Blue on Blue! Blue Blossom Salad: Blue Cheese, Borage & Grilled Chicken Salad Recipe (2024)

Blue on Blue!

Blue Blossom Salad:

Blue Cheese, Borage & Grilled Chicken Salad Recipe

Salads feature a lot on my weekly menu, both in winter and summer, but never more so than over the last two weeks since the heat wave hit the UK and most of Europe; instead of moaning in the rain, we have all been singing on the sun and a cool salad makes a welcome appearance on our patio table every day. Whereas I am quite happy to munch away on assorted lettuce leaves with a tomato or two and a good salad dressing, I also like to experiment with colour, texture and taste when I come to assemble my salads – and this salad, which I have called a Blue Blossom Salad, was a huge success. The star of the salad show in this case, apart from the delectable creamy blue cheese dressing and cold cooked chicken, are the delicate star-like borage flowers which grow all over my garden; they were originally planted for bees and butterflies, but, they are also an essential ingredient for salads, omelettes and that ubiquitous of summer drinks, Pimms.

I also planted some white borage this year, just for a change, although I can’t share a photo of it today as it’s not bloomed yet. But here’s a sneak preview of what it will look like, from a seed site:

When planning this latest salad recipe, I also thought it would be rather nice to bring my Churchill china into the frame; as regular readers will know, I am the Churchill China Blogger, and I was sent a rather lovely Penzance dinner set to show and share on my blog earlier this year. This, my next scheduled post forLunchon the Patio (Summer salads and BBQ)reallyshowcases how versatile the china is for casual, summery meals, and I think that the clever use of the Coupe bowls show how great they are to use for individual salads. Although I like to prepare large salads for self-serving, on this rather hot day I thought a nice individual salad would be easier and would not wilt as much in the heat; so I served this beautiful blue on blue salad at the table under the apple tree for some welcome shade……..

……with some wine and crusty bread too of course!

Borage flowers have a subtle cucumber flavour, which makes them so useful to add to salads as well as Pimms of course. It is also called “Starflower”, which is easy to see why, and has been used as a domestic herbal remedy since ancient times.As well as being a beautiful flower, it has some amazing health benefits, some of which are very surprising. It can be used to fight depression and melancholy, as well as inducing euphoria! In addition to this, it is known for its beneficial effect on the heart, kidneys and digestive system and has been used as a cure for jaundice in the past. As if this wasn’t enough, it is also a great plan to have a borage plant next to your strawberry plants, as they stimulate their growth!

The edible parts of the borage plant are the flowers, as well as the leaves, which can be dried and made into a tisane that wards off fever. You can also eat the seeds which are a rich source of gamma-linolenic acid, which is known to help to reduce blood pressure and regulate hormonal conditions.It’s certainly a great plant to have in the garden for all of the health benefits I have mentioned above, as well as its stunning blue looks.

The recipe for myBlue Blossom Salad is shared below, and I don’t know what you think, but I think the salad looks as pretty as a picture on my Churchill Penzance coupe bowl.That’s all for this rather hot Sunday, have a wonderful lazy time, if you can, and I’ll see you soon with more new recipes, some reviews and another new giveaway. Karen

Disclaimer:I received a Churchill china Penzance dinnerware service for free, in order to share and showcase the china with my readers as part of my sponsored collaborationwith Churchill China. I was not asked to write a positive review and all thoughts and opinions are my own.

Karen S Burns-Booth