Chicken with thyme, lemon and lavender from the garden

Chicken with Lavender and LemonPhoto byBackyard Edible Garden

I can smell Provence on our doorsteps! Yes, we are growing lavender in our backyard edible garden and their fragrant scent perfumes our yard. We have six bushes and they come in two varieties - the French and the English lavender. Lavenders are very easy to grow. They are drought tolerant, so if you would like to grow them, make sure to water them sparingly to prevent diseases. Overwatering can lead to root rot. The same can be said for most indoor plants.

Lavender has many uses, but personally, I mostly use them as cut flowers and in cooking. This past weekend’s dinner was a recipe from Provence in South of France, where I used the lavender I picked from the garden a couple of months ago and then air dried in the kitchen. This is one of my favorite chicken recipes - Poulet au Citron et Lavande or Chicken with Lemon and Lavender! I used Mary's organic free-range chicken drumsticks from Whole Foods Market. They were marinated in homegrown French thyme, homegrown English lavender and the zest and juice of a homegrown Eureka lemon. A drizzle of olive oil from The Olive Press which we got from Oxbow Public Market in Napa. A pinch of coarse Mediterranean sea salt and a good cracking of black peppercorns. Then on to a 400-degree pre-heated oven for about an hour. Voila, dinner is ready!

You can see the difference between the French and the English lavender on the photo above. The ones used to garnish the chicken are English Lavender and the flowers on the vase are French lavender.