Showing posts with label Flowers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Flowers. Show all posts
Sunday, April 5, 2026
Candied violets - violette candite, step by step.
Pick the violets, rinse and drain. Place in a bowl and cover with boiling water and a drop of lemon juice. Cover and leave overnight. Drain and save the purple water into a pot. Add equal parts of sugar (I had 200ml water, 200g sugar). Boil until the syrup bubbles and add the violets. Patiently pick them up with a teaspoon and let the dry (it may take a few days). I used the leftover sugar to candy chestnuts, but any other fruit would do. Store your violets in a jar.
Thursday, March 5, 2026
Silverbeet and calendula salad
This is what abounds in my garden right now! Wash well, especially the silverbeet (I soak it in water about seven times). Cook the silverbeet in a little salted water, then drain and squeeze. Let it cool down and chop. Place into a serving bowl and add half of the calendula petals. Dress with olive oil, salt and white wine vinegar. Top with the rest of the calendula petals. Easy and delicious.
Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©
Sunday, September 21, 2025
Brown lentil salad with onion weed
It is onion weed time again! Possibly one of the easiest plants to forage in New Zealand because it grows like a weed in many gardens and fields - so you can pick it and weed the garden at the same time.
Bulbs, stems and flowers are edible (discard the flowers with the hard seed though, a bit tough). Eat raw or cooked. Here I used it in a brown lentil salad, just cooked lentils, olive oil, lemon juice, salt and chopped raw onion weed. Quick, easy and delicious!
Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©
Saturday, July 19, 2025
Fennel salad with chicory flowers
I am not a huge fan of chicory, but I love chicory flowers. And I love fennel salad. I generally don't mix fennel with other vegetables, unless it is lentils (I love lentil salads with fennel). Usually I really like to keep a fennel salad nice and simple, dressed with a pinch of salt and a drop of olive oil. But it is so ... white! To make it more 'photogenic' today I added some chicory flowers I have foraged in my field in the mountain. They only have a tinge of chicory taste which goes well with the sweet and aniseed taste of fennel. Good combo for digestion too :-)
Pick the flowers and drop in a bowl of water to rinse, then on a paper towel to dry. Sprinkle the petals over your favourite salad (not necessarily a fennel one).
Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©
Labels:
edible flowers,
Fennel,
Flowers,
Foraging,
Gluten Free,
Raw,
Salad,
Salads
Saturday, March 19, 2022
Zucchini with marigold vinegar and marigold fresh petals
This is a delicious starter or side dish. Cut the zucchini in thin long strips and pan fry with olive oil on both sides for just a minute (don't let them brown, they just need to soften). Chop plenty of Italian parsley and garlic with a pinch of salt and add to the zucchini, with a tbsp or two of marigold vinegar (recipe here). If you don't have marigold vinegar just use some white balsamic or white wine vinegar (but consider making marigold vinegar too!). Let the zucchini marinate for at least two hours, more if possible, then lay on a serving platter and sprinkle with fresh marigold petals. Serve at room temperature of chilled.
Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©
Thursday, February 10, 2022
Vegan coconut and blueberry puddings with lavender and nata de coco
Ingredients:
A cup of frozen blueberriesa few cubes of nata de coco in syruplavender petals2 tbsp sugar1x400ml can coconut cream +same amount in boiling water to rinse the can1 tsp agar agar
Place the blueberries and nata de coco in a bowl, add a few petals of lavender and let it defrost.
Place the coconut cream in a pot, fill the can with the same amount of boiling water to rinse it and add into the pot. Add the sugar a tsp of agar agar and bring to the boil stirring constantly. When it boils add half of the blueberries (but not the nata de coco) and their juice. Fill 4 to 6 glasses and let it set. Then add the rest of the blueberries and nata de coco (it will have changed colour from translucent to purple) and decorate with lavender petals. refrigerate for a few hours before serving.
Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©
Monday, March 8, 2021
Vegan Inari-san sushi with flowers
Wash the sushi rice (or Japanese rice) several times in cold water, until the water runs clear, and then cook it by absorption. The doses are about 1 and 3/4 (three quarters) cups of sushi rice for 2 cups of water, but that depends on the type of pot. You need a pot with a good lid, or you will loose too much steam. I kind of regulate myself by ear now, since I know my pots and pans. Bring the pot to boiling point, lower the heat and simmer until all the water has been absorbed. Once the rice is ready pour it into a bowl and stir it with a wooden spatula, cooling it with a fan if you can.
This was for a large party so I cooked 1 kg of rice. I divided the cooked rice into 4, to one I added Japanese preserved mushrooms, to the second toasted black sesame seeds and salt, to the third sakura furikake, and to the fourth shiso furikake. But you can just add sushi vinegar if you don't have furikake or other ingredients. Then I used the rice to fill inari pockets (available in Japanese and Asian store, and many supermarkets. I decorated the sushi pockets with dianthus, calendula, cornflower and violets. I also added some cutting of carrot paper (like nori sheet, but made of carrots), chives, and little mushrooms. I also added some calendula petals to the soy sauce.
Photos and recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©
Wednesday, September 18, 2019
Potato salad with Fresh As Tarragon, capers and Friarielli flowers, plus focaccia and eggplants with Fresh As herbs - plant based paradise!
I have been trying a few freeze dried herbs from Fresh As and this potato salad is definitely a winner.
Boil the potatoes and peel, then cut and mix with vegan mayo and capers. Sprinkle with Fresh As French Tarragon. I also added some edible flowers from my friarielli (cime di rapa) plants.
The friarielli seeds come for Italian Seeds Pronto, such a great winter crop! Eat the leaves, tips and flowers!
I also tried other Fresh As powders: chili, garlic, oregano, basil and rosemary (plus the French Tarragon) on focaccia. I used letter stencils before adding the powders, just to record what went where. FYI, the garlic becomes orange after baking.
Delicious, and also pretty in a bread basket!
And on some fried eggplants (added after frying, with salt).
Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©
Thursday, February 21, 2019
Baby perlas potatoes two ways: hot 'in padella', and salad with flowers
I received a few potatoes to try from Potatoes New Zealand to celebrate November Means New Potatoes, and here are my first creations.
I started with baby perlas, which I knew already. These little new potatoes are cute and a real little treat, so they deserve special attention!
I boiled them first (no mint... just cannot bear minted potatoes, sorry Kiwis!) and then I divided them: half I used for salad, I picked the 'bigger' ones and cut them into two pieces, then I mix them with Vegan mayonnaise (recipe here), chopped onion weed bulbs and stalks, nasturtium buds and petals, and Impatiens' petals.
Keep a few flowers aside for decorations, and onion weed flowers too, if you like. I think that a lot of people now are comfortable with eating nasturtium flowers and buds (I left some buds for decoration too, and for you to see). Buds taste a little like capers. Young tender leaves are nice too (see soup below). Not so many people would eat Impatiens though, or know about them. They taste a little like rocket, and I prefer the red ones, although I always add a few pink ones just because the colour is so pretty. My preference for red ones may be just because I observed the chickens eating all the red ones while leaving behind the other colours, but maybe they are just colour blind? Anyway, I tasted all the colours and decided that the chicken were right... Of course don't eat the flowers if you spray your garden with chemicals!
As for the smaller potatoes, I just heated it some garlic with olive oil in a skillet and then tossed the potatoes around, with an extra good pinch of salt, until hot. Then turned the heat off and added some fresh thyme, another toss, and ecco fatto! Patatine novelle in padella al timo!
Photos and recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©
Thursday, January 17, 2019
Carrot leaf fritters, Vegan and gluten free
Having munched through everything green in the veggie garden I am left with the leaves of carrots, I usually make frittata with them, or fritters, and this time I tried a vegan experiment which was very successful (the kids looooved them). To be repeated soon, in the meantime here is the recipe.
Pick your carrots (mine are always small, since they grow in clay soil poor things). Keep the leaves, wash them well and remove the thicker stalks (a bit like cleaning parsley really).
To make the vegan batter I used the liquid from a can of chickpeas, two tbsp of chickpea flour, a good pinch of salt (or two), and the tip of tsp each of ground cumin, ground coriander and ground turmeric.
Then I added the carrot leaves
At this point you can add a chopped spring onion, or some chopped onion, or chives, but since I picked my first onion weeds I added a couple, bulb, stems and leaves, You can also add the flowers, but I kept them for decoration (i.e. to take the photo!).
Spoon into a frying pan with hot vegetable oil and cook on both sides until crispy.
Drain on kitchen paper, sprinkle with salt (optional) and then serve, hot or cold, with a good squirt of lemon juice.
Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©
Saturday, January 12, 2019
Orecchiette con cime di rapa (o friarielli) e broccoli
The only reason I made these with both cime di rapa and broccoli is because in the garden I had just a handful of cime di rapa, so the broccoli made them go... further.
Wash the friarielli and broccoli, cut onto manageable pieces. Boil the water for the orecchiette, adding plenty of salt when the water boils, and before adding the orecchiette. In the meantime in a pot sizzle chopped garlic and a chili with olive oil, add the cime di rapa and broccoli, a small pinch of salt, and cook them stirring often, and adding the boiling water from the orecchiette (but only after you have put the orecchiette in!) from time to time. The cooking water from pasta is very useful for pasta sauces and for cooking vegetables this way. When the orecchiette are ready drain and add to the cime di rapa, stir well, add more olive oil and serve.
Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©
Monday, March 12, 2018
Tofe con friarielli (cime di rapa)

For the first time in my life I planted friarielli (cime di rapa), I got the seeds from Slow Food Auckland and I was so excited that I didn't wait for Autumn but I planted them straight away. Auckland is hot and wet, so they grew fast and started flowering quickly, I had to pick them before they seeded even if the tops were small. But they were delicious. I also have to confess that I ate some as salad, when the leaves were very young, and they are probably one of the best alternative to rocket salad around.
After I got my first batch I cleaned it and then cooked in a pan with olive oil, garlic and salt. You can add chilli, but I prefer to taste the friarielli rather than the chilli. Simmer them slowly with a lid for 20-30 minutes stirring often, if they are fresh you don't need to add water (mine came directly from the veggie garden!). The best pasta to have them with is orecchiette, but I didn't have any so I used some tofe, which are close enough in shape, but different in flavour! Still, they were great, or maybe it is just me, happy with my new crop of friarielli!
And now for the bouquet of the day from my garden!
Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©
Labels:
Chilli,
cime di rapa,
Flowers,
friarielli,
Garlic,
Italian,
Mains,
Olive oil,
Pasta,
Starters
Wednesday, January 31, 2018
Two recipes for face steam for teenagers (and everyone else): Calendula and lavender face steam, and calendula, rose and sage face steam
Calendula and lavender face steam
Something a little different today, not food but a floral face steam for my two teenagers! I have plenty of calendula and lavender in the garden so I picked some petals and put them in a bowl. Then you just need to add boiling water and enjoy a face steam. My kids loved it, and I am planning to dry some of the petals to keep for winter... just need a bit of sun though!! (PS, the rose is just for fun.. but you could add rose petals too, try the next recipe).
Calendula, rose and sage face steam
This is also very aromatic: use calendula as the base since is it good for healing skin from acne, and add rose petals and sage flowers (which have a milder flavour that sage leaves). Also good to clear nose and mind!
Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©
Tuesday, August 15, 2017
Asparagus and onion weed soup
Soon it will be spring, time for asparagus and onion weeds with some nice juicy bulbs, this is a recipe from last year with I will repeat as I am cleaning the veggie garden, always finding some little potatoes and cavolo nero. Everything goes into a soup, with the addition of asparagus, and vegetable stock. I blended everything (but left our a few whole steamed asparagus tips to add later) and used some onion weed and pansy flowers for decoration.
Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©
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