Chive Flowers

This is the time of year when the ever-useful and ever-hardy chives begin to blossom their delicate purple puffs. Who knew that these purple flowers are not only beautiful but edible!

Some people pop them off the plant and use the flowers as garnishes for soups or salads. While I'm sure this would be a both beautiful and tasty way to add color to your plate, I went looking for a recipe to actually incorporate the flowers into a dish. Because how often do you actually get to cook a savory dish with something that's purple?

Chive Flower Butter
- 1 stick butter, room temperature
- a handful of chive flowers, rinsed and chopped.

In a smallish bowl, mix petals with butter. When the petals are evenly incorporated, put butter on plastic wrap and refrigerate or freeze for future use.

This made the prettiest stick of butter I've ever seen, with a somewhat strong garlicy onion taste. I used it when making chicken nuggets this week, and the result was a very flavorful coating on the nuggets. I was pleased. And I don't even like onion flavors!

Honey Mustard Salad Dressing

Because I got free salad and free mustard.

3 T mustard (I used Grey Poupon, plus a squirt of yellow mustard for color)
3 T honey
3/8 C mayo
1 T lemon juice

Mix together. Serve over salad, or as a dipping sauce for chicken fingers.

Spicy Sausage Tomato Sauce

Last weekend, after visiting the farmers market, we ventured to a popular butcher shop in town, Joe's Butcher Shop. It was very busy at the time, and really felt like a meat market- crowded, people reaching and talking over one another, with lots of high-quality cuts of meat visible behind the glass in the small shop. Next time I go, it will be a weekday. Anyway, we bought some meat to try- one pound of brats and one pound of "hot Italian sausage". We had grilled up both brats and sausage before, and we went home promptly to do that fro lunch. We each had a brat, and my husband wanted to try a sausage as well... they weren't kidding about the "Hot" designation.

Now that I figured out that the sausage was not to be eaten plain, I have 3 more in the freezer that I need to find something to do with. With a few tomatoes about to go bad, I made a decision last night to make spaghetti sauce- and amazingly had everything on hand. In the middle of cooking, I found out we were having a guest for dinner, so it was good there was enough. Here's what I did:

Spicy Sausage Tomato Sauce
1 large hot italian sausage
4 small tomatoes
1 can diced tomatoes
1 can tomato sauce
2 small onions, diced
2 Tbsp minced garlic (I use the canned minced garlic)
2 tsp dried oregano
3 T. chopped fresh parsley (or more)
3 T. chopped fresh basil (or more)
2 Tbsp oil
1/4 C carrots, shredded

Cut sausage casing and brown sausage in a small amount of oil, breaking it up into small pieces. Add fresh & diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, garlic, oregano, onions, and oil. Cook about 5 minutes, add the carrots, parsley & basil & cook 3-4 minutes more.

Serve over pasta. Serves 4.

The sauce was delicious, affirmed by my husband and my guest. The downside: I served it over freezer ravioli that was a bit freezer burned, and that made for a less-pleasant meal. The sauce recipe is definitely a keeper, though.