It took me a while to come up with an entry for the March Royal Food Joust hosted by The Leftover Queen/Foodie Blogroll Forum. The mystery ingredients for this month are: shallots, orange and edible flowers. I have never cooked with edible flowers before. About the only time I even tasted them was when we visited my brother in law in the South of France and I had a lavender creme brulee from the local bistro in Brignoles. It took some time to get used to it but eventually, we kept going back there for coffee just so I can have more of the creme brulee. However, I never did try to make it at home.

For my entry, I made a lavender-braised pear, the inspiration of which was the braised pear recipe I learned from the one cooking class I attended in San Diego.  The original recipe was spiced red wine. In my recipe, I used dried lavender buds, orange juice, orange zest, vanilla and red wine.  This dish alone is great to serve as dessert with the sauce and a scoop of vanilla ice cream!

The pears are also great to serve with gorgonzola cheese and orange segments.  The lavender essence was very mild on the pears so I made an orange-lavender vinaigrette to pour over the salad.

Ingredients:

• lavender-braised pears, 4 slices (recipe below)
• 8 segments mandarin oranges
• 2 cups salad greens (if you have edible flower this would be perfect to add, too!)
• 1/2 cup cherry or grape tomatoes
• 1/3 cup gorgonzola cheese
• salt and pepper to taste
• Orange-Lavender Vinaigrette (recipe below)

Directions:

1. Combine all ingredients in a bowl and  pour vinaigrette.  Carefully mix until all coated.
2. Serve with a nice crusty bread like ciabatta or baguette.

For the Lavender-Braised Pears:

Ingredients:

• 4 pears (any kind), ripe but still firm, peeled and quartered
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 3/4 cup orange juice
• 3/4 cup red wine (good one!)
• 2 tsp crushed dried lavender buds
• 1 tsp vanilla extract (or 1 vanilla bean if you have it)
• 4 round slices oranges

Directions:

1. In a non-reactive pan, combine all ingredients except pears and bring to a boil. Add pears and simmer for 30 – 45 minutes until pears are tender.
2. Let cool and then refrigerate for at least 4 hours (overnight is best!)

Orange-Lavender Vinaigrette:

Ingredients:

• 1 tbs shallots, minced
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 2 tsp dried lavender, crushed
• 1/3 cup orange juice
• 1/4 cup dry sherry wine
• 1 tsp orange zest
• salt and pepper to tast
• 1 tbs lavender-scented honey (or regular honey is fine)
• about 1/2 cup olive oil

Directions:

1. In a blender or food processor, combine shallots, garlic and lavender and  blended until all crushed. Add orange juice, orange zest, honey, salt and pepper and mix.
2. Slowly add olive oil until you get your preferred consistency for vinaigrette. Blend for another 1 minute.
3. Keep refrigerated.

I had so much fun cooking with lavender that I made other dishes incorporating it which I will be posting in the next few days:

• Grilled Lamb Riblets with Orange-Lavender Marinade
• Lavender and Sausage Wild Rice Risotto
• Orange Lavender Focaccia (or breadsticks!)

I wish I could enter all of them!

If you have any exciting recipe using edible flowers, shallots and oranges, come on over to the The Leftover Queen/Foodie Blogroll Forum
and share it with us.You can also view all the other amazing entries.

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