Honey And Lavender Glazed Fruit Food

BLACK FRUITS IN LAVENDER HONEY GLAZE

Steps:

• 1. In a small bowl, whisk together lavender honey glaze ingredients until well combined.
• 2. In a large bowl, combine fruits for salad.
• 3. Pour lavender honey glaze over fruits and toss gently to coat.
• 4. Garnish with fresh lavender blossom sprigs.
• Lavender, which is used in many Provencal French dishes, adds a fragrant note to this fruit salad. Sage or thyme also works well.
• Nutritional Stats: Calories 127; Protein 1.2g; Fat 0.6g; Calories from Fat 4%; Carbohydrate 32g; Cholesterol 0mg; Fiber 3.3g; Sodium 2mg.

LAVENDER HONEY CUPCAKES

Steps:

• For the cupcakes: Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Line 2 cupcake or muffin pans with 18 cupcake liners.
• Sift the flour, baking soda and salt into a medium bowl. Cream the honey, buttermilk and vegetable oil until they are immersed together, about 5 minutes, in the bowl of a stand up electric mixer with a paddle attachment. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add each egg one at a time, scraping down the sides after each addition. Turn the mixer on low speed and add the flour mixture about 3/4 cup at a time. Slowly add the lavender flowers and lavender oil to create a smooth batter.
• Fill the cupcake liners three-quarters full with the batter and bake until golden brown and baked through, about 30 minutes. Cool the cupcakes completely.
• For the tangerine vanilla mascarpone cream: Blend the mascarpone, honey and vanilla by hand, until the cream is smooth and incorporated. Add the juice and zest. Mix for 15 seconds. Put the cream into a 24-inch pastry bag with half of the tip cut off. Mix together the sanding sugar and tangerine zest.
• Pipe the tangerine vanilla mascarpone cream on top of each cooled cupcake. Sprinkle the top with the sanding sugar mixture.

PASTA WITH LAVENDER

Steps:

• Bring a large pot of water to a boil and salt it. Shred vegetables, using a food processor, grater or knife. Put olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat and add garlic. When it starts to brown, stir and add vegetables. Sprinkle them with salt and pepper, add a bit of lavender and cook, stirring occasionally, until they barely soften, just 5 minutes or so.
• Meanwhile, cook pasta until it is just barely tender, a little less cooked than it would be to serve it. Drain, reserving some cooking water. Add pasta to vegetables and continue to cook, adding water as necessary to keep mixture moist.
• Taste, and add more lavender to taste; it should be distinctive but not too strong. When pasta and vegetables are tender but not mushy, adjust seasoning for salt and pepper, garnish with a couple of lavender flowers if you have them, and serve.

MACERATED FRUIT

Steps:

• Combine your ingredients of choice in a medium bowl and toss together until the fruit is evenly coated. For inspiration, try some of my favorite fruit, herb and spice combinations, such as Peach and Ginger, Blackberry and Mint, Cherry and Cinnamon and Strawberry and Vanilla.
• Cover the bowl with reusable or regular plastic wrap and refrigerate for 24 hours, stirring about halfway through and gently pressing the fruit with a rubber spatula until the liquid completely covers the fruit.
• After the 24 hours, strain the liquid through a fine-mesh sieve, gently pressing on the fruit with a rubber spatula to extract as much juice as possible. Reserve both the fruit and the liquid. Discard any other solids, such as herb sprigs, whole spices or aromatics.
• Serving suggestions for the macerated fruit: Serve immediately on top of yogurt with granola, or desserts, such as grilled pound cake or ice cream. You can also muddle the fruit into cocktails or add it to sangria. The fruit can be refrigerated in an airtight container for up to 3 or 4 days or frozen for up to 6 months. Thaw before serving.
• The macerated liquid can be refrigerated in an airtight container for up to 1 week or frozen in an ice cube tray. Once frozen, cover with reusable or regular plastic wrap and freeze for up to 6 months. You can use a small offset spatula to help remove individual cubes from the tray, then thaw the macerated liquid as needed.
• Serving suggestions for the macerated liquid:
• Homemade soda: For 1 serving, pour 1/4 cup macerated liquid in a tall glass filled with ice, top with 12 ounces sparkling water and serve.
• Fruit shrub: For the shrub base, combine 1 part macerated liquid with 1 part apple cider vinegar (for example, 1/2 cup of each). Mix to evenly combine. For 1 serving, pour 1/4 cup of the shrub base into a tall glass filled with ice, top with 12 ounces sparkling water and serve.
• Fruit vinaigrette: Turn your shrub base (see above) into a vinaigrette. Whisk 1 part shrub base with 1 part neutral oil (such as canola, grapeseed or vegetable oil; for example, 1/4 cup of each) in a bowl until emulsified. Season the vinaigrette with salt and pepper. Refrigerate in an airtight container for up to 5 days.
• Fruit syrup: Bring the macerated liquid to a boil in a small saucepan over medium heat. Cook until reduced by half and thickened to the consistency of maple syrup-it should coat the back of a spoon without running off very quickly. Let the syrup cool completely, then serve over ice cream, pancakes, oatmeal, or yogurt and granola. The syrup also makes for a great gift when poured into a jar. It can be refrigerated in an airtight container for up to 1 week.

DUCK GLAZED WITH HONEY AND LAVENDER (OR HERBES DE PROVENCE)

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
• Using a mortar and pestle or spice grinder, finely grind half of the lavender (or herbes de provence), thyme, sea salt, and peppercorns.
• Set aside the ground herb rub mix.
• Remove excess fat and skin from duck neck and inside cavity.
• Remove giblets (reserve liver only).
• Thoroughly rinse duck and pat dry with paper towels.
• With very sharp paring knife, carefully score duck breast in criss-cross pattern, making sure to cut through skin and fat only (do not cut into the flesh or"meat" of the duck).
• Rub herb mix into both inside the cavity and the outside of the duck.
• Place liver back into the prepared duck cavity.
• Put duck onto rack inside a roasting pan, breast side up and roast for 2 hours (do not baste during initial roasting).
• Remove duck from oven and increase the oven temperature to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.
• Put the duck on a platter and carefully pour pan juices into large glass measuring cup.
• Spoon off all but about 1 tablespoon of the clear duck fat into a glass dish and refrigerate to use in other dishes as a sauté medium, for example.
• Pour pan juices and the 1 tablespoon of the duck fat back to the roasting pan and add the chicken broth and wine.
• Put duck back on the rack in the roasting pan and brush with about half of the honey.
• Roast the duck for about 20 minutes, basting at least once with the pan juice/broth/wine mixture.
• Remove the duck from the oven and brush with the rest of the honey, then sprinkle the duck about 1 teaspoon of the lavender or herbes de provence and return to the oven to roast about 5 minutes more.
• Depending on the size of the duck, it may take a bit longer; it is ready to remove from the oven when a meat thermometer inserted into the innermost duck thigh registers 180 degrees Fahrenheit.
• When duck is done, remove from the oven and put it on a platter to rest.
• Remove the liver from the duck cavity and mash finely in a small bowl to be used on crackers or small toasted baguette slices.
• Pour pan juices from the roaster into a saucepan, making sure to scrape up browned bits.
• Add the remaining lavender or herbes de provence to the saucepan, along with salt and pepper to taste and place over medium heat.
• Bring the juices to a boil, whisking often, and cook until the sauce is thickened and coats the back of a spoon.
• Taste and add more salt and pepper if needed.
• Transfer the sauce to a bowl and serve with sliced duck at the table.

HOMEMADE LAVENDER HONEY

Steps:

• Warm the honey in a small saucepan over low heat. Stir in the lavender. Remove from the heat, cover, and let stand at room temperature for 24 hours.
• Warm the honey again over low heat until it is liquid enough to pour freely. Strain through a wire sieve (I place a clean paper coffee filter inside the mesh strainer), into a clean jar. Cool and cover.
• Store in the refrigerator for up to 6 months. Serve at room temperature.