Cooking with Lavender

Jun 16, 2008 at 5:07 PM
11 comments

I can distinctly remember a meal I had a few years ago when I first tasted lavender. John-Patrick's grandma, Shirley, is an amazing cook, and we had some type of lavender bread. I can't remember if it was a muffin or maybe like a pound cake, but I remember just being stunned by the beauty, simplicity, and flavor of lavender...in food!

While the idea is no longer new to me, actually experimenting with it is. And I'm hooked. I wonder --if more people knew how easy, cheap, and lovely a little lavender is, would we all cook with it more often?

Here's what got me going:

IMG_3922

I picked up this little satchet at the Milwaukee Public Market outpost of The Spice House, when we were in Milwaukee a month ago. The price was right, and like I said, I've had lavender on the brain for a few years now, thanks to Grandma Shirley.

It's been sitting in the cupboard for about a month, so when I was making a very basic, about-to-leave-town kind of dinner on Thursday night, I decided to put some lavender in my french toast. It was the kind of thing that occurred to me on the fly, and I was really pleased.

So here is recipe number one:

Make french toast, but throw some lavender in the egg-milk mixture.

Easy, huh? Here are some photos of how that looked for me:

The lavender flavor was subtle but not at all overpowering. (I wonder if cooking it a bit in the milk first would bring it out more?) I loved it. I think it's a new staple whenever I have lavender on hand.

ALSO: I think it would be amazing in some kind of french toast / Nutella combo. Perhaps even stuffed with some kind of awesome cheese????? I'm just saying....

Recipe #2: Lavender Tea Bread

I used this recipe, without deviation, since I don't bake much and this was a totally new recipe to me. Here were the accompanying photos (I know photos really help me when I cook):

How did it taste? Effing amazing.

TRY IT!!!

I think next on the Cooking with Lavender List: Some form of chocolate, maybe a chocolate chip lavender cookie, perhaps modeled off of always-amazing-Heidi's newest offering: here.

What else should I try? What else have you tried?

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I use lavender in my own Herbes de Provence mix (along with the usual thyme, savory, etc.), and I also find a pinch of lavender to be crucial in jambalaya. It's also really nice in homemade soft cheese, spread on crackers and whatnot.

And it is really good with chocolate. I put it in truffles sometimes.

Ooh, thanks. I've tried lavender with chocolate, but never with cheese. Same with the Herbes de Provence! I'll have to keep experimenting with it in savory dishes.

I have a huge lavender bush and use it for cut flowers and as an addition to the bath, but I had never thought of using it in my cooking!!!

I certainly will now! thanks for the inspiration :)

Oh, lucky! Yeah, I had never considered it in cooking until I was served something with lavender a few years ago. Let me know if you come up with a good combo!

[this is good]

This all looks so tasty! And I'd have to agree...french toast with nutella sounds amazing.

Lavender crème brûlée. I had it in the south of France. It was excellent!

Thanks, everyone. And wow, lavender creme brulee sounds amazing!

That looks really yummy *is off to buy lavender*

I saw a patisserie in Paris with eclairs filled with violet flavored filling. Maybe lavender would work in something like that, too?

Thanks, Everyone!

I had lavender french fries at a restaurant in Los Angeles. They were freaking amazing.

Cooking with Lavender

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