Skip to main content

Beans and flowers




This salad is really simple: I just chopped half red onion and marinated it for 30 minutes in white balsamic condiment of Modena (FYI, white balsamic vinegar of Modena doesn't exist, it can only be called 'condiment') and then I added one can of Italian butter beans and one can of Italian chickpeas (obviously drained and rinsed...), salt, extra virgin olive oil, and flowers from my garden: chive flowers, borage flowers and calendula petals. Easy but yummy!

Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©


Labels:

Comments

  1. GüntherApril 3, 2012 at 2:35 AM

    Questa ricetta rende nobile un piatto di legumi, a volte basta un tocco di raffinatezza per migliorare il piatto e la giornata :-)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. AlessandraApril 3, 2012 at 12:26 PM

      Sei molto gentile :-). Comunque la penso così anch'io.

      Delete
  2. ArtùApril 3, 2012 at 9:36 PM

    Che meraviglia cara Alessandra! Sono davvero una bella scoperta per me i fiori in cucina!

    ReplyDelete
  3. JoApril 4, 2012 at 8:52 PM

    Yummy salad and pretty picture too!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Un'arbanella di basilicoApril 5, 2012 at 1:39 AM

    Ciao Alessandra, che piacere sentirti, tutto bene dalle tue parti? Qui sta arrivando la primavera e poi l'estate, non vedo l'ora. Ti abbraccio e ti mando tanti cari auguri. A presto, un bacione

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

How to make Rose Turkish Delights (Lokum), and Sweet New Zealand

Rose Turkish Delights (Lokum) Before I start I would like to say that I don't have a sugar thermometer, essential if you are really into confectionery, and that I didn't use much sugar for these Turkish delights. Many recipes use much more sugar, and it is not that I wanted to make a low sugar treat here (it is still pretty sweet), it is just that making it at home really makes me realize how much sugar there is already in my diet, and if I can have something with a little less... well, why not! This method is 'home friendly' i.e. these can be made at home with very little effort and equipment, and the recipe comes from my book  Sweet As...  where I also have the recipe for lavender and orange blossom Turkish Delights. Ingredients 1 l water 300 g sugar 2 tbsp lemon juice 100 g cornflour 1 tbsp frozen raspberries 1 tbsp rose water icing sugar (very little) and cornflour (lots) to dust. In a pot put hal...
9 comments
Read more

Silver beet Paneer, a variation of Palak Paneer

The other day I showed you my curry made with borage , ‘invented’ because I have tons of it in the garden! The other green-leaf crop that does well in Auckland is silver beet. My old plants (from last year!) got so tall that I started collecting only the little leaves from the stalks, and they look like spinach. One of my favourite Indian dishes is Palak Paneer (or Panir), spinach with panir cottage cheese, and this variation is made using my silver beet. I washed (many times!) the small silver beet leaves, and then I steamed them and drain them. In a heavy pot I heated 2 tbsp of vegetable oil (I used rice bran oil) and sautéed for 30 seconds: 1/2 tsp ground cumin 1/2 tsp ground coriander 1 tsp turmeric 1/3 tsp ground chili then I added 2 roughly chopped shallots and, after 3 minutes, a good pinch of salt and the cooked silver beet. I cooked everything on low for about 20 minutes (you may need to add just a little water if the silver beet is too dry) and then finely pureed the content ...
5 comments
Read more

Home Made Marzipan Sweets

This is another recipe from my book Sweet As , and something that I love to make for Xmas. I would like to say that for marzipan you should get the best almonds around, natural, but here in New Zealand the almonds taste different from the ones in Italy. They are imported, not sure where from most of the time, but they are not top grade almonds. Still, with a few tips, you can make your marzipan taste great even with 'regular' almonds! Buy them natural, not blanched, you need to blanche then yourself or the result will be too dry. To blanch them you need to put them in boiling water for a couple of minutes, and then add cold water and take the skin off, one by one. For this recipe you will need: 200 g almonds 100 g icing sugar 5 apricot kernels. As I was saying before, the almond here have little taste, so I like to collect the stones from apricot and get the almonds out. They are a real pain to crack! In the photo above you can see apricot stones and kernels. The apricot kernel...
13 comments
Read more