Pretty Flower Power

Since my true passion lies in food, wine, and cooking, I tend to talk a lot about all three, even at my day job. I’ve found sharing your interests is the best way to connect with likeminded people, plus they always have great tips and recommendations for you to try out.

I was chatting with a person in our office last week, who recently hired on, regarding work stuff and somehow our conversation turned to food and wine (big shocker there😊). We were talking about where we buy produce and she asked if I had been to or heard of Specialty Produce. I had not, so she filled me in on the variety of fruits and vegetables they carry. She also mentioned many local restaurants purchase from them so everything is really fresh due to high turnover. It took a lot in me not to head over that same day, but I decided to wait until the weekend so I’d have plenty of time to check the place out.

The hubs and I decided to head there on a Saturday after a day of running errands. The building isn’t well marked and it’s not readily visible from the main road or highway, so maybe that’s why I hadn’t heard about it in the past. The front door is small and non conspicuous, but it had a sign pointing us in the right direction to enter. We walked through a long hallway to a station set up with tablets to create user accounts. I guess we looked like newbies because a staff member came out and asked if we wanted a tour of the store. I (very excitedly) said yes and off we went! She began pointing out all the different areas for edible flowers (amazing), fruits, vegetables, cheese, spices, and so much more. I tried containing my excitement, but I felt like a little kid in a candy store.

After our tour guide let us loose we decided to pick up a few things for the weekend. The first place we went back to was the edible flower and fresh herb cooler. I had never cooked with edible flowers in the past, but they were so pretty I couldn’t resist taking some home. And to be completely honest I knew the colors would make for a beautiful blog post, no matter what I decided to create.

I went with a very simple recipe that not only showcased the flower’s colors, but was yummy too! Now onto this flower power dish.

Ingredients:

25 count edible flowers

Sourdough bread loaf sliced

Mascarpone cheese

Honey to drizzle

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Once to temperature place a few slices of bread and toast up for 6-7 minutes. Pull slices out of oven and spread with mascarpone cheese, top with flowers, and drizzle with honey. Serve as a dessert, a light appetizer, or with brunch.

Wine to pair?

This one was a bit difficult for me, but I think a sparkling wine or even a Riesling goes well with this dish. Since I think it’s a great brunch dish I’m leaning towards bubbles, but a nice bright light white wine works well. So serve this pretty dish up at your next event and impress your guests with a color wheel that’s almost to pretty to eat. Cheers!