Home of edible weed walks in Melbourne, and the publication:
The Weed Forager's Handbook: A Guide to Edible and Medicinal Weeds in Australia

Tag: mallow

a cooked flakey pastry pie

Hortopita (Weedy Spanakopita)

11 May 2021 /

Makes 8 small slices

About 10 cups chopped fresh weeds such as dandelion, fat hen, mallow, nettle and sow thistle
1 cup of oxalis leaves if they are in season. If not, use French sorrel or add a squeeze of lemon juice to the greens while they are cooking.
1 cup finely sliced leek
¾ cup finely chopped angle onion if it is in season. If not, use spring onion.
2-3 tablespoons finely chopped fennel
2-3 tablespoons finely chopped mint
120 grams crumbled Greek feta
1 egg
Salt and pepper
½ cup extra-virgin olive oil
6 sheets of filo pastry
1-2 teaspoons sesame seeds or poppy seeds

1. Preheat oven to 180° C.
2. Wash and chop all the greens and dry them well.
3. Heat one or two teaspoons of the oil in a big pot on low heat. Add the greens and stir until wilted and any liquid has evaporated. Place them in a colander to drain and cool.
4. Cook the leeks in the pan with a drizzle of oil until they are soft.
5. Squeeze the liquids out of the greens with your hands (you can keep these to use as stock if you like). Put the greens in a large bowl, and add in the cooked leeks.
6. In a small bowl beat the egg. Then add the crumbled feta and a sprinkle of salt and pepper. Add to the greens and mix well.
7. Brush a baking dish that’s about 20cm x 20cm with olive oil.
8. Unfold a sheet of filo pastry and cut it in half. Place it in the baking dish. You’ll need to scrunch it a bit to make it fit – which is a good thing because it gives the layers their crunchy texture. Keep adding sheets of pastry, brushing oil onto each sheet as you go. Stop when you have six sheets.
9. Empty the greens mixture into the baking dish, and spread it evenly over the pastry.
10. Cover the greens with 6 more layers of filo pastry using the same technique as before. After placing the last pastry sheet, brush it with oil, and sprinkle it with a little bit of water and the sesame or poppy seeds
11. Using a knife, cut partly into the top filo layers to mark out eight pieces. Don’t cut all the way through!
12. Bake in the bottom half of the oven for about 35 minutes. Then move it to the floor of the oven for another 10 minutes to get the crust really crunchy.

The Greek word for spinach is spanaki (σπανάκι) and hortopita’s more famous cousin spanakopita simply means ‘spinach pie’. The Greek for mixed (usually wild) greens is horta (χόρτα) and so hortopita just means ‘wild weeds pie’.

This recipe is for a small pie. If you want leftovers, double the quantities and use a dish of about 30cm x 50cm, as this will fit a whole sheet of filo pastry. The flavours of the wild greens are fabulously strong in this recipe, but you can find a milder, more kid-friendly version in our upcoming kids’ foraging book (along with lots of other weedy recipes for kids to try).

Pumpkin Mallow Curry

7 Jun 2020 /

Serves 6-8

2 tablespoons coconut oil
1 large onion
4 cloves garlic
2 teaspoons of cumin
2 teaspoons of turmeric
2 teaspoons of coriander seeds
1 teaspoon garam masala
½ teaspoon of cayenne pepper
2 teaspoons of salt
1 cup red lentils
1 litre of stock (or 1 tablespoon of stock powder plus water)
About 600 grams of pumpkin
4 cups of firmly-compressed mallow leaves
an egg-sized piece of fresh ginger
2/3 cup of coconut cream.

mallow leaf

1.     Chop the onion and garlic. Melt the coconut oil in a large, heavy-based saucepan and fry the onion, garlic and spices.
2.     Chop your pumpkin into 3cm chunks. Wash the mallow leaves, then chop roughly. Add both to the pot along with the lentils, stock and salt. Cover and simmer until the mallow, pumpkin and lentils are all tender.
3.     Stir in the finely chopped ginger, plus the coconut cream, and simmer, uncovered, for a further 5 minutes. Serve with pickle, a dollop of yoghurt and naan bread, or on basmati rice.

mallow soup

Mallow, coriander, and garlic soup

2 Aug 2019 /

Serves 4 as a starter

2 large onions
3 cups of firmly-compressed mallow leaves
2 cups gently-compressed coriander leaves
2 cups chicken or vegetable stock
3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
3 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil, plus 2 for sautéing the onions
3 cloves of crushed garlic
salt to taste – probably about 2 teaspoons
pepper
sourdough bread – stale is best

  1. Sauté the onions until tender in large saucepan.
  2. Wash the mallow leaves, then chop roughly. Add to the pot along with the stock and salt. Simmer until the mallow is very tender.
  3. Remove from the heat and stir through the chopped coriander. Allow to cool a little then puree until smooth* – ideally let the soup rest until the next day at this point.
  4. Mix together the lemon juice, garlic, and olive oil. Spoon a quarter of this mixture into each bowl immediately before serving, and then add the hot or cold soup. Top with torn chunks of stale toasted good sourdough, lots of cracked black pepper, and drizzle with more olive oil.

Variations: Don’t puree, but instead leave this as a chunky soup – you could add quartered small potatoes at the same stage as you add the mallow leaves. No coriander? Replace with more mallow, and then add toasted cumin seeds right before serving to add that extra flavor dimension.

— Up ↑