Farfalle Primavera ai Fiori del Giardino

"I'll just get a couple of things."  When I say that, I don't believe myself.  I am worse than a kid inside a candy shop when I enter food heaven a.k.a. specialty food shops.  I do try my best to keep myself focused on the essential food that made me take a trip there in the first place but I always lose the battle of self-control.  

My husband wouldn't stop badgering me when, on one occasion, I went inside a specialty food shop to buy some mozzarella.  We went in, he went out, he went back, I was still browsing, with a little mountain of food accumulating at the counter, and yet another mountain was forming beside it.  Finally, after piling 4 bags of food in the car, he asked me if I got the mozzarella.  "What mozzarella?" 

One of my recent acquisitions is a pack of beautiful naturally colored farfalle primavera.  When a beautiful sunny day came out, it was apropos to prepare it for lunch.  I got stuck though with which sauce to mix it.  I wanted something very springlike, fresh & light but I couldn't find anything acceptable in my fridge.  I went out for inspiration and I got more than what I thought would inspire me.  I went hurriedly back to get a basket to gather all the edible flowers & leaves in our garden.  Yellow roses, white roses, chive flowers, sage flowers, lavender flowers, stinging nettle, rosemary, thyme, parsley & mint.  Practically everything edible around.  (The orange in the basket was my daughter's harvest from our kitchen fruit basket.)  When I finally finished harvesting, I looked at what I got and wondered how the pasta would taste like.  Like my garden.

From the flowers & leaves I gathered, I added a carrot, a squeeze of lime & some freshly grated dried ginger.  It tasted good but far from explosively delicious.  It was very pleasant as my husband and I agreed on, very light and makes you think of spring and garden.  Just like I had hoped this pasta would come out.  Well, come to think of it, I literally cooked my garden. 

When my son arrived from school and asked what was for lunch.  I replied, "Our garden."  He didn't know how he would take my answer.  Or maybe garden was too vast a word because not only does it include the flora but also the fauna which sends him to feardom.   He is curious about insects, loves ladybirds & is scared silly of spiders.  I put his fears to rest by showing him the excess of the ingredients in the basket.  "See, Mommy cooked neither spindly spiders nor ladybirds." 

 

Farfalle Primavera ai Fiori del Giardino

Ingredients:
Serves 2

• 200 g. farfalle primavera (or any short pasta)
• 2 big rose heads (untreated), petals only
• 3 - 4 chive flowers, florets separated from the clusters
• 2 - 3 clusters of sage flowers, florets plucked from the clusters
• 1 carrot, chopped finely in an electric chopper
• 3 sprigs mint, leaves taken out from stems & chopped
• 2 sprigs parsley, chopped
• 2 sprigs thyme, leaves taken out from stems
• 4 lavender flowers, chopped
• 2 small stinging nettle plants, chopped
• a squeeze of lime
• a teaspoon of grated dried ginger (or powder or fresh ginger)
• extra virgin olive oil
• salt

1. Boil water in a pot for the pasta.  When it boils, add coarse salt.  Cook pasta according to the number of minutes suggested in the pack.
2. Meanwhile, heat skillet with extra virgin olive oil.  Add the chopped carrot.  After about 3 minutes, add all the ingredients except the rose petals.  Reserve a few chive florets to sprinkle before serving.  Cook for 3 - 5 minutes.  Ladle a little amount of hot water from the pot boiling for the pasta if the sauce is too dry.  Add salt.  Add the rose petals a minute before turning off the fire.  
3. Drizzle with extra virgin olive oil before serving.  Sprinkle chive florets on top.