes, but with more complexity. The honey-glazed grilled avocado slices are so, so good. The honey carmelized and goes so well with the soft avocado.
What Do You Think?
- Have you ever eaten any dandelion roots?
- Do you forage for any wild food?
- Would you eat my wintertime avocado creations?
- Will you come to my BLACKLUX Holiday Fund-raising Party? I hope to see you there!
I eat a lot of wild plants and show you how, 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 wild places.
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 try to make content that's interesting! If you found this informative and helpful, please give it an upvote and a resteem.
Plant and Fungus List
- Avocado - Persea americana - fruit
- Chickweed - Stellaria media - tender leaves and stems
- Dandelion - Taraxicum officianale - roots
- Beets - Beta vulgaris - roots, preserved in damp sand
