If the thought of making a flavored butter with flowers from the backyard sounds kind of crazy, think again. Nasturtium petals have an interesting, but very subtle radish flavor that works perfectly in this colorful compound butter.
The predatory Nasturtium is considered a pest by many gardeners, so not only will you be creating a colorful and unique sauce, you'll be helping out a neighbor by taking some of these vibrantly colored villains off their hands.Nasturtium butter sure looks sexy, slowly melting over grilled fish, chicken, or vegetables. By the way, some of you fellas may want to take note; anecdotal evidence shows this to be a great idea the next time you're cooking for date night. Enjoy!
Ingredients:
1/2 stick (1/4 cup) unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 cup nasturtium flower petals, washed and patted dry
pinch of salt
10 comments:
I just love this. I often use the flowers for decoration and I have always know they are edible. They look so pretty in the butter, unfortunately not enough flowers on mine at the moment but...I will remember :)
would it work if the petals are dried out? as in maybe putting them a tiny bit on the oven.
My guess that dried they would keep for a while in a zipbag or so, ready to use for this.
On the other hand im thinking that if you dont use them much, is rather pointless.
I've been intrigued by edible flowers lately. I just did a whole post on Tulips.
I was wondering...would I be able to make this butter with Lilacs?
Very interesting recipe.
Thanks for sharing and flavourful wishes, Claudia
When I was a small child I loved to eat the nasturtium leaves from my mother's nasturtium plants. They were so good and often thought that they would be yummy in salads. Have you tried that?
However, I have never tried the flowers and was not aware that they were good also. This looks so great!
I need to find a friend with nasturtiums or simply skulk around and find some to steal--even better.
Thanks for this recipe.
Jackie
i believe using the fresh petals with all the natural oils and compounds is key.
Thank you chef john!
Looks great. Had not heard of this before, but I'm always looking for new flavors to throw into our old favorites. Thanks for this, the video helped a lot.
i'll be looking for some Nasturtium flowers now. hope i can find some here.
I've definitely heard of using these in salads, but never in a butter, what a novel idea. It's truly beautiful!
Re: the individual asking about drying for preserving, and Chef John's response regarding fresh being best (to include the oils and compounds)...
Just thought I'd comment that drying is one method for preservation, which does lose certain compounds, but that this recipe itself is another form of preservation (mixing in with fats, here in the form of butter). Butter can in fact be frozen for up to six months, and will preserve the natural components of whatever is infused into it. IMHO, if you're going to put the item in butter anyway, you're better off putting it in the butter and freezing it, rather than drying it for butter infusion later. You will preserve much more of the goodness that way.
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