"I want to see florals and botanicals take over beyond decoration into flavor," says baker Rose Wilde, who talked with us in December 2023 about her book, Bread and Roses. The end of winter at the farmers market means radish, arugula, cilantro, and sorrel are flowering. "I think one of the things people forget is that everything that grows has a flower and that thing is going to taste like the item," says Wilde, who also owns Red Bread.
When making a steak, Wilde uses arugula flowers in a cream sauce, giving it a peppery punch. Radish blossoms add zip to her milk cakes and nasturtiums pressed into tortillas make for inspired quesadillas. Borage, which Wilde mixes into cream cheese, has cucumber and oyster flavors. In the pantry, she grinds lilacs into sugar and infuses waters with orange and rose.
Bakers who are competing in PieFest 2024, take heed! Wilde (who will be one of the judges this year) rolls bloomed sage into tart dough, adding a savory note to a berry pie.
Crispy Broccoli Rabe Borage Cream Cheese
This is my favorite cream cheese spread that plays on iconic broccoli cheese soup. Roasted broccoli and garlic give umami spread. The feta bumps up the irresistible cheesy saltiness of each bite. The generous addition of borage flowers to lend the herby allium taste of dill or scallion, finishes it off. Use blue borage flowers for pops of color throughout your spread. Whip till you have big generous swoops of soft cheese speckled with broccoli and flowers. Use on mourning bagels, spread on sandwiches or stirred into pasta. Keeps for 2 weeks in your fridge.
Ingredients
- 1 head broccoli, but into small florets
- 3 cloves Garlic, Sliced 1/4 inch thick=
- Olive oil
- Salt
- Black Pepper
- 250g (1 cup) cream cheese
- 100g (3/4 cup + 2 tablespoon) feta cheese
- 30g (3 tablespoon) cream
- 10-15 borage flowers
Instructions
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In a medium bowl toss small broccoli florets and sliced garlic in olive oil and salt. Spread out across the whole sheet pan with parchment paper. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Bake for 12-15 minutes until crispy. Cool completely. Roughly chop.
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In a stand mixer with a whisk attachment add cream cheese, feta cheese, and cream. Whip till light. Gently fold in broccoli mixture, followed by borage flowers. Store in an airtight container.
Romeo Coleman of Coleman Family Farms in Carpinteria tells Market Report correspondent Gillian Ferguson that along with radish and rapini blossoms, the yellow flowers of wood sorrel have a citrus flavor and pair nicely with fish dishes. He remembers running through the fields and chewing on the sorrel stalks as a child. "It's something that makes your face pucker," he recalls. At the request of chef CJ Jacobson, who returned from staging at Noma, Coleman began bringing blossoms to market.