So, here's the thing about lavender...

On the agenda for today was a lot more work on that bathroom project, so of course when my friend Kathleen posted a question about quiche on my facebook page, I had to spend a fair amount of time pondering and researching the topic. Installing that vanity cabinet could wait!!

Anyway, the time spent exploring the concept of eggs and cheese and herbs brought back to my mind yesterday's topic of lavender. It's such a lovely herb--spicy, floral, and so pleasing to the eye. One of my basic cookbooks offers a great quick-bread recipe with a few variations like apricot/hazelnut or chile-cheese. It's the recipe that started me incorporating lavender into my cooking, when I wanted to make it with herbs, but wasn't in the mood for the oregano the recipe called for. Looking out my kitchen window, I saw all these sprays of lavender. I've refined the recipe since then, and here's what it is at this point:


Lavender Bread

Heat oven to 350. Butter or spray 1 large or 5 small loaf pans.

3 cups flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 tbl baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp soda
Several tsps lavender (fresh buds and minced leaves, or dried lavender)

1 beaten egg
1 2/3 cup milk (I use nonfat)
1/4 cup oil

1 cup shredded cheese (sharp cheddar, or swiss/gruyere)
Zest of about 1/2 lemon

Combine dry ingredients. Whisk together wet ingredients and add to dry. Stir until just combined, adding cheese and lemon zest toward the end of ingredients coming together.

Pour into loaf pan(s). Push the batter into the corners of the pan, making a slight dent in the center of the pan (so that it doesn’t rise too high in just the center of the loaf). Bake at 30-35 minutes for small loaves, 1 hour for large loaf, until lightly golden. Let cool a little, then turn out onto rack. Once the bread is completely cool, wrap and store in fridge for a couple of days, or put into freezer bags and store in freezer for up to 2 weeks. This bread tastes good right away, but the lavender flavor will develop further over the next few hours. Make in the early afternoon to eat in the evening.



If you have fresh lavender, you can lightly press a flower head or two into the surface of the batter—it just makes a nice decoration.

Serve plain, or with butter and/or honey (I like to mix a little lemon zest into the butter—let it sit for a few hours to develop flavor).



Now, after my conversations with Kathleen this afternoon, I'd like to try a lavender quiche. It just seems like quiche would be the perfect vehicle, especially since you have that whole surface to feature lovely sprigs of lavender. I think at first I'd keep it simple--just Gruyere cheese, the egg mixture, and a lot of fresh lavender. Maybe some lemon juice and zest in the eggs. And I'd substitute Greek yogurt for about 1/2 the milk. Lavender and yogurt complement each other so well.

Even though I indulged in a fair amount of quiche research, I did manage to get quite a bit done on my bathroom project. I think it may be time for another lavender gin & tonic. Two days in a row is a huge departure from my normal drinking routine, but it isn't every weekend that I install flooring on one day, and then a toilet and vanity cabinet on the next. Time to do a little more lavender research, fine-tune that cocktail.