Spring orzo salad

I love to experiment with spring flavors, and last Saturday was the first farmers’ market of the year, giving me the perfect opportunity. I couldn’t wait to hop onto my bike and ride downtown to the market, which was bustling with families hungry to be outdoors. I picked up some dark wildflower honey, bok choy, potato onions (which are related to shallots and similar to scallions), and beautiful flowering chives.

Tucking the honey into a cabinet to wait for us to scrape the dregs of our current jar, I dug around my kitchen and yard for ingredients to add to the rest of my finds and came up with a spring orzo salad. Have you had orzo? It’s a rice-shaped pasta that I grew up eating in Greek pilaf. It’s the perfect pasta for a salad with delicate ingredients like herb flowers.

I wanted to use the blossoms as well as the chives themselves, and this got me thinking about herbs and their flowers. I made a pesto with the chives and some herbs from my garden, which, in this case, included Greek oregano, rosemary, and sage, but you could come up with your own combination. The rosemary and sage were both flowering, so I plucked a handful of each type of blossom and added them to the salad. What represents spring more than flowers?

This salad is extra springalicious if you stir in a few teaspoons of violet water, which I will cover in my next post. The combination of flowers and herbs is like a spring explosion for your tastebuds.

Spring orzo salad

• 8 oz orzo or other tiny pasta (whole wheat if you can find it)
• 1 bunch bok choy
• 1 cup mixed herbs
• 1 garlic clove
• 1 tbs pine nuts
• Zest and juice of 1 lemon
• Olive oil
• Handful of radishes, chopped
• Potato onions or green onions, chopped
• 2 cups chickpeas
• Sea salt and pepper to taste
• 1-2 cups herb flowers (if using chive blossoms, separate the individual flowers)

Cook the orzo according to package instructions. Chop the bok choy stems (not much bigger than the orzo) and coarsely chop the leaves. Saute the bok choy in olive oil until the stems are softened and the leaves wilted. Stir into orzo and let cool.

Blend the next three ingredients in a food processor or pestle and mortar, adding 1 tsp lemon juice and enough olive oil to make the pesto saucy. Once the orzo and bok choy have cooled to room temperature, stir in the pesto, radishes, onions, chickpeas, and lemon zest. Season with salt and pepper to taste. If you’re using violet water, stir in a couple of teaspoons along with the remaining lemon juice. Gently mix in the flowers, reserving some to sprinkle over the top.

Happy spring!

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Queen of Hungary water

If you live up north, hurry up and pick some rosemary from your garden before the frost zaps it. If you’re in a more temperate zone, like me, you’ve got all winter, but you won’t want to wait once you read about the special concoction I’ve got for you today.

Queen of Hungary water is rumored to be the first alcohol-based perfume in Europe. Its origins are a bit uncertain. Some sources say the queen received it as a gift from a monk, while others claim it came from a court alchemist. Still other sources attribute it to the Roma, who often sold herbal remedies. All of the oldest recipes vary in ingredients, but they all include rosemary, that most useful of herbs, and many are little more than rosemary water.

Hungary water was the most popular perfume and herbal remedy (topical and internal) in the world (my sources say the world, but I am reluctant to believe it got further than Europe and its colonies) until eau de Cologne was invented in Germany in the eighteenth century. (In fact, the latter’s creator, Giovanni Maria Farina opened in 1709 what is now known as the oldest fragrance factory in the world. The term “eau de Cologne” is now used generically.)

Seventeenth-century herbalist and physician Nicholas Culpepper called Hungary water an “admirable cure-all remedy of all kinds of cold and humidity-induced head ailments, apoplexies, epilepsies, dizziness, lethargy, crippleness, nerves diseases, rheumatism, flaws, spasms, loss of memory, coma, drowsiness, deafness, ear buzzing, derangement of vision, blood coagulation, mood-induced headaches headaches. Relieves toothache, useful for stomach cramps, pleuritis, lack of appetite, indigestion, obstruction of the liver, obstruction of the spleen, intestinal obstruction and contraction of the uterus. It receives and preserves natural heat, restores body functions and capabilities even at late age (saying has it). There are not many remedies producing that many good effects. Use internally in wine or vodka, rinse temples, breath in with your nose.”

I’ve seen a version of Queen of Hungary water sold at Neiman Marcus in tiny bottles for $86, so it’s definitely worth experimenting on your own. What follows is Rosemary Gladstar’s recipe. She’s a top-notch herbalist, so I tried hers first. And I like that she used vinegar instead of alcohol because it’s better for an astringent or toner. Alcohol can be drying. If you want to make a fragrance, substitute vodka or brandy. Either one could be ingested, but don’t forget that I’m not a professional. Please take responsibility for your own health.

Queen of Hungary water (vinegar base)

• 6 parts lemon balm
• 4 parts chamomile
• 1 part rosemary
• 3 parts calendula
• 4 parts roses
• 1 part lemon peel
• 1 part sage
• 3 parts comfrey leaf
• apple cider vinegar to cover
• rose water or witch hazel extract

Pour the herbs into a jar and cover with vinegar. I also added rosemary flowers since my plant was in bloom. Close the lid tightly and let sit in a warm spot for two to three weeks. Strain the herbs out as best you can. To each cup of herbal vinegar add 1/2 – 1 cup of rose water or witch hazel. I used a little of both. If the vinegar smell makes you wince, add a few drops of rose or lavender essential oil. Keep in a glass jar or bottle. It will last indefinitely. And don’t use it near your eyes!

Clockwise from dish: chamomile, calendula, comfrey root (couldn’t find leaves), rose petals

Rosemary flowers

Fresh sage, rosemary, rosemary flowers, and lemon balm

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