Daylilly Delight!!

Here is one more favorite of mine the Daylily. I have heard that almost everything on a daylily plant is edible, from the tubers, to the flowers. The tubers are a little like very sweet potatos, and the flowers have been used widely as a food. The leaves are also edible but are best when young. Here are a few recipes for Daylilys.

Daylily Petal Salad:

6 cups washed and torn lettuce.
2 Tb. olive oil
2 tsp. lemon juice
Salt and pepper for taste
1/4 cup purple basil leaves
Petals from four to eight blossoms

Place the lettuce into a serving bowl. Drizzle the oil over the lettuce. Toss. Drizzle the lemon juice over the lettuce and sprinkle with salt. Toss again. Add the basil, but toss with only the top layer of the lettuce, so the beautiful purple leaves show through the greens. Grind a bit of pepper over the top. Garnish with daylily petals placing them randomly in it, or in a circle around the outside, or decoratively in the center of the bowl.

Cilantro-pesto-stuffed Stella D’Oro Blossoms with Grilled Chicken Cilantro Pest:

1 clove garlic, peeled
2 cups cilantro, chopped with stems into 3-inch bunches
1 tsp lime juice
1 Healthy dash of jalapeno Tabasco sauce
1/4 cup pine nuts
1/3 cup olive oil

Food processor with the metal cutting blade. Start the processor and drop the garlic through the feed tube. Open the processor and add the cilantro, wiping the cilantro along the sides and bottom of the bowl to lift the garlic from the bottom of the bowl. Process for 5 seconds. Add the nuts and process for 5 seconds. Add the lime juice and Tabasco. Start the processor and pour in the oil, somewhat slowly, through the feed tube. Scrape the contents into a zip lock bag and use within a couple of days, or freeze if you like.

Chicken:

4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves--rinsed and patted dry with paper towels
1/3 cup olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
juice from half a lemon
4 Tb cilantro pesto
4-12 daylily blossoms, rinsed, with pistols and stamens removed

About half and hour ahead of time: Combine the garlic and oil in a large ziplock bag. Flatten the chicken using a rolling pin or meat hammer. Add the chicken to the bag, coating it with the oil. Squeeze out the air and refrigerate.

One-half hour before grilling, add the lemon juice, mixing it in well. Start the coals. When the coals are ready, grill the chicken on both sides until done. Please note that flattened breasts cook quickly. To check to see if they are done, press on the flesh with your finger. If it is mushy, it is not done. If it yields and then springs back, it is done, if it is hard, it is over done.

While the chicken cooks, stuff each of four daylilies with a tablespoonful of pesto. Serve the chicken on individual plates with grilled vegetables, polenta, or other side dishes. Garnish each plate with one filled daylily and additional day lilies or petals if you have them.

Daylily Cheesecake: Ingredients: 1 lb. cream cheese, softened 3/4 cup sugar 4 eggs 1 cup, half-and-half 2 cups daylily petals, sliced Coat a nine-inch cake pan with non-stick spray. Beat the cream cheese with a mixer on high speed until fluffy. Stream in the sugar and beat until dissolved. Beat the eggs in one at a time on medium speed (so as not the create a mother's disaster). Reduce the speed to low and stream in the half-and -half until completely mixed in. Fold the daylily petals in by hand. Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Set into a shallow roasting pan and fill with warm water at least halfway up the outside of the cake pan. Bake for one hour or until the center is just set. Chill until completely cooled. Remove by setting the pan in a shallow bowl of warm water for about ten seconds and turning out onto a plate. Serve with fresh berries of your choice in a daylily.

Fried Rice With Golden Needles

"Golden Needles,"is a traditional ingredient in Chinese dishes, such as Hot and Sour Soup and Moo Shu, are actually sun-dried daylilies! Vast fields of daylilies, are grown for harvest in Asian countries including China and Thailand. The buds are picked when colored, but unopened, and dried in the sun for about a week. You can harvest your own (use the milder yellow varieties) and either sun-dry them or use a dehydrater. They may also be found in oriental markets. To use them, soak the dried flowers in hot water about ten minutes. Then pinch off the stem end, and cut in half if large. They add a chewy texture and are rich in carotene.

Ingredients:
4 eggs
4 scallions, sliced
20 golden needles
1 small can of bamboo shoots
1/2 pound snow pea pods, cut in half the long way
1 Carrot cut into match-stick (julienne) pieces

Substitutes: water chestnuts, bell peppers or broccoli, all cut in comparable sized pieces, can be used in place of any of the vegetables.

2 cloves minced garlic
2 Tbs grated or minced garlic
4 cups cooked rice
2-4 Tbs soy sauce
2 Tbs canola oil
1 Tb sesame oil

Heat the sesame oil in a 10-12 inch non-stick skillet or wok. Add eggs, spread over pan as thinly as possible. When done, but not brown, remove and slice into thin strips. Set aside. Heat canola oil until smoking. Add ginger and stir. After one minute add garlic, the vegetables, scallions and golden needles. Mix and stir-fry rice about three minutes. Lower heat and cook until vegetables are done but crisp. Add rice, egg and soy sauce to taste, and mix until heated through. Serves 4 as a side dish or 2 as an entree.

Daylily Salad

Ingredients:

• 2 cups daylily buds (about 50 buds), sliced
• 1 cup torn lettuce
• 1/2 medium cucumber, sliced
• 1 medium tomato, diced
• 2 celery ribs, sliced
• 1/4 cup shredded red cabbage
• 3 radishes, sliced
• Salad dressing of your choice

Directions:

In a large salad bowl, combine the daylily buds, lettuce, cucumber, tomato, celery, cabbage and radishes. Serve with dressing.

Daylily Bud Sauté
Ingredients:
2 dozen daylily buds
1/2 cup flour
1/4 cup olive oil
3 eggs
dash of nutmeg salt and pepper
I clove garlic, finely minced
Cut the base off the buds. Sauté the garlic in a small amount of olive oil. Beat eggs and mix enough flower to make a thin batter. To this add the sautéed garlic, 1/8 teaspoon each of salt and pepper, and the dash of nutmeg. Add a teaspoon of milk if the batter is too thick. dip the buds in the batter and sauté until a golden brown consistency.