The kids and I took a trip to Campo De Flori last week to catch up with Lisa to organise our Cooking with lavender workshop and collect some fresh cut lavender for our cooking. If you have been to one of my workshops you will know about Lisa, she has made a lot of the gorgeous ceramics that we use to serve food and drinks in the cooking school. I prepared a picnic for the visit knowing that the gorgeous lavender would be looking stunning in bloom.

Picnic:
Focaccia with herbs de provence (this herb mix features lavender)
Hot smoked salmon and lavender pate
Apricot and blue cheese salad with honey Lavender dressing
chicken cooked with herbs de provence
prawns and lavender mayo
apple, cinnamon, honey lavender tea cake

I have been including the lavender in my cooking for quite a few years since meeting Lisa. When creating the Tasmania pantry 2 cookbook a few years ago, developing some new recipes, I discovered that the lavender and citrus is a delicious partner to Seafood, it also goes well with meat with herbs like sage and rosemary and poultry.

Lavender has been used medicinally for a very long time. Lavender is thought to relieve headaches and migraine, assist sleep, lower Anxiety, alleviate depression, it is anti parasitic, used to treat skin blemishes, relieve pain, reduce blood pressure, lessen menopausal hot flashes, anti fungal , and potentially promote hair growth. Also, if you follow the ’30 plants for good gut health guide’ its another plant to tick off the list. I can’t think of a good reason not to include some lavender in our diets!

If you are interested in learning more about cooking with lavender then come along to our Cooking with lavender Workshop on the 14th of February, will make a fantastic valentines gift for your partner, friend or even yourself. Click through to my store to book a spot in a workshop

Old School Kitchen Term 1 2024 Workshop dates

Thursday 8th February Seafood Cooking
Wednesday 14th February -SPECIAL EVENT- Lavender cooking workshop with special guest Lisa Britzman from Campo De Flori
Thursday 22rd February Tasmanian Cooking Experience
Thursday 7th March Phone Photography and Food Styling -12 noon – 4PM
Thursday 21st March Bread Baking

Please enquire about other dates for private groups or if you have a few people and a date you think I should list something on.