Cooking with Color
Nettle Pesto Linguine with Edible Flowers
Words by Alison Bryce Recipe & Photos by Heather Barnes
While chefs oftentimes come up with new creations by trying to form a certain flavor, Heather Barnes starts by thinking about what the finished product will look like. With the use of fresh ingredients from local farmers markets and shops, she mixes her artistic background with her love of cooking to create a masterpiece both beautiful and tasteful.
It all started years ago when Heather’s husband gifted her culinary school for her birthday. She immediately knew she had discovered a new found love. Wanting to build upon her knowledge, she enrolled in a raw vegan course which is where she learned how to create inventive plant dishes with coconut and cashews serving as the base for nearly every recipe. She furthered her appreciation for appetite with herbalism school which is where she started learning how to incorporate flowers and herbs into her everyday cooking.
“I [strive] to use more flowers and herbs in my cooking and make herbalism accessible to the average person who doesn’t know all these folk methods,” says Heather. “I want to encourage people to use what’s in their yard, to not spray flowers but to eat them.”
Even after learning new techniques, she still envisions the final product and colors it will produce before beginning the creative process. The Pesto Linguine with edible flowers came to be after asking the question: what dish can be created using purple and green?
Always having a color wheel out, the thought process goes a little something like this. “‘What colors can I mix together?’ Purple and green. So what’s purple and green? Green linguine. So spinach based pasta; I’ll make a green pesto, and then I’ll add bright colors that contrast so it is not just one flat color.”
From there, it’s an add and check process. Add an ingredient, check how it tastes. Add something of color, keep it if it looks right or carefully remove it if it doesn’t work.
Through it all, the goal is to keep the recipes simple and healthy. Heather enthuses about her passion to keep it easy but unique. “I want to do more elevated, more floral and herbal recipes that are also simple to make.”
Dandelion Quiche
Makes: 8 servings
Prep time: 20-25 minutes
Cook time: 40 minutes
Ingredients:
1 large bunch of dandelion greens
Olive oil
5 large eggs
1/2 red onion, finely chopped
1/2 c. mushrooms, chopped
2 garlic cloves, chopped
1/2 c. milk
3/4 c. Gruyère cheese
Salt and pepper to taste
1 pie crust (prebaked)
2 t. rosemary, chopped
Directions: Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Wash and de-stem the dandelion greens. Sauté in olive oil on medium for five minutes to remove the bitterness. Drain, pat dry, and chop. Set aside.
Sauté the onion on medium to low heat for 7 minutes or until soft. Add in chopped garlic, mushrooms, and dandelion. Sauté for a few more minutes until veggies are tender. Season with salt, pepper, and rosemary.
Meanwhile, in a separate bowl, whisk eggs and milk together. Gently stir egg and milk mixture into the cooking vegetables. Then mix in the grated Gruyère cheese.
Pour mixture into pie pan and bake for 40 minutes. Set to cool. Sprinkle with yellow petals of dandelions on top and serve.
Nettle Pesto Linguine with Edible Flowers
Makes: 4 servings
Prep time: 25 minutes
Cook time: 15 minutes
Ingredients:
1 pkg. spinach linguine noodles
1 watermelon radish, thinly sliced
1/2 c. peas
Edible flowers
Pesto Ingredients:
1 bunch nettles (approx. 2 cups)
3 garlic cloves
Pinch of salt and pepper
3 T. pine nuts
1/4 c. Romano cheese, grated
2/3 c. olive oil
Optional Ingredients: If you don’t have access to nettles, basil, parsley, or mint will also work.
Directions: Boil nettles in water for 2 minutes. Drain, and remove moisture with paper towels. Then chop coarsely. Toss them into food processor with the rest of the ingredients. Slowly stream in the olive oil.
Add additional salt to taste.
Pasta Directions: Bring pot of water to boil. Add in linguine and cook to al dente for about 4 minutes. Drain and set aside.
Bring another pot of water to boil and add peas. Cook for about 5 minutes, then strain.
Finely slice watermelon radish for a garnish.
Combine pesto with pasta and peas. Sprinkle on any edible flowers available! I used marigold, chamomile, borage, mint flowers, and basil from F-stop Farm.
Contact:
heatherbarnes.com
@AForagersFeast
