Caesar salad with spring vegetables and rose petals
Starters (Starter (4 servings) )
Ingredients
500 g chicken breasts
3 tbsp olive oil
a bit of salted butter
1 head of Romaine lettuce
150 g sugar snap peas
150 g broad beans (shelled fresh or frozen)
15 green asparagus
black pepper/fleur de sel
80 g shaved Parmesan cheese
croutons (of 2 slices of bread or
ready-to-eat croutons)
a handful of rose petals or leaves and
flowers of nasturtium
Vinaigrette:
5 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp wine vinegar
black pepper
grated zest of ½ a lemon
Anchovy dressing:
3 dl mayonnaise
1 tsp French mustard
5 anchovies, salted and mashed
2 tbsp capers
2 tbsp whole yogurt
grated zest of ½ a lemon
Preparation
Heat olive oil in a pan and fry the chicken on all sides. Add a bit of salted butter just before it is done and let it cook. Remove the chicken from the pan, let it drain and cut into slices. Tear the Romaine Lettuce in large pieces, rinse and drain. Blanch the snap peas and the beans separately in salted water and cool them right away. Make sure they are still crispy. Blanch 12 of the green asparagus in salted water with butter and cool immediately when done. Also make sure it is still crispy. Cut the other 3 asparagus into thin slices. Make vinaigrette of olive oil, wine vinegar, black pepper and grated lemon peel. Flavour the lettuce, green asparagus, broad beans and sugar snaps with the vinaigrette. Make the anchovy dressing by mixing mayonnaise with mashed anchovies, capers, French mustard and lemon zest. Dilute the dressing with plain yogurt and maybe some lemon juice. Place the vegetables together with the chicken on a nice tray. Finish it with Parmesan cheese shavings and croutons. Sprinkle generously with anchovy dressing. Season with some extra black pepper, fleur de sel and lemon zest. Sprinkle with rose petals or leaves and flowers of nasturtium for a colourful effect.
Festive aperitif drink
Put some rose petals in a glass of cold dry white wine or prosecco, let it sit for couple of minutes before serving.
Rose flavoured sugar
Here is another quick and easy recipe. Rose sugar is ideal as sweetener for teas or cakes, since it will give your beverages and sweets a nice rose flavour.
Lamsragoût with apricots
Mix the meat with the mixture of flour, salt and paprika.
Rose Petal Preserve
Preserving whole fruit or large pieces of fruit by cooking them with sugar syrup is a part of traditional cuisine in the Balkans.
Jordi Rose Dessert
Remove petals from the roses, and wash them with cold water. Strain the petals, and then dry with a paper towel.