Saturday, 30 July 2011

Edible flowers and wild mushrooms

I am a massive fan of edible flowers and wild mushrooms. They are right up there in my top five.

Right now I am getting loads of flowers in from my suppliers and I have been thinking of things to do with the ones that look great but lack a little in the taste department. Mainly things like marigold, pansies and daylilies. 




One of my chef friends told me about a restaurant where they pickle rose petals, which I thought was a great idea or there is dehydrating the petals and using them like a floral confetti, but then you loose the summer fresh look.




Borage is one of the flowers that I really love. Some people say it tastes like a mild cucumber but I think it tastes more like an oyster and it looks stunning on the plate. 




Lavender is another great one probably a more common one that most people would know. I have a lavender panacotta and honey jelly on the menu at the moment that is popular.




A new one for me is the wild poppy. 




The bulb part has small holes in the top that can act like a natural pepper shaker effect that we finish a summer squash risotto with.




Back when I worked in Scotland I did some foraging with my sous chef for chanterelle mushrooms. If I had more time in my life I would love to get more involved in the foraging side of things. I love it. 



There are a few of these fellas around at the moment the yellow ones are chanterelle or girolle as some people call them and the dark caped one is a boletus. Very tasty served with a cote de boeuf, you could die right there and you would die happy my friend.


Photography by Carla Grassy

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