Go botanical: mango salad with edible flowers

"Mama, you are not going to eat that?! That's flowers!" Going botanical in cooking is one of the recent trends (or more likely, the one that has gone back in fashion). And while I often use the rose petals in cooking (as well as primroses in spring), I was thrilled to discover that Abel & Cole sell the edible flowers. This recipe for Mango salad with edible flowers is easy to make, very pretty to look at and tastes great.

Mango salad with edible flowers
Ingredients:
1 ripe mango
1 carrot, grated
a handful of red currants
several flowers of calendula, marigold and nasturtium
2 tbsp olive oil
1tbsp honey + more for drizzling over
2 tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice

Grate the carrot and mix with the calendula petals (3 flowers). Add the olive oil, lemon juice and honey, mix well. Slice the mango and arrange the slices on a plate. Put the carrot mix in the middle, top up with a few mango slices. Scatter the red currants and more flowers. Drizzle good dark honey over the salad.
It was amazingly good. Really, really tasty, I must say I didn't expect that I would like it so much.
Calendula, marigold and nasturtium petals are so vibrant and add a fun healthy note to any salad.
Marigold petals have a rather peppery note, and I can imagine they would work beautifully in savoury salads, with rocket, pears and blue cheese.

I wish I could say the flowers came from my garden, but I didn't plant any calendulas or marigolds this year. This little box of edible flowers is available from Abel & Cole, and don't they look pretty?!

If you can't use them quickly, you can easily dry the marigold and calendula petals and cook with them later. Many years ago, when I hosted a Tudor-themed dress party for my 30th birthday, I baked a cake with the dried calendula petals. This was a recipe from a cook book which contained Elizabethan recipes. I have lost that recipe and cannot remember the name of the book. The cake was lovely. You can also add the dried petals to black tea and make a flavoured tea. I have read you can add them when making tortillas, but I haven't yet tried that, it will be my next project.

Have you ever tried the edible flowers?

I'm also submitting this recipe to Ren Behan's 'Simple & In Season' blog event, you can see the other entries for June.

Mango and mozzarella salad

Last week I bought a box of wonderfully ripe mangoes from Pakistan at the local market. The aroma was amazing, sweet and luscious. I often add the sliced mango to the fruit salad or make a smoothie, but was wondering if I could pair it with the mozzarella, to copy the Insalata Caprese, using the mango instead of the tomatoes. And here is my Mango and mozzarella salad. It is definitely not an Italian recipe, more of a twist on a classic. You can ask, why change the classic recipe which works well? I love the Insalata Caprese, but was surprised how nicely mozzarella and mango go together, and very glad that I tried this combination.

Mango and mozzarella salad
Ingredients:
1 ripe mango
1 mozzarella (125g light mozzarella)
a handful of basil leaves and pea shoots
2tbsp olive oil
a good squeeze of lemon juice
sea salt
Fresh Gourmet basil pesto ciabatta croutons

Slice the mango. Drain the mozzarella and slice it as well. Arrange on a plate, interchanging slices of mango and mozzarella.
Prepare the dressing by whizzing a handful of basil leaves, pea shoots with the olive oil and lemon juice, season well with salt.

Sprinkle the dressing on top of the salad, add the pesto-flavoured ciabatta croutons.

Fresh Gourmet basil pesto ciabatta croutons are made from artisan bread. They were very moreish, after I added them to the salad, I kept eating the croutons straight from the bag. They are deliciously salty and crunchy, the pesto works very well with the ciabatta, combining these two Italian flavours beautifully.
If like me, you enjoy your salads with crunchy bits, I would recommend trying these flavourful croutons.

The number one brand of croutons and toppings in the USA has now launched in the UK, offering busy cooks the crunch, flavour and texture that transforms everyday dishes into memorable meals in minutes.

"Fresh Gourmet is the biggest provider of salad toppings, especially croutons, in the US and have brought their delicious products exclusively to UK Tesco stores to inspire us Brits to become more creative with our salads. The range includes three crunchy crouton flavours – Cheese and Garlic, Basil Pesto and Sea Salt and Cracked Black Pepper – along with Crispy Onions and is ideal for people who like a salad in the summer but need that added texture to jazz up the dish".

Disclosure: I received a selection of Fresh Gourmet croutons for the purposes of reviewing. All opinions are mine.