Advantages Of Tansy

2024 Author: Gavin MacAdam | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:38

An inhabitant of Russian fields and a weed of summer cottages, the Pizhma plant is known for its healing properties, which are widely used in medicine. But tansy also has a number of culinary advantages that are undeservedly forgotten by man. But in the old days, tansy leaves were very actively used in the preparation of various dishes

For example, in medieval England, tansy leaves, violets and unripe wheat, flavored with sweet orange sauce, were used to prepare a dish that was very popular. Our not very distant ancestors traditionally seasoned scrambled eggs with young tansy leaves, and they added juice from tansy leaves to the Easter omelet, giving it a piquant aroma.

Pudding with tansy leaves

To prepare this very simple, but at the same time unusual and tasty dessert, we need:

- 250 ml of cow's milk;

- 10 grams of butter;

- 2 medium sized chicken eggs;

- 50 grams of granulated sugar;

- 70 grams of any bread crumbs;

- 1 dessert spoon of tansy leaves, finely chopped.

Fill the bread crumbs with hot milk and butter and leave for half an hour to swell the crumbs. Add the beaten eggs, tansy leaves and sugar to the milk with crumbs, mix the whole mass well. Grease a baking dish or baking sheet with oil, transfer the prepared mixture there and put it in an oven heated to 180 degrees. When ready, remove the baking sheet from the oven, let the pudding cool and serve cold, seasoned with cream or sour cream.

Custard

To prepare this unusual dessert, we need:

- 60-70 grams of tansy leaves;

- 750 ml of cream;

- 4 chicken eggs;

- 60 grams of granulated sugar;

- 60 grams of ground walnuts;

- one pinch of salt and one pinch of ground nutmeg (if available in your stock).

In a small amount of water, boil the tansy leaves until soft. We drain the water and squeeze the juice from the leaves. For this dish, we need no more than 1 tablespoon of tansy juice.

Bring the cream to a boil. Beat the eggs lightly.

In a separate bowl, mix eggs, sugar, salt, ground walnuts and, if available, ground nutmeg. Then we begin to add in small portions the juice of tansy leaves, which is quite tart to the taste, trying periodically the mixture so as not to overdo it with astringency, guided by our own taste. You may need even less juice than the amount you have prepared.

Then add the cream, mix it thoroughly and pour it into oiled tins.

Pour hot water into a baking sheet to a level that will not allow water to get into the molds, and put the molds with the mixture in the baking sheet. For 30-40 minutes we bake our cream in the oven, checking its readiness with a knife or stick, which will come out clean from the cream when it is ready.

After cooling the molds, put the cream on the plates, gently turning them over. Dessert is served with cream or sweet sauce.

Yarrow salad

The carved leaves of a widespread plant called the yarrow are also good for food. Its leaf shape is very similar to that of tansy leaves. In some regions of Russia, yarrow is even called tansy, although their inflorescences differ from each other. Delicately carved yarrow greens can be added to salads in small quantities.

For a green salad with yarrow leaves, take boiled green beans; finely torn lettuce; fresh cucumber, cut into thin slices; finely chopped parsley; a handful of sunflower or sesame seeds. The proportions of the ingredients of the salad are made to your taste. All this is sprinkled with salt, seasoned with vinegar and vegetable oil and served chilled.

In some countries, yarrow stems, boiled for about 20 minutes to remove the bitterness from them, are stewed in butter and served as a side dish.