Colourful beet salad

 

These baby beets (and a couple of baby purple carrots) were boiled and then peeled (the skin comes off easily) and dressed with olive oil and salt, plus a sprinkle of fennel leaves. I added onion weed, borage and calendula petals to complete the salad. Very yummy, and pretty! 

Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©

Salsa verde with petals

I usually make this when I have some stale bread and lots of parsley. Also when I have some leftover vinegar from a pickle jar. Waste not waste not!!

Soak the bread with the vinegar (if you don't have vinegar from a pickle jar use white wine vinegar - do not use dark vinegar!). Add one hard boiled egg, a few capers, and all the parsley you can find (stalks good too!). Blend. Add more vinegar if too thick, and also a little extra virgin olive oil. Add salt to taste and blend until smooth. Add a few more capers (whole) and petals and stir. I used Friarielli flowers (cime di rapa), nasturtium and borage flowers here. Leave some on top for decoration.

In Italy salsa verde is usually served with boiled meat, but as I don't eat meat I like it with boiled eggs, and also with bread, or as a dip.

Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©

Two variations on Caprese Salad

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.

And now some pictures from my garden!

Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©

Wholemeal Penne with Borage, gorgonzola and walnuts - Penne integrali con borragine, gorgonzola e noci

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 ©

Vegan chocolate and coconut cream puddings with edible flowers

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 open the can of coconut cream and scoop out the cream top, leaving the water at the bottom of the can (this can be added to other dishes, like curry or rice. Whip the coconut cream with a drop of vanilla essence and the icing sugar. Top the chocolate puddings with the whipped coconut cream.

And now for the flower decorations: choose only organic flowers, here we have borage, rose petals, violets, diantus petals (small carnations), calendula petals (pot marigold). Wash the flowers and petals with water, I let mine soak for white a while and shake them gently to make sure that there are no insects (this is a Vegan dish after all!). A few flowers or petals will suffice, as they are only decorations, although to be eaten. Refrigerate again so that the coconut cream set, and then serve.

Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©

Cotolette di pane e borragine and my garden this Summer

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 ©

Parmesan and Borage fritters: four ingredients, gluten free!

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 and borage curry

'Caprese' with borage flowers

or you could put some borage in your fresh pasta

or use it to decorate your desserts

Also check out the blog Cooking with Flowers for more ideas and recipes using edible flowers.

What else is in the garden now? New potatoes! Yum!

And the first tomatoes, finally!

And to finish a couple of photos of flowers in Nan's garden in Christchurch!

Photos and recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©

"French" Caprese Salad? Cherry tomatoes, bocconcini and blue borage flowers

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 because this looks more like the French flag than the Italian one, I just called it "French" Caprese.  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 ©

Cauliflower and Borage Curry

This turned out to be a fantastic vegan curry, and quite innovative too: I have never seen a curry made with borage!!!

Yes, borage again! I have tons of it in the garden, you can eat the flowers, the stems and the leaves, but I limit myself to the smaller tender leaves. They are prickly, but that goes away with cooking.

The only thing to remember is to discard the pods with the seeds that have already formed (they are too hard), like the one in the photo below. Flowers and flower buds are soft, and can be cooked.

Sizzle one tsp of fenugreek seeds and one green chili with one tbsp of vegetable oil.

Add one small tsp each of turmeric, ground coriander, ground fennel and paprika, and also a good pinch of salt.

Add one onion, chopped, and sizzle for two minutes, and then add half cauliflower, cut into florettes. Coat the cauliflower well with the spices.

Add one can of coconut milk, and then one can of water (to rinse the coconut milk can). Cover and simmer for 5 minutes.

Add the borage, cover and simmer for 10 minutes.

Add one tsp of masala powder and simmer for other five minutes, or until all the vegetables are soft. At the end decorate with fresh borage flowers.

Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©