I recently won this delightful cookbook, “Cooking with Flowers” (through a giveaway on Phickle).  A recipe for roasted daylily buds caught my eye – not just because we have a yard full of the flower, but because it was said that the roasted buds resemble roasted asparagus in taste.   I always feel that the end of asparagus season sneaks up on me – sure, I know it’s coming, but every year I find myself just a little bit saddened by it.   I always want more one taste to carry me through until next year.

Finding myself home alone on a Friday night with a last minute invite to a neighbor’s for dinner, I didn’t want to show up empty handed.  It dawned on me that my day lilies were winding down and if I was going to try this recipe, this might be the perfect time to do so.  So I ran around my yard, collecting buds from the patches of daylilies to carry with me.

The recipe could not be easier.  Toss the buds with olive oil & salt, roast in a 400 degree oven for 5 minutes.

Jerry took over from there, styling the results into a far more pleasing presentation than I generally concern myself with.

He even ran out to the garden and plucked a small hydrangea bloom with which to garnish.  This is why he’s a personal chef & caterer and I am merely a cook.  I don’t care about presentation as long as it tastes good.  Jerry makes it taste AND look good.

Roasted daylily buds  do resemble roasted asparagus, although they are a bit more delicate in flavor than the vegetable.   When next spring rolls around and I find myself at the farmers market one lovely spring morning with the stark reality that asparagus season has come to a close yet again, I can come home and comfort myself with that one last taste, straight from my own garden.