Cooking with Flowers — Painted Table

My mom took Lila to the plant store then dropped her off with a flat of pansies. I almost let them die, but on a sunny-ish afternoon I saw their bowing red and yellow heads and took pity on them. Lila and I dug up dead pot plants, planted the pansies and scrubbed BBQ soot and dead leaves from the deck. In a few hours we had a nice spot to sit and enjoy the sun. Some pansies needed deadheading and I wanted to use the flowers to decorate a dessert. I never got around to it, but I started thinking about cooking and baking with flowers. I love lavender ice cream and rose tea, but what other flowers can you eat?

On a rainy-day visit to the library I browsed the cookbooks after reading Where’s Spot? repeatedly to my 18 month old, Adam. I picked up Cooking with Flowers and liked its unambiguous title. I signed it out (along with Spot) and pushed Adam home in a downpour.

The book has beautiful photography and is sectioned by flower type so you can find something to make with flowers you have. I decided to host a ladies’ lunch in my mom’s garden and try a few recipes. The orchid beef salad and a tulip martini looked promising. My excitement wilted when I read you can’t eat commercial flowers because they are sprayed with fungicide. Organic orchids sounded pricey and my mom (selfishly) wouldn’t let me crush her tulips into vodka. That left me with the pansies in my planter and dandelions. Admittedly less elegant, I decided on dandelion muffins and pansy tea sandwiches which looked pretty. I would make my own cocktail using rose water. Not dirt to mouth (or whatever you call it) but sometimes you need to make things easy.

Dandelion collection provided an afternoon activity for the kids … twice. I let the first batch die. They loved it and my friend was happy to have us weed her lawn. The petals added a splash of sunshine to the muffin batter. Unfortunately, the muffins themselves were tough and tasteless. I wasn’t off to a good start. With one dud on the menu I decided to add a spring salad. I found a small container of edible flowers at Whole Foods for about $4 and plucked the blue blooms that were covering my mom’s rosemary bush for the salad.

I made a cocktail from gin, muddled cucumber and rose water and it tasted like spring. Oddly, I was the only person eager to drink a cup of gin at 1pm. I sampled the the pansy petals and edible flowers as I assembled the food and was disappointed to find them bland. The rosemary flowers were slightly sweet and herbaceous and the best of the bunch. All the flowers, however, beautifully dressed up the food. The pansy tea sandwiches were dainty and the salad was vibrant with colour. Everything tasted as good as it looked and with generous slabs of butter, everyone choked back a couple dandelion muffins.

Perhaps I was seeing things through rose-tinted martini glasses, but it was the prettiest lunch I’ve ever tasted.

The best of lunch ….

Cucumber rose martini
* I like a classic gin martini (AKA strong). This is lighter but not by much so not for the faint of heart.

2.5 oz gin, chilled
1/4 oz rose water
1/4 oz simple syrup
1.5 inch piece of cucumber, chopped

Place all ingredients in a martini shaker with a handful of ice. Shake or stir and strain into martini glass. Garnish with rose petal and cucumber slice.

Flower spring salad

1/2 head red leaf lettuce
1 cup arugula
1 cup pea shoots
half of one papaya, sliced or scooped into small pieces
1/3 cup rosemary flowers
1 package edible flowers
8 radishes sliced and pickled

For pickling liquid:

1/3 cup whit wine vinegar
3 tbsp water
1 tbsp salt
1.5 tbsp sugar
2 tbsp chopped mint

For dressing:

1/2 cup olive oil
1/4 cup white wine vinegar
1.5 tsp dijon mustard
2 tbsp chopped mint

Put radishes in pickling liquid. Cover and put in fridge for at least 6 hours. Place all salad ingredients into a large salad bowl with the flowers on top. Whisk together dressing and drizzle over top. Salt to taste and serve.