Arts & Life

Edible Landscaping

KCUR

Published April 22, 2009 at 9:26 AM CDT

Garden and food writer Rosalind Creasy and Powell Gardens' Director of Horticulture Alan Branhagen join Steve Kraske for a conversation about gardening, landscaping and getting the most out of both. They look outside the box when it comes to what is edible, and give us some food for thought when it comes to designing landscaping. By Up to Date, April 22, 2009

Kansas City , Mo. – Garden and food writer Rosalind Creasy and Powell Gardens' Director of Horticulture Alan Branhagen join Steve Kraske for a conversation about gardening, landscaping and getting the most out of both. They look outside the box when it comes to what is edible, and give us some food for thought when it comes to designing landscaping.

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Additional Information:

Learn more about Powell Gardens' Heartland Harvest Garden here.

Learn more about Harvesters' "Plant a Row" program here.

Edible Landscaping Recipes:

Grilled Salmon with Nasturtium Vinaigrette:

Nasturtium flowers give a colorful touch and slight pepper flavor to grilled salmon. The vinaigrette is made with balsamic vinegar, but you may substitute red wine vinegar, if you wish. Be sure the nasturtium flowers have been grown without the use of pesticides.

Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 10 minutes

Ingredients:

* 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
* 1/4 cup shallots, finely minced
* 1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
* 1/4 teaspoon dried dill weed
* Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
* 3/4 cup chopped nasturtium flowers
* 1/4 cup chopped fresh chives
* 8 (3 ounces each) boneless salmon fillets
* 2 Tablespoons olive oil
* Chives for garnish

Preparation:

Preheat grill or broiler.

Whisk together balsamic vinegar, shallots, olive oil, and dill weed until combined. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Stir in nasturtium flowers and chives.

Rub salmon fillets with 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Season with salt and pepper. Grill or broil salmon about 3 minutes per side, depending on thickness, but take care not to overcook.

For each serving, place 2 salmon fillets on each plate. Whisk the nasturtium vinaigrette briefly to re-combine, then spoon over salmon. Garnish with chopped chives.

Yield: 4 servings

Curried Daylilies

The daylilies are enhanced not only by the spicy curry sauce but also make good use of carrots, celery, TVP, and nuts. Serve over brown rice or with Indian bread.

Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes

Ingredients:

Saut?:
* 1/4 cup sesame oil
* 8 cups daylilies, sliced
* 2 medium-size carrots, sliced
* 4 celery stalks, sliced
* 1 cup texturized vegetable protein (TVP), soaked for 10 minutes in 3/4 cup hot water, drained, soaking water reserved
* 1/2 cup raw cashews or peanuts

Sauce:
* 3/4 cup drained silken tofu
* 1/4 cup dark-colored miso
* 2 tablespoons curry paste
* Juice of 1 lime
* 1 tablespoon kudzu or arrowroot

Preparation:

To make the saut?:
Heat the sesame oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add daylilies, carrots, celery, TVP, and cashews or peanuts. Cook, stirring, for 10 minutes.

To make the sauce:
In a blender, combine tofu, miso, curry paste, lime, and kudzu or arrowroot. Process until smooth.

Pour the sauce into the skillet and bring the mixture to a boil over medium heat, stirring often. Reduce the heat to low, cover the pan, and simmer the mixture for another 10 minutes.

Serve over brown rice or with Indian bread.

Yield: 6 servings

Source: The Wild Vegetarian Cookbook by "Wildman" Steve Brill (Harvard Common Press)

Alan Branhagen is an expert naturalist who specializes in garden design, edible landscapes, native plants and landscape design for wildlife (especially birds and butterflies). He has been director of horticulture at Powell Gardens since 1996. Branhagen's design work at Powell includes the Island Garden, the Visitor Education Center landscaping, and the Heartland Harvest Garden planting plan, which he put together after studying the Oxford Dictionary of World Food Plants for many nights. He is the author of The Gardener's Butterfly Book.

Rosalind Creasy is the author of 14 books on gardens and food, a photographer, and a landscape designer.? She began her career in horticulture in the 1970s as a landscape designer and restaurant consultant. By 1982 she had published her first book, The Complete Book of Edible Landscaping, which won the Garden Writers Association's Quill and Trowel award, was chosen as a Book of the Month selection, and hailed by The Wall Street Journal as the best garden book of 1982. Considered a classic, it coined the term "Edible Landscaping," now a part of the American vocabulary.

Rosalind shares her knowledge of gardening and cooking by writing, lecturing nationwide, appearing on television and radio shows, and working as a consultant to restaurants, growers, and seed companies.? Creasy has been published in national magazines, written a regular column for the food page of the Los Angeles Times, a garden feature for Garden Design magazine, a regular column for Gardening How-To magazine, and for years was a contributing editor for Country Living Gardener magazine. Her photographs appear frequently in numerous magazines, calendars, and books.?? She is currently working on a completely revised version of her book Edible Landscaping, which will be released in Winter, 2010.? Rosalind resides in Northern California.

Visit Rosalind Creasy's website here.