The Gardner Museum Cafe's Edible Nasturtium Menu

The Gardner Café's Chef/Owner Peter Crowley is offering a second tempting reason to pay a visit to the Hanging Nasturtiums installation over the next ten days. 

He has taken the creativity that's always present in his menus and added a dash of color and fun with edible nasturtiums. He's even shared his recipes for "Nasturtium Vinegar" and "Spring Asparagus and Seared Tuna Salad."

 

“Nasturtiums add a vibrant punch of color and flavor to dishes, and it’s always fun to come up with new, unexpected ways to use them,” says Chef Crowley. “The Gardner Museum is full of surprises – art hidden in nooks throughout the building and cascading flowers in the courtyard – and we hope that the nasturtiums menu will surprise and delight diners in a similar way.”

Spring Asparagus and Seared Tuna Salad

Ingredients:

1 bunch fresh asparagus spears
1 1-lb fillet of sushi-grade tuna
4 hard-boiled eggs
1 tsp soy sauce
1 tsp nasturtium vinegar (recipe follows)
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 tsp grated fresh ginger
8-10 nasturtium blossoms (available seasonally and by special order at Whole Foods Markets)
1 bunch watercress or other spicy baby green

Directions:

• Blanch asparagus in rapidly boiling water until tender, approximately 2 minutes. Drain and refresh in an ice water bath. Drain again and reserve.
• Season tuna fillet with salt and pepper and sear in a very hot, heavy-bottomed sauté pan until just brown, approximately 1 minute on each side. Remove fish from pan and cool immediately to ensure it doesn't overcook.
• Whisk together soy sauce, ginger, nasturtium vinegar and vegetable oil.
• Lightly toss asparagus in dressing and arrange on plate with tips together. Slice tuna thinly and arrange so fish slices are exposed and resting against the asparagus. Split the boiled egg in half and place on plate next to the fish.
• Sprinkle plates with plucked nasturtium leaves and watercress. Serve immediately.
• Serves 4.  

Nasturtium Vinegar

Ingredients:

1 cup unseasoned rice wine vinegar
10 nasturtium blossoms

Directions:

• Simply steep blossoms in vinegar at room temperature in a closed container for at least one week. 
• Strain and use as you would any light vinegar. Vinegar will be best between one and three weeks. 
• The vinegar will have a mild peppery and vegetal aroma and flavor.  

 

Related Posts:

Hanging Nasturtiums at the Gardner Museum

Details:

Gardner Museum Cafe
280 Fenway, Boston, MA‎ (Map)
617-566-1088

http://www.gardnermuseum.org/information/cafe.asp

Writers: Penny & Ed Cherubino
Photo: Courtesy of the Gardner Museum, Image © Derek Kouyoumjian, 2007