I tried some interesting recipes with lavender. Lavender is worth growing at home on a windowsill not only for aesthetic pleasure but also for culinary experiments using it. If you’ve never used lavender in the kitchen, start small. Add 2-3 flowers to vegetables with cream, stewed poultry with herbs, or shortbread cookies. Flour-based desserts and drinks particularly love lavender.
Lavender in Cooking
There are a few special types of lavender that are perfect for sweet dishes—Lavender Vera, or Lavandula angustifolia officinalis, Angustifolia, L. intermedia Grosso. Finding these specific varieties for planting is not difficult.
Meat Marinade with Lavender
- dried lavender - 1 tsp
- vegetable oil - 2 tbsp
- mustard - 1 tbsp
- honey - 1 tbsp
- lemon zest - 1 tsp
- pepper to taste, salt
Rub the mixture onto pieces of beef, pork, or chicken. Leave overnight. Meat marinated this way is perfect for baking or grilling.
Make lavender salt for marinating fish and meat—1 teaspoon of dried lavender flowers mixed with 0.5 cups of medium-coarse salt. Grind the lavender with the salt and store it in a glass container with a lid. Rub this fragrant salt onto fish fillets and meat before baking, together with olive oil. It pairs well with garlic and other Provençal herbs, especially rosemary.
Lavender sugar is also prepared in the same way.
Lavender Lemonade
- soda water - 0.5 L
- sugar - 2-3 tbsp
- water - 200 ml
- juice of one lime
- dried lavender - 1 tsp (without heaping)
Boil the water and pour the boiling water over the lavender, add the sugar, and let it steep. Add the lime juice, mix, and add soda water. This is an amazingly delicious drink!
Pork Chops with Lavender
- fresh thyme, rosemary, lavender - 1 tsp each
- honey - 1 tbsp
- vegetable oil - 2 tbsp
- soy sauce - 1 tbsp
- Pork chops (bone-in) - 4-5 pieces
Mix the marinade, rub it onto the meat, and allow it to marinate for as long as possible. Cook the meat on a grill, grill pan, or bake it. Be careful not to overcook.
Lavender Rolls
- flour - 2 cups
- butter - 50 g
- powdered sugar - 0.5 cups
- egg yolk - 1 pc
- medium-fat cream - 0.5 cups
- orange - 1 pc
- rum, cognac, or brandy - 1 tbsp
- dried lavender - 1 tsp
- baking powder - 1.5 tsp
- salt
Combine the flour, salt, and baking powder. Grate the chilled butter on a coarse grater and mix it with the flour mixture, then add the powdered sugar. Squeeze the juice from the orange and zest it. Mix the cream with the yolk, 50 ml of orange juice, zest (to taste, for example, from half the orange), rum, and lavender. Add this mixture to the dough—it should be smooth, shiny, and not sticky to the hands.
Roll the dough out to 2 cm thickness, cut out circles using a mold, and chill for half an hour. Bake for 15 minutes in a preheated oven at 180°C.
Lavender is also valued for its use in medicine and cosmetology , and its beneficial properties are known worldwide.
