Only Recipes, by Alessandra Zecchini ©

Caprese with edible flowers and Caprese with tree tomatoes and two basils Caprese is probably one of the world best known salads (and antipasto), and there are many variations, so here a couple more: Caprese with edible flowers I used red and yellow cherry tomatoes, and mozzarelline (the cherry size), plus added some edible flowers (borage and dianthus from my garden, organic of course). Add small basil leaves too before serving, if you like. Suitable also for a cocktail party, and ever so pretty! Caprese with tree tomatoes and two basils I used a mixture of vine tomatoes, cherry tomatoes and semi-dried tomatoes, mozzarelline (but you can use regular mozzarella cut into slices or pieces) and green basil and purple basil leaves. Dress with olive oil and salt. A filling salad or light lunch. Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini  ©

Borage is a great plant, you can eat the flowers, stems and leaves, but I prefer to stick just to the top 10 cm of the plant, when the leaves are soft. Don't worry if they are prickly: this goes away with cooking. For this dish: Pick the fresh tips of borage flowers, with a few flowers and buds, plus tender leaves (but before they have seeds, these are quite hard!). Wash well, keep some flowers aside and then through the rest in a pot with a tbsp of butter. Sizzle, then add a little water and salt, cover and simmer until the greens are tender. In the meantime cook the wholemeal penne  al dente . When the borage tips are cooked add a few walnut kernels and then a slice of gorgonzola or other blue cheese. Stir and melt the cheese, adding a little water from the cooking pasta from time to time to make a creamy sauce. Drain the pasta and toss in the sauce, decorate with borage flowers and serve. Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini  ©

Here is an idea, just for variety, instead of rolling all the norimaki with seaweed leave some without and then stick on some flower petals (find out here what flowers you can eat  here ) I used impatiens here, not many people know that you can eat them, they taste a little like rocket salad. And if rolling the sushi in petals is too hard you can always put the flowers on the top. Below vegan norimaki with fresh borage flowers and salted sakura (cherry blossoms).  Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini  ©

1 can coconut cream 1 l oragnic soy milk (I use  Vitasoy , either Original, Milky or Calci Plus) 4 tbsp raw sugar 2 heap tbsp cocoa (the better the cocoa the better the flavour, so don't go for cheap baking cocoa, but for 'hot chocolate' quality) 2 tbsp cornflour Natural Vanilla essence  1 tbsp icing sugar Edible flowers to decorate Place the can of coconut cream in the fridge (possibly one day ahead). Dissolve the dried ingredients with a little soy milk to make a paste, then add the rest of the milk and mix well. Put on the stove on low and, always stirring, bring to simmering point. Make sure that you stir well, especially around the borders and bottom of the pot, so that the pudding has a smooth consistency. As soon as it start thickening turn the element off, add the vanilla essence (if using) and keep stirring until it has cooled down a bit. Divide into 8 dessert ramekins or small bowls and refrigerate. When the pudding is set o...

I made a dinner for 4 for the garden: fried zucchini flowers ( recipe here ),  borage bread cutlets ( recipe here) , fried sage (just fried the sage leaves  with the leftover oil from the zucchini and borage fritters), fresh salad leaves,  boiled new potatoes and carrots with herbs sauce  (just mixed feta with basil and parsley). It was delicious,  and such a satisfaction to grown my own dinner!                                                                                                               And now, And And now some photos from the Waitakere Ranges, where I live,  and of a New Zealand native bird, the tui, eating nectar from flax flowers. ...

The best crop in my garden is borage because snails, rats, possums and caterpillars don't eat it! So here is yet another borage recipe!  Pick the top of the plant with flowers and tender leaves (make sure the flowers have no seeds yet). Wash well. Grate some old bread (must be really hard and dry) to make breadcrumbs. Or use ready made breadcrumbs. Make a batter with eggs, salt and pepper and breadcrumbs, the ratio being approximately one egg for one tbsp of breadcrumbs, use s much as you need depending on how many flowers you are cooking. Coat the borage in the batter and pan fry in hot olive oil, turing on both sides, until golden. Place on kitchen paper to drain excess oil. Sprinkle with salt and serve. And now a few photos from my garden: Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini  ©

My kids go crazy for these! Only three ingredients Ingredients: edible flowers  (I used zucchini flowers and borage flowers - but any edible flower will do) tempura flour oil for frying Clean and wash the flowers. Mix the tempura flour with cold water to make a batter, then add the flowers. Spoon into hot oil and pan fry on both sides until the fritters are golden. Serve hot. Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini  ©

Borage flowers are perfect for fritters, and for many other recipes, but I mostly use them for fritters because everyone loves them. Ingredients: Borage flowers and young leaves (or other edible flowers) 3 free range eggs 1 tbsp parmesan cheese Olive oil for frying.  Pick the top of the plant as soon as it flowers, about 10 cm of stem with a few young leaves too. Don't wait until the flowers make seeds, these are too hard to eat!!! Rinse the stems well and several times and drip dry them. You can also use zucchini flowers for this, I had just a three in the garden and in they went into a batter made by whisking three eggs with a tbsp of parmesan cheese. Fry with extra virgin olive oil turning once until golden and crispy, and serve hot (but even cold leftovers are great to put into a sandwich, if you manage to save some, that is!). Would you like more recipes for borage flowers? Try these:  Borage fritters (without parmesan cheese) Cauliflower an...

 This one is a smoothie and the kids made it: melon, natural apple juice, banana and apricot, decorated with borage flowers (edible). Photos and recipes by Alessandra Zecchini  ©

 First I started with a simple paste made with a small piece of ginger (peeled), one shallot (also peeled), fresh coriander (with stalks), green chili (not too much for me, maybe one or two), and fresh lemon grass (one stick). If you have kaffir lime leaves or rind, the are good too, apparently, but I didn't have any so I added a little lemon juice. Mush with a mortar and pestle or with a blender (I used the blender, too hot for the mortar and pestle!) adding salt towards the end.  Now, the only thing in the paste that came from the garden was coriander, and frozen (from last year) as this year my plant died! I also have lots of frozen chills to use, and a little plant that don't even have flowers yet!  The veggies: 1 carrot, 2 yellow zucchini, a few tomatoes, a few broccolini, borage tips, green capsicum, Thai mint, basil, onion weed flowers  and borage flowers to decorate. then: organic tofu and coconut cream. I cut the tofu and placed it in a ...

This salad doesn't require much explanation: I have mixed salad leaves (lots of mizuna this year) and an variety of flowers. Did you know that you can eat impatient (busy lizzy) flowers too? They taste a bit like rocket, the best for me are the red ones, but the pink ones are so pretty! Mix and dress with extra virgin olive oil, lemon juice and salt.   Photos and recipes by Alessandra Zecchini  ©

You will need some ready made sweet Crêpes (about 9) and whip about 100 g of unsalted butter with one heap tbsp of icing sugar and a good dose of Cointreau (to taste!). Spread the butter cream on the Crêpes and top it with edible flowers from the garden (you can do this if the flowers in your garden have not been sprayed). I added a few Alpine strawberries (also from the garden) but any berry would work here, or some orange slices too, and  voilà! An instant cake that looks great, taste really good and takes no time!  Photos and recipes by Alessandra Zecchini  ©

I can never get tired of Caprese, the classic tomato, mozzarella and fresh basil salad that represent Italy both in taste and in colour. But just for once, and just for a change, when I picked my cherry tomatoes from the garden I also got a few borage flowers and thought that they may look pretty (and yes, just in case you ask, they are edible), and pretty they did look too!  And I guess it could be a good salad for the 4th of July too if you are in the US. What do you think? Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini  ©

In my mind  Pâté is something made with leftovers: mince finely and add fat,  and  voilà le  Pâté! But leftovers in this household are very scarce indeed, so I needed to create some! Obviously my p âté has a vegetable base, Kazuyo gave me some runner beans, and I had some green beans myself, so I cooked them with carrot, onion and celery, and water and salt. That was going to be blended into a creamy soup, but I could use some veggies first.  Then in a saucepan I cooked a couple of zucchini with a green and a red capsicum, garlic, salt and olive oil. This ended up on top of a place of potato gnocchi (after keeping a couple of spoons for the p âté). Ok, so these weren't exactly leftovers, I worked in reverse, the main meals were the leftovers from my p âté!   How much to use? Well, a bit of all of the vegetables (without the stock) to fill a 500ml jag, to start with. Then I blended the veggies.  ...