Sage flowers omelet

In our backyard a lot of flowers are in bloom. The sage is really spectacular. We do use sage a lot in our cooking but mostly leaves and in the fall we make sage sticks.

We forget that a lot of flowers are edible, and I am always tempted to add a little elegant touch to a meal with fresh flowers.  Always know from where the flowers come from if you want to use them for cooking and check here the list of edible flowers.

This week I share with you a simple idea of a pretty and tasty breakfast, an omelet with sage flowers. 

It's very simple. Beat the eggs together until you see a lot of bubbles on the surface. Add salt and pepper. 

Slice finely sage leaves and add them to the eggs, along with the flowers you washed before hand and mix it together. 

Be mindful of how much sage you put in, it has a strong flavor.

I like to cook an omelet on a not sticking pan, a little bit like a crepe or pancake. I like it brownish on the outside but not too cooked inside. For that I wait the omelet is hard enough to be folded in two and I don't let it cook for too long. Adjust it to the way you like your omelet and enjoy ! 

Candied flowers - lilac

I remember as a child eating once some candied violets. I thought it was extraordinary to eat a real flower as a candy. 

I love lilac it's perfume is so enchanting to me, my only regret is the flowers don't last long enough and I have to wait another year.

So this week I decided to share with you a recipe of candied flowers.
The recipe is very simple but it takes a little time to be honest with you. But think of the reward of having pretty flowers decorating your desserts. It tastes good too.

You will need :

- Fresh lilac flowers 

( make sure no one used pesticides on them )

- 1 large egg white at room temperature 

( use pasteurized egg white if you prefer )

- Some superfine sugar 

You can find superfine sugar at the store but I just blended some regular sugar in my blender.

- A small paint brush

- Waxed paper 

Rinse the flowers quickly and put them on a waxed paper. You don't want them to be soaked in water. They need to be dry, I rinse the possible dust out of them but you could also not rinse them at all. 

In a small bowl beat the egg until the white shows a few bubbles. Place the sugar in a small bowl. Pick a flower hold it with your fingers, with the paint brush cover evenly the flower on both sides with egg white, not excessively. Hold the flower over the sugar and sprinkle sugar evenly all over on both sides. Place the flower on a waxed paper to dry and keep going with the rest of the flowers. 

It is meticulous but quite easy. 

Let the flowers dry until they are hard. Try to find a place where it's not humid.
Keep them in a container  in the dark, you can keep them up to a year but I would recommend to consume them sooner. 

You can use this recipe for any other edible flower. 

Wild flowers

Growing up in a sort of rural area in France, I would always run around in the fields and make wild flower bouquets.

I learned to recognize the flower's characteristics without really knowing their real names. Later I learned their names and properties.

We are spending a week on a farm in Ardeche in the South of France on the top of a mountain.  I have the pleasure to see those plants. I am always fascinated by the mix of flowers that can grow on a little patch in between fields.

We have forgotten that a lot of these plants are edible. Today I went on a walk and I brought some fresh flowers and greens to add to our salad for diner.

I picked some dandelions. I chose only the small leaves it does taste less bitter. Also some wild chicory flowers, nasturtium flowers and leaves, some red clover, and some red poppy seeds. You can find all of these in the united states.

Coming back from my walk I had a bag full of fresh greens and it made such a pretty salad.

If you have doubts about which flowers or plants are edible here is a link I found that could help you.

I also started to expand my knowledge of wild flowers by drying some and make an herbarium. I put the plants between two sheets of paper in a book and press them under something heavy. Well this time I used a wooden box of bottles of wine.

Rose petal and jasmine flower jam

We have a very fragrant rose bush. I have been meaning to try to make something with it for a couple years now and I never did it.
Only because when the flowers are in bloom I have no time or just when I want to use them they are done.

So I decided to give it a try one evening I just picked a bunch of flowers and started a rose petal jam using this recipe. ( link to recipe )
With the little time I have I really needed to make something fast, so believe me it is fast...

I obviously didn't have enough petals to follow the recipe I found online but I experimented with it.

First, I briefly washed the petals with water to get the potential bugs out. Then I put the petals in a bowl added the juice of a lemon and cover the petals with sugar.

I covered the bowl for the night and let it at room temperature.

That's when I decided to also add some Jasmine flowers, I picked the ones that were in bloom and added it to the petals for the night.

 In the morning I started to boil a cup of water added the flowers and a cup and a half of sugar. I let it on the medium low for 15 minutes then added 1/4 of a teaspoon of pectin.

I kept on stirring until it started to get a little thicker.
Poured in the jars and let it sit .

 

It tastes delicious !!! It was my first time so next time I'll get better at it.

I didn't can it, it was so little of it, I will keep it in the fridge.

Hope you will give it a try !