Saturday, April 24, 2010

lavender


So my mom was saying how she just bought some lavender plants to put in her herb garden, and i was telling her how you can cook with lavender. So i've been researching some recipes using lavender.

Let me first go over some of the rules of cooking with lavender :

1.Do not eat flowers from florists, nurseries, or garden centers. In many cases these flowers have been treated with pesticides not labeled for food crops. Please Make Sure your lavender is safe for consumption!!!!!!!!!!!!

2. Adding too much lavender can be detrimental to your dish. It will taste like your eating perfume. Because lavender has such a strong taste, a little goes a very long way.



Okay so cooking with lavender, well most recipes i've seen use dries lavender. However i have read about using fresh lavender flowers (again still make sure it is culinary grade lavender) on things, but more so as an edible garnish. Some places to purchase lavender are Whole Foods, most specialty gourmet stores, or of course online. Click here for a website you can purchase lavender.


okay now for some recipes using lavender, now remember i haven't been able to test any of these so i can't personally guarantee that there an good. I did however only choose recipes that had good reviews/and or sounded like there shouldn't be a problem.

So the first is for lavender madeleines, I'm personally a huge fan of madeleines.
Madeleines are a traditional small french sponge cake, that are in the shape of a shell. Here is a photo of some madeleines still on their pan:


I got this recipe from here

Lavender madeleines
5 tablespoons (70g) unsalted butter
1 tablespoon dried edible lavender
¾ cup (105g) flour
½ teaspoon baking powder
pinch of salt
1/3 cup (67g) sugar
grated zest of half a lemon
2 large eggs
2 tablespoons honey
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Melt the butter with the lavender and let sit for 10 minutes to infuse. Strain but keep half of the lavender in with butter, or discard the whole amount.
Sieve together the flour, baking powder and salt.
Working with a stand mixer, beat the eggs, sugar and lemon zest until pale and thick, about 3 minutes. Add the honey and vanilla and beat for one minute more. Switch to a rubber spatula and incorporate the dry ingredients. Fold in the butter. Refrigerate the batter at least 2 hours or up to 3 days (it helps with the bumps characteristic of the madeleines).

Preheat oven at 200ºC/400ºF.
Butter and flour your madeleines molds and divide the batter evenly.
Bake for 12-14 minutes until they are golden brown.


Another recipe i found using lavender is for an apple and lavender tart tatin from saveur magazine. I love tart tatin so this sounds pretty delicious.

Apple Lavender Tart-Tatin
12 tbsp Butter
1/2 cup dried edible lavender buds
8 firm apples, such as golden delicious or northern spy; peeled, cored, and halved
1/2 cup sugar
1 10" circle frozen puff pastry, thawed but chilled

1.) Melt butter in a small pot over medium heat. Remove pot from heat and add the lavender, then set aside to infuse for 30 minutes. Warm the butter again and strain through a fine sieve (a fine mesh tea strainer works well). Press the lavender with the back of a spoon to extract as much as possible. Discard the buds, and set aside the infused butter.

2.) Arrange 14 of the apple halves around the sides of a 9" cast iron skillet, all facing the same way, nesting them as tightly together as possible. Then arrange the remaining halves in the center of the skillet. All the apples should have the rounded side down. Brush evenly with the lavender butter and sprinkle all over with sugar. Cook over a medium-low heat without stirring, (i have found its helpful to cover pan with aluminum foil with holes poked in it.) until apples are a deep brown on the bottom and softened about halfway up. This should take about a half hour. Then let apples cool in pan about 30 minutes.

3.) Meanwhile heat your oven to 425 degrees F. Prick the puff pastry all over with a fork, then lay over top the apples in the pan, and try to tuck the edges down in around the apples. Bake until golden brown, about 15 minutes. Let rest for 5 min. Then run knife around the edge, Find a large plate, then invert the tart onto the plate. May be served with vanilla ice cream.

tarte Tatin de Manzanas.jpg



So i hope everyone will now go and make one of these recipes, or make up your own recipe using lavender!!

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