The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
FLAVORS ARE IN BLOOM
Botanical-inspired recipes with edible flowers.
In April, when I first visited Linton’s, the new restaurant nestled among the lush landscapes of the Atlanta Botanical Garden, I was quickly taken by the beauty of the dishes executive chef Jason Paolini was creating there.
The plates were bright and bold with color and texture, garnished with flowers from the edible garden located steps from Linton’s kitchen.
“We want the food to be as beautiful as the environment,” Paolini told me.
What I didn’t realize, at first, was that the flowers were adding flavor, too. Sometimes it was a subtle hint, sometimes a spicy or citrusy burst.
A few months later, I asked Paolini if he would come up with a few recipes to illustrate how home cooks might use edible flowers and blossoms.
The chef obliged with three dishes that showcase the bounty of summer produce and add flowers in fun and flavorful ways.
Cool, crisp cucumber gazpacho is topped with a peach and tomato salad, then garnished with marigold petals to add a spicy, saffron-like bite.
Tender Asian eggplant is caramelized with garlic and pepper jelly in a sweet-hot dish garnished with begonia flowers to add a sour citrus punch.
Less exotic, but no less tasty, Paolini’s version of ricotta-stuffed fried squash blossoms is a bit more time consuming than the other dishes, but offers several interesting touches.
“You start with flowers by adding color to the plate,” Paolini said. “You can use pink and yellow and purple — vibrant colors you just don’t see in the food that you cook. But once you start tasting them, you discover different flavors that really pop when paired with the right things.”
For the squash blossoms:
4 squash blossoms
½ cup ricotta cheese
1 tablespoon minced chives zest of
2 lemons
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 teaspoon honey
1 bunch arugula olive oil to taste lemon juice to taste salt and pepper to taste
To stuff the squash blossoms: Carefully reach inside the blossom and remove the stamen. Using tweezers is the best way to do this. In a mixing bowl, mix the ricotta, chives, lemon zest, olive oil and honey and season to taste with salt and pepper. Gently fill the blossoms with the ricotta mixture Reserve in the refrigerator until ready to fry. For the red pepper puree:
4 pimento or red bell peppers
¼ cup olive oil juice of
1 lemon salt and pepper to taste
Toss the peppers with 2 tablespoons of olive oil and roast on a sheet pan in a 400-degree oven for 25 minutes. Once the peppers are roasted, allow them to cool. Once cool, peel the skin from the peppers and scrape out the seeds and discard the skin and seeds.
Place the peppers into a blender. Season with salt and pepper and add the lemon juice.
Blend the peppers on high while drizzling the olive oil into the blender. If the puree is too thick, add a dash of water while blending to thin. To fry the squash blossoms: Make a tempura batter
½ cup all-purpose flour
¼ cup cornstarch
1 cup soda or sparkling water pinch of salt
In a mixing bowl, mix the flour, corn starch and sparkling water and add a pinch of salt.
In a cast iron skillet, fill half way with peanut oil and heat to 350.
Dip the squash blossom into the batter and fry in the peanut oil.
The squash may float, so once the bottom side is browned you will need to roll it over to the other side. Once squash blossom is fried, allow it to rest on a cooling rack for 1 minute so the excess oil can drain off. To plate: Spoon the red pepper puree on a plate. Place 1 or 2 blossoms on top of the puree. Garnish with arugula dressed with olive oil and lemon juice.
Serves: 2-4
Per serving: 432 calories (percent of calories from fat, 75), 6 grams protein, 22 grams carbohydrates, 1 gram fiber, 36 grams fat (7 grams saturated), 9 milligrams cholesterol, 90 milligrams sodium.