Yes, it is that time of year again when we gather round the big screen television to watch the superbowl. Or for those who are not football fans at the least the half time show. This North American tradition has become something more – its a celebration of friendship, family and food. That food is usually pizza, wings and all kinds of snack foods but why not shake it up a bit and try something with a twist of lavender- yes I said lavender. Here’s a recipe that we love with the added zest and herbal flavours of lavender.
Ingredients:
1 cup of pecans
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup Sugar
2 dried red chile peppers
2 tsp lavender
Method:
Combine the ingredients in a saucepan. Bring to a boil over high heat constantly stirring to avoid the sugar from burning. Add the pecans and return to a boil. Reduce heat. Simmer for 10 minutes. Arrange the pecans evenly on a baking sheet. Bake at 250 degrees until the pecans start to lightly brown.
Cool and serve.
Strawberries with ginger lavender
With Strawberry season in full swing, I’m getting ready to make some strawberry lavender jam. Lavender is a great compliment to any type of berry but those beautiful luscious local red strawberries are accented perfectly with tiny little purple buds of lavender. There are so many lovely ways to serve lavender and strawberries together from soup to sorbet to tarts but today I’ve decided to experiment with a simple lavender syrup recipe with a twist.
Ingredients
1 lb. of Strawberries (quartered)
1/3 cup of sugar
2/3 cup of water
2 Tablespoons of Serenity Culinary Lavender
2 Tablespoons of Limoncello (Lemon Flavoured liqueur)
1 tsp grated fresh ginger
1/2 tsp culinary lavender
Instructions
Rinse and drain Strawberries. Hull and cut into quarters in a large bowl and set aside.
In a small saucepan over low heat combine water, sugar and lavender and simmer stirring occasionally until the sugar is dissolved. Remove from heat. Place lid over top for about 15 minutes to allow the syrup mixture to steep and the lavender infuse the mixture.
Strain the syrup and discard the blossoms.
Add ginger and lemoncello into the syrup mixture.
Pour the syrup mixture over the straberries. Add 1/2 teaspoon of dried culinary lavender and toss gently. Serve the berries in glass bowls or stemmed glasses. Garnish with Whipped cream and fresh lavender stems.
Makes 4 servings
Come to Serenity Lavender wearing your finest hats and gloves on Saturday, June 23rd from 1-3pm to Serenity Lavender’s Victorian High Tea. Enjoy a delectable array of finger sandwiches, scones, deserts and or course our teas amidst the sereneness of teh lavender blooms. Tickets are $25.00 per person. Seating is limited so call today to reserve your tickets. 519 980-4504 Visa and Mastercard accepted
MENU
Fresh Sandwiches
Cucumber Mint
Goat Cheese and Roasted Red Pepper Pinwheel
Ham and Pickle
Lavender Onion Tartlet
Home Baked English Scones
Served with clotted crème, lavender jelly and raspberry lavender jam
Selection of Petit Fours
Choice of Serenity Lavender Teas
Lavender, Lavender Earl Grey, Lavender Green Tea, Provence Rooibos
Victorian High Tea at Serenity Lavender
/
6 oz /175g bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
4 oz/ 125 g milk chocolate, coarsely chopped
3/4 cup / 175 ml whipping cream
2 teaspoons culinary lavender
Place chocolate in fondue pot. Heat cream add lavender and steep 20 minutes. Return to stove and heat until boiling. Quickly strain lavender from the creamand pour over chocolate. Whisk until melted. Set over warmer.
Serve with seasonal fresh fruit.
This recipe is from Bon Apetit. I combines the tannic and acidic flavours of the blackberries with the sweetness of the pears and creaminess of the ricotta for a tantalizing taste experience.
6 servings
• PREP TIME: 20 minutes
• TOTAL TIME: 1 hour 15 minutes
Recipe by Marlena Spieler
Photograph by Marcus Nilsson
Ingredients
•1/3cup + 2 teaspoons lavender sugar(available at Serenity Lavender online or in store or make your own using our culinary lavender)
•6 unpeeled pears (such as Bosc or Bartlett), quartered, cored
•2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
•1 pint blackberries
•1 cup fresh ricotta cheese, crème fraîche, or vanilla ice cream
Preparation
Preheat oven to 425°F. Generously butter large rimmed baking sheet. Toss pears, lemon juice, and 3 tablespoons lavender sugar in large bowl. Transfer pears, 1 cut side down, to baking sheet. Roast 20 minutes. Turn pears, placing other cut side down. Sprinkle with 1 tablespoon lavender sugar; roast 20 minutes. Turn pears, skin side down. Preheat broiler. Sprinkle pears with 1 tablespoon lavender sugar. Broil until pears begin to caramelize, about 8 minutes. Arrange berries around pears; sprinkle with 1 tablespoon lavender sugar. Broil until berries begin to release juice, about 5 minutes.
Divide pears, berries, and juice among bowls. Top with dollop of ricotta and serve.
Great with fresh greens and our local greenhouse tomatoes
1 cup of balsamic vinegar
1 teaspoon honey – We love our friend’s at Sunparlour
1 teaspoon dried culinary lavender
1 Tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
pinch of sea salt
Dash of Pepper
In a small saucepan combine the honey, balsamic vinegar and dried lavender. Over moderately low heat reduce the mixture to half. Add oil. Mix to blend. Add salt and pepper.
These lavender spiced baked apples are the perfect ending to any meal.
Yield: 6 servings
6 medium baking apples (about 2 pounds),
such as Gala or MacIntosh
1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 Tablespoon water
1 teaspoon lavender
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Core apples; peel a strip from the top of each. If necessary cut thin
slice from bottom of each apple so apple will stand upright. Place
apples upright in greased 11 x 7-inch baking dish.
In medium-size bowl, combine sweetened condensed milk, vanilla and
lavender pour into and around apples.
Set dish in a 13 x 9-inch pan. Set on oven rack. Carefully pour boiling
water into pan to 1-inch depth. Bake 40 to 45 minutes or until apples
are tender, occasionally spooning sweetened condensed milk mixture in
bottom of dish over apples.
Serve warm
TIP If you don’t have sweetened condensed milk substitute a 1/4 cup of Lavender sugar or Lavender Vanilla Bean sugar in your regular baked apple recipe!
Last minute preparations for Super Bowl Sunday and of course I had to include lavender in something. So here’s my a quick creation:
2 ripe firm avocados mashed
1/4 cup sour cream
1 tsp sea salt
1 tsp Serenity culinary lavender crushed with a mortar and pestle
1 small Leamington greenhouse tomato chopped
1/8 cup black bean and corn salsa
1 tsp lemon juice
1/2 small onion
pinch of ground pepper
dash of hot sauce ( I used our homemade habenaro paste made from our garden grown peppers but use whatever you like)
Mix together and serve with nachos.
Photo by Steven Depolo
Just in time for the Holidays we have signed copies of the award winning Harrow Fair Cookbook available. Quantities are limited so order early to avoid disappointment!
http://www.macleans.ca/article.jsp?content=e13505312
If you love crème brulee you must try this recipe. The delicate floral flavor of lavender is heavenly!
Yiel
ds: 6 to 8 servings
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 60 min
Ingredients:
4 cups heavy cream
1 tablespoon Serenity Lavender’s Culinary lavender
8 egg yolks
3/4 cup granulated sugar, divided
Preparation:
Preheat oven to 300 degrees.
In a large, heavy saucepan over medium heat, add cream and the lavender flowers; heat just to a simmer. Remove from heat and allow lavender flowers to infuse with the cream for 15 minutes. Strain cream mixture through a fine mesh strainer to remove lavender flowers.
In a large bowl, whisk together the egg yolks and 1/2 cup sugar until light and creamy. Slowly add the strained cream to the egg mixture, blending well. Divide custard mixture among the custard cups.
Arrange the custard cups in a oven proof roasting or baking pan. Prepare water for the water bath by bringing enough water to a simmer. Carefully pour the hot water into the baking pan to come half-way up the sides of the custard cups.
Bake 60 minutes or until set around the edges but still loose in the center. The cooking time will depend largely on the size of the custard cups you are using, but begin checking at a half hour and check back regularly. When the center of the custard is just set, it will jiggle a little when shaken, that’s when you can remove it from the oven.
Remove from oven and leave in the water bath until cooled. Remove cups from water bath and refrigerate at least 2 hours or up to 2 days.
When ready to serve, sprinkle approximately 2 teaspoons of remaining sugar over each crème brulee and using a small hand-held torch melt the sugar until a golden brown crust is formed.
