Our mission at Bligh St. Bistro is to create incredible dining experiences that are carefully curated to reflect the special occasion being celebrated. We like to constantly create new dishes specifically inspired by the event and loves of the participants. For the flower workshop it was no different. We took inspiration from nature and developed an edible garden feast for all the flower lovers in attendance.
Our first little garden sensation were these Nasturtium Pea Parcels which were a happy burst of Spring.
We pulled these incredible two tone nasturtium leaves from our garden and stuffed them with an Ottolenghi inspired pea filling. These beautiful red veined sorrel leaves were added in pretty ribbons to top off the dish. They add a distinctive lemony freshness to the dish.
Since the filling can be made ahead of time and stored in the fridge, these are fabulous little entrées for a dinner party. Any guests that haven’t eaten a nasturtium leaf before might be a little weary at first but with a little encouragement they end up amazed at the wonderful peppery flavour and the novelty of eating a leaf plucked from the garden.
Nasturtium Pea Parcels
Makes 20
• 300g peas, fresh or frozen and defrosted
• 2 tsp dijon mustard
• 1 ½ tsp english mustard
• 2 tsp seeded mustard
• 1 tsp caster sugar
• 2-3 Tbsp water
• 2 Tbsp olive oil
• 5 green onions/spring onions, finely sliced on an angle
• 2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
• 1 Tbsp mustard seeds
• 1 Tbsp cream
• Juice of ½ a lemon
• Salt to taste
• 10-15 medium to large sized sorrel leaves, finely chiffonade
• 20 medium sized nasturtium leaves
Blanch peas for 30 seconds and transfer to ice water. Once cool, strain and set aside.
Place mustards, sugar and water in a bowl. Mix to combine and set aside
Place a large non- stick pan on medium heat. Fry spring onions and garlic with olive for 5-8 minutes. Do not let garlic burn.
Reduce heat and add mustard seeds. Fry for 1 minute then add the mustard, sugar, water mixture to the pan.
Saute for 1 minute then add cream and peas. Saute for a further minute. Remove from pan and set aside.
Add juice of 1/2 lemon and test for seasoning.
To serve, place 1 teaspoon of mixture on a nasturtium leaf.
Top with sorrel chiffonade.
Citrus Carrot Salad & Brocamole Flower Beds
Serves 4-6
This salad is something quite different and especially wonderful. We created little flower beds with hazelnut pebbles on a bed of brocamole grass and I was so happy that our guests enjoyed this salad just as much as I do. It has a wonderful balance of sweet and spicy and is so pretty to look at, making it the perfect dish for a special occasion.
For the Brocamole (Adapted from Nigella Lawson, Simply Nigella):
• 2 large bunches of broccolini
• 2-3 ripe avocados (depending on size)
• ½ cup vegetable oil
• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• 3 spring onions, roughly chopped
• 2 green chillies (seeding optional)
• Juice of 4 limes
• Salt to taste
Blanch broccolini in boiling salted water for 3 minutes. Transfer to ice water
Drain and transfer to blender. Blend till smooth paste while adding both oils
Add spring onion, chilli and blend
Add juice of limes and salt to taste
For the Carrots:
• 8 Purple carrots, peeled and shaved into flat ribbons
• Juice of 2 lemons
• Juice of 2 oranges
• Juice of 2 mandarins
• 2 Tbsp apple cider vinegar
• 4 Tbsp olive oil
• 2 Tbsp Vino Cotto
• Salt + black pepper to taste
Marinade carrots in above ingredients for up to 3 hours.
When ready to serve, place purple carrot ribbons in a bowl. Spoon over some brocamole. Sprinkle with toasted hazelnuts and pop some edible flowers on top.
We accompanied our little salad gardens with a French pastry sun, tarte soleil. The pastry was stuffed with a home made sun-dried tomato pesto and served with a fresh labne with lemon and oil for dipping. I can’t wait to share this simple and beautiful recipe with you but for now you’ll have to just devour the pictures.
And to finish this wonderful evening of flower magic we served my absolute favourite dessert, elderflower jelly with strawberry cream. The perfect Spring dessert since it is light as air and tastes as good as budding flowers look.
I hope we haven’t made you too hungry and look forward to you trying some of these garden inspired dishes.
xxBlighStBistro