African Vanielje on Sep 04 2007 at 1:08 am | Filed under: Uncategorized
Complimentary colours seem to be the flavour of the month. Here I have just been waxing lyrical about the inspiration of colours, and I have been asked to host this month’s TGRWT (I’ve even done a little sleuthing and discovered what this acronym stands for) and They do Go Really Well Together. The combination I’ve chosen for this event, I mean.
I entered last months combo challenge which was chocolate and meat , hosted by the lovely Amrita at Le Petite Boulanger, and it was challenging. Based on the study of molecular gastronomy a la Heston and El Bulli , the event was started by Martin and you can visit his blog if you need a little more of a scientific explanation. Me, I just like playing with food, and I like unusual combinations, as long as TGRWT. There’s nothing more disappointing than ‘Fusion Food’ that doesn’t. Fuse.
But I’m already drooling and painting a mental picture with this month’s pairing: Apple & Lavender ! That sounds like a summer cocktail doesn’t it? Or a warm milk sponge pudding? Oh, the possibilities are endless, so get your palettes out, and your aprons on, and start working on your masterpieces. You have until October 1st. Don’t forget to make them 4-D artworks: colour, smell, taste, and styling, and let us know how you did it. Now concentrate, this is the rules part:
‘This is how you can participate in TGRWT #6
1. Prepare a dish that combines apple and lavender. You can either use an existing recipe (if there is any) or come up with your own.
2. Take a picture of the dish and write an entry in your blog by October 1st with TGRWT #6 in the title, and a link to this blog would be good too. Readers will be particularly interested in how the flavour pairing worked out, so make an attempt at describing the taste and aroma and whether you liked it or not.
2a. (added sep 06th) Please make sure you post in the month of September 2007, using a recipe you have not posted before. And please make sure it is only entered in this event. This keeps everything interesting and fair.
3. A round-up will be posted here (with pictures). Please send an email to africanvanielje@vanielje.com with the following details:
Your name,
URL of blog,
URL of the TGRWT #6 post
and a 100 x 100 pixel picture for your entry in the round-up.
If you don’t have a blog, email me your name,location, recipe and a brief description of how it worked out and I’ll be glad to include it in the final round-up.’
Okay, that’s the formal stuff out of the way, for any other stuff feel free to ask if you are unsure of anything, although apple & lavender guys, it’s pretty simple. Looking forward to a feast. See you at the party!
For those who need help sourcing culinary lavender try here
oh! That sounds wonderful..I am all reading thinking of sweets…but then, what’s new? But the combinations sounds lovely, very victorian novel, don’t you think?
Oh, what an interesting combination! I’ll try to come up with something!
marye, that’s a great analogy, you’re right, it makes me think of things like violet cordial. Looking forward to your creation
Anne, I’m sure you’ll come up with something with the perfect Swedish cool, as usual.
It is a lovely combination, isn’t it?
Hmmmmm, I made some lavender biscuits a while back, that I liked…kids weren’t too keen though, I’m already starting to taste the combination in my mind. I like it!
glad to have you with us kit, I bet you grow your own lavender. I haven’t got any but the Somerset Organic Lavender Farm is literally up the road, and the one thing we do have here is apples
Woo-hoo! I knew I’d been closeting that lavender sugar away for a reason. I’m so inspired by this, thank you. I can’t wait to start tinkering away with apples and lavender.
Got some fresh lavender in my garden so I’m looking forward to this combination
charlotte & dennis. the more the merrier. My mind is spinning with possibilities. We’re going to need a lot of participants to cover them all. It’s just such an inspirational combination isn’t it. It makes you want to play.
Thinking cap on! I’d been thinking I wanted to cook something with lavender. Apple and lavender sounds yummy!
You’ve challenge me! I’ve never cooked with lavender, so this will be a total first for me. I’ll see what I can come up with!
Amanda and andrea, welcome on board. It’s great isn’t it? It seems at once so familiar but also so foreign. They sound like they should go, but then try and think of an actual recipe….This is going to be intriguing
wow, this actually DOES sound good:)
thanks evelin, hope you’re going to give it a try
Ugh! Your combination haunted me all last night and this morning I actually woke up with two lavender and apple creations in my head. You would think I could come up with something more entertaining to dream about!!! Seriously, this sounds like a challenge that I am looking forward to. Good choice.
I’m new to this, but it sounds great. There’s an old Dutch traditional called ‘Hete Bliksem’, which translates to Hot Lighting. Combination of apples, potatoes and treacle. I’d like to combine that with my homegrown lavender. Homegrown traditional apples too, btw.
Lizet, Spinazieacademie, the Netherlands.
PP, it’ll have to be something super special to make up for a sleepless night.
Lizet, welcome, I’m new to this too as I have never hosted an event before. Your cake sounds lovely (and homegrown – great). For a homegrown event check out Andrea’s grow your own. Link on my beetroot risotto post
This may be a silly question, but where does one buy lavender? I can honestly say I have never baked or cooked with it!!
Ill give ‘er a go if I can find some lavender.
Hi slush. Culinary lavender needs to be organic (so unsprayed). You can probabely get some at your local health food shop. Also try a plant cnetre for fresh but make sure it is unsprayed. I have also just added a link to a mail order place in the US on the apple & lavender post, so give that a try. Good luck, i’d so like you to join
Hot lighting is a kind of mash, a sidedish to pork, or roasted chicken or turkey. This oldtime recipe really needs a modern flavour to it.
lizet, I’m sorry, but actually an apple & potato mash sounds intriguing. Have you tried to update it withlavender yet?
Last night made mash with 6 mediumsized potatoes and 6 ditto Lemoen-apples (sour cooking apples type dating back to 18th Century). I cooked the potatoes in the jacket seperately, and stewed the appels in half white wine and water and 4 sprigs of lavender. Smelled great. Peeled the potatoes, added them to apples, stirred to a lumpy mash, with enough salt and pepper. Great flavour and lavender smell, absolute improvement of the original dish, but…. lacking in colour. Very subtle addition to a veal cutlett. Now I’m developping some ideas about improving a lavender colour to this dish.
BTW: apple sorbet ice with a sprinkling of lavenderbuds in honey are not a bad combination too. Also needs some refinement.
Lizet, you’re really entering into the spirit of exploration, thank you. I can;t wait to see your final recipe
As a food historian I love to work with the old varieties of veggies and fruit. Lavender seems not to be a kitchen-ingredient through history. There is a 17th century recipe for lavender conserved in sugar, 1:3 lavender:sugar. To be used after a week in a dark and cool place. It is stated it will keep for about a year. To mix these days, we would use a blender. You can also add lavender to honey, of include it while making apple jelly. So much for history today
Awww.I wish I could join!! But im having examinations!! Plus, the kitchen is under renovation! :’(
hey!! just emailed you my entry…hope it’s not too late!! it’s still the 1st oct here, so got there in the nick of time:)