Yorkton and District Horticultural Society

Nasturtiums are one of those great garden plants that are completely user-friendly!  Not only do they do well in full sun and poor soil, they can also tolerate dry conditions.  And guess what else?  You can eat the flowers and leaves

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Stuffed Nasturtium Leaves

My Mom was a wonderful cook, as fearless in the kitchen as she was in the garden, as eager to try new recipes as she was to try new garden plants!  Let’s adopt that wonderful attitude with our cooking today!  I was always so happy to enjoy her company in the kitchen, and when she’d be cooking I’d ask “how muuch of this or that do we add?”.  Like most wonderful chefs, she seasoned by instinct, and it was always delicious!

Mom had a dressing recipe that  can be used for bean salad, for pasta salad, with rice, you name it!  I think she’d enjoy using it this way!

Today, let’s use it with orzo to make  stuffed nasturtium leaves.  If you don’t have orzo, use rice.

Cook half a package of orzo till done.  Drain, and cool.

Mix up Mom’s dressing recipe as follows:

¾ cup sugar

2/3 cup vinegar

1/3 cup salad oil

one teaspoon each of salt and pepper or to taste

Combine dressing with cooled orzo, but do it gradually to attain the right texture.  You want the orzo to be moist and stick together, but not too wet.

Now comes the fun part: add whatever you like for flavors:  very finely chopped onion, grated lemon zest, sunflower seeds, chopped parsely or dill (or any other herb), or finely shredded cheese.  Just remember that the leaves are small, so your don’t want to add anything too chunky.  Add a bit more dressing if needed to get the proper consistency.

Wash and dry your nasturtium leaves, removing the stem.  Place a scant spoonful of filling on each leaf. spread it out, and roll up the leaf to look like a cigar,

securing with a toothpick.

A cool summer canapé!

 

Stuffed Nasturtium Flowers

 After reading various recipes for this, I began to see that the recipes for stuffed nasturtium flowers are much like the recipes for stuffed mushroom caps.  They all begin with the same basic ingredients, and vary with the flavorings.

So, let’s make up our own right now!

Take one 8 ounce block of cream cheese.  Soften, and mix till creamy.

That wasn’t difficult!

Now, add in the flavors of your choice, keeping in mind that the nasturtium blooms are very delicate, so you don’t want a very over-powering flavor.

Some possibilities are:  lemon zest and a squirt of lemon juice

chopped thyme or parsley

finely chopped nasturtium flowers

very finely chopped walnuts

Wash and dry your nasturtium flowers, then gently spoon in one teaspoon of the filling (or slightly more, depending on the size of the flower) into each flower.

they’ll look amazing, and they’ll be your own creation for taste!

Debbie Hayward

 

 

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