Nasturtiums on a bed of mixed greens. Photo courtesy of Farmhouse Flowers.
As spring unfolds in bursts of peonies, day lilies, and other nascent flowers, the sweet perfume and bright colors of seasonal flora entice the senses. While it is common to appreciate the sight and smell of the warmer season’s blossoms, many will also be indulging in floral tastes. Food enthusiasts, florists, and chefs alike will be incorporating edible flowers into some of their dishes this season, contributions which will add flavors ranging from bold and peppery to subtle and delicate.
Amanda Smith, of Darien-based Amanda Smith Caterers (www.amandasmithcaterers.com), tapped into her extensive culinary knowledge to share information on various types of edible flowers and ways to prepare them. Prior to beginning her catering business in 2002, Smith immersed herself in Asian, South African, European and Mexican cultures and cuisines. This experience lends to her unique creations and inclusion of flowers in some dishes. “The flower of a squash, called a squash blossom, is used frequently in Mexican dishes,” she states.
The vivid orange or yellow blossoms can be purchased at a farmers’ or specialty market. One way to prepare this delicate-flavored flower is to make a soup using zucchini and corn and putting the squash blossom into the broth. An Italian variation is frying it and filling it with mozzarella, anchovies, and basil. She continues to explain that the squash blossom’s taste is similar to zucchini but more subtle. Smith also suggests using the squash blossom in crepes.
Another original dish conceived by Smith that incorporates a flower is a lavender-crusted tuna with wasabi cream sauce. Raw lavender tastes soapy but when cooked it lends a lovely floral accent to a dish. Smith also suggests pansies, which can easily be found in either grocery store or garden, and can be used fresh as a garnish in salads.
Squash blossoms are edible and can be used in recipes, like Squash Blossom Crepes, from Amanda Smith Caterers.
Food for thought
Henry Paul Benvenite, a.k.a. “chef Paul,” is another culinary artist with profound understanding of all things food. An award-winning French chef with 20 years’ experience including in some of France’s Michelin-starred restaurants, chef Paul’s catering business (www.cateringbychefpaul.com in Branford, Conn., customizes menus using only the freshest seasonal ingredients.
Benvenite offers a glimpse into preparing dishes with edible flowers: “Flowers in cooking are more of an adjuvant or a flavoring ingredient, consumed in their raw state or used as an ornament, although some could be fried or deep-fried. Pastry chefs in France for centuries have used candied violets. The city of Toulouse, France, is known internationally for its candied violets specialty.” Chef Paul explains that often flowers are used as an adornment or integrated into a colorful salad for aesthetic appeal. On the other hand, “flowers from trees, such as acacia, are delicious in fritters, offering only value in taste but adding no visual appeal.”
To achieve an outstanding seasonal dish that combines both visual beauty and delicious flavor, chef Paul suggests his creation, “Zucchini blossoms filled with a salmon shrimp mousse and steamed, not separated from their green baby zucchini, served with reduced shrimp stock lightly laced with saffron threads.” He provides several ideas for cooking with flowers at home. “Pastry cream with rose petals preserve; ice cream flavored with violet; dip a few pansies in a few ounces of vinegar for three hours before using it (vinegar) in a vinaigrette; add nasturtium and marigold petals to a mesclun salad; add nasturtiums to a rice pilaf.”
A final tip from chef Paul when cooking with edible flowers is balance: “A recipe highlights its main ingredient by combining the flavor of other ingredients, making sure none will overpower the others.” He cautions that flowers’ fragrance can sometimes dominate a dish. “For example, roses are edible, but if you steam beautiful fresh diver-scallops and try somehow to incorporate roses to the dish, chance is you will hate the result! On another hand, lightly infusing edible lavender as an adjuvant to a sauce served with the scallops will nicely complete the flavor palette.”
A taste of the good life
Ridgefield-based florist Patty Angione also offers some insight into cooking with flowers. With 30 plus years’ experience as an independent floral designer, Angione has garnered a great deal of knowledge working with flowers in her business Farmhouse Flowers (Farmhouseflowers@yahoo.com).
“Nasturtiums are used in salads and come in bright orange, red, white and yellow colors.” She explains that they lend a bold, peppery flavor to salads. “They have a similar taste to arugula.” Yu choy sum flowers, yellow oriental flora or Chinese flowering cabbage used in Asian dishes is a recommendation that embodies Angione’s philosophy of using the freshest and most unique materials available. She adds that pansies are yet another edible flower. “You can dip them in simple syrup and dust them with granulated sugar and then incorporate them into desserts or as a cake decoration.”
Doug Pippitt of New Canaan Florist Garden and Gifts (www.newcanaanflora.com) provides a list of the various edible flowers that they sell. “The most common are pansies and nasturtiums,” he says. Others include rosemary, squash blossoms, johnny jump-ups, and pea tendrils. He adds that this full-service garden center has annuals, perennials, and specialty items. “If it exists, we can find it,” he states. So for those interested in experimenting with new, unique edible flowers this season, keep that in mind.
One final note: Be sure that the flowers with which you cook or bake are indeed edible, and not poisonous. If you’re in doubt, find an alternative.
Squash Blossom Crepes
(Serves 4 for dinner, 6 for appetizer portions)
Recipe courtesy of Amanda Smith, www.amandasmithcaterers.com
Ingredients:
12 crepes (either homemade or store bought)
Filling:
2 T. olive oil
2 shallots, chopped
2 corn on the cob, kernels cut off the cob with a serrated knife
3 bunches squash blossoms, remove thistle, tear in four pieces
Salt and pepper to taste
Sauce:
2 T. olive oil
1/2 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
2 chili poblano, deveined and chopped (can be substituted by more blossoms, zucchini, mushrooms or a vegetable of your liking)
1 c. chicken or vegetable stock
1/4 c. cream
grated parmigiano reggiano
Heat a saute pan, heat 2 T. olive oil, add the shallots and cook 2 minutes over medium heat until glistening. Add corn and cook until starting to brown (about 7 minutes), then add squash blossoms and delicately fold into the mixture. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Let cool.
In a separate pan, heat 2 T. olive oil, add the onion and garlic and cook for 5 minutes; add the poblano chilies and cook for an additional 5 minutes. Add the stock and let simmer for 15 minutes. Let cool then pour into a food processor or blender and blend through. Put back into the pan to heat, and add the cream.
Preheat oven to 400ºF. Place one crepe on flat surface and fill with a couple of spoons of filling, roll up and place in a buttered 9” x 12” inch Pyrex dish. Repeat with the rest. Spoon sauce over crepes, sprinkle cheese on top and place in oven and heat 15 to 20 minutes until heated through.