Alessandra Zecchini: marigold

Showing posts with label marigold. Show all posts

Thursday, February 18, 2021

Apple cupcakes with dried flowers

I have a selection of dried petals: blue cornflowers, red petals (a mixture of rose, verbena, dianthus) and orange and yellow (marigold and calendula), ready to add to a cake or cupcakes or muffins.

Ingredients for 12 cupcakes/muffins

4-5 Oratia Beauty apples

40 ml water

10 ml lemon juice

120 g salted butter

3 eggs

130 g sugar

A few drops of pure vanilla essence (optional)

200 g self-rising flour

Dried flowers

For the icing:

100 gr butter

100 g sugar

more dried flowers

Preheat the oven to 175°C.

Line a 12-muffin tray with cupcakes paper cups.

In the meantime place the water and lemon juice in a mixing bowl, peel and slice the apples and drop them directly into the lemony water.

Melt the butter in a jug, either in the microwave or in the oven (while the oven is warming up for the cupcakes). Place the eggs and sugar in a mixing bowl and whisk, using an electric beater, until the mixture looks light and pale yellow in colour. Slowly add the melted butter and the vanilla essence, if using.

Keep beating at a low speed now; add half of the flour followed by half of the lemony water from the apples. Add the rest of the flour and water and keep beating making sure that there are no lumps. Add the apples and the dried petals. Divide into the cupcakes paper cups.

Bake for about 18-20 minutes, until golden brown at the top. You can also check by inserting a toothpick into the cupcakes: if it comes out clean the cupcakes are ready. Remove the cupcakes from the tin and let them cool down. The icing is optional, I just mixed some melted butter with sugar and used it to top the cupcakes, then sprinkled more dried petals on top.

Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©

Wednesday, February 10, 2021

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 ©

Saturday, February 6, 2021

Marigold Vinegar

Pick the marigolds and shake them well into the garden to save all the insect. Pick a few little tender leaves too.

Next rinse the flowers well: fill the sink with waters and wash the flowers, then repeat several times, until you are sure that there clean. Place them on a clean tea towel to drip and then gently remove all the petals and put them in a clean sterilised mason jar. Add some leaves too and press down well.

Cover with white wine vinegar and close. Store in a dark place for a few weeks before using. Use as regular aromatic vinegar, for dressing salads etc.

Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©

Tuesday, May 21, 2019

How to bake cookies with flowers

Fresh edible flowers make a lovely addition to cookies, I find them quite elegant and delicate. I tried a few and the verbena are very good for shape and colour, the pink ones especially (they remain pink!), the red ones turn deep reed and the white and mauve turned... blue! Calendula and marigold petals keep their yellow and orange hues well, dianthus petals tend to shrink... but all in all I am pleased with my experiments, and the final results.

Any cookie recipe that doesn't require too long in the oven would work, I just made some simple cookies with butter, self raising flour, sugar, vanilla and eggs, shape into little biscuits and placed them onto a oven tray lined with baking paper (leave some space between the cookies so they can 'spread' while baking). Then I topped each cookie with a small flower or some petals.

It is a good idea to gently press the flowers and petals into position over the cookies with wet fingers.

Finally I lined another sheet of baking paper on top, pressing down gently on the flowers. I put some ramekins on the ends to keep the baking paper down before placing the tray inside the oven, to make sure that the paper didn't lift off while baking.

My cookies took about 12 minutes at 160℃, but it all depends on recipe and size, so you'll just have to regulate yourself. When ready remove from oven, peel off the top baking paper sheet, add some icing sugar, if you like, and let the cookies cool down completely before removing them from the baking tray.

Enjoy!

Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©

Sunday, March 10, 2019

Cream cheese with marigold, freshly ground pepper and cumin seeds

Friday, March 1, 2019

Drying edible flowers for winter

Summer is almost over and for the past few weeks I have been collecting seeds and drying herbs and flowers for winter. Every time I collect veggies and fruit form the garden I also collect flowers, for the home, and to eat (immediately, or to store).

I dry the flowers in the sun, keep the seeds in jars and the petals in little containers and bottles with cork tops.

I have orange, yellow and reds

Plus a jar with just cornflowers (they dry quickly, don't leave them too long in the sun or they will loose colour and turn white) and a jar with multicolour petals.

I have been also drying flowers by pressing them, so I can keep their shapes (to decorate desserts, for example). For this you just need to make a 'flower press', with cardboard and clean paper (I use a strap to keep it together). I will have to show you the results in a little while, plus some other methods for preserving flowers (pickled, sugared, frozen...) in another post!