Ok, I’m a day later than I promised, but we did it, so I’m
sending it along.

The quote, from “The Tale of the Lizard’s Lesson, continued”

“Oh! Roses are very interesting, are they not? Did you know
that if you feed one nothing but sugar water and a mash of
honeybees, it becomes sweet and thick enough to be fried for
sandwiches, like boar meat or fish? We have lunched on rose and leek sandwiches for most of this seaon!”

The recipe:

Rose and Leek Fried Sandwiches (makes 2 sandwiches)

Filling:
1 tsp butter
2 small leeks, diced and rinsed
1 large white rose, petals only (wash with a commercial
vegetable wash if not from someone’s garden. Supermarkets don’t expect you to eat it, so it’s probably covered in pesticides.)
salt and pepper to taste
1/4 tsp rosewater
1/2 tsp honey

Batter:
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/8 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
3/4 cup water
one half of a lightly beaten egg

For sandwiches
4 thin slices of sturdy bread
oil for frying
toothpicks

In the butter, saute the leeks until they start to caramelize. Add the rose petals and cook until wilted. Remove from heat. Add the rosewater, honey, salt and pepper.

In a deep pan, heat enough oil to float one sandwich. (I used a very small but deep saucepan – doesn’t need to be big, only deep.)

For the batter, sift flour, baking powder and salt together. Add egg and water and whisk until smooth. Test the oil with a drop of batter. When the batter rises to the top of the oil and browns, oil is ready.

Fill two slices of bread with the rose and leek filling and close the sandwiches with the other two slices. Secure the sandwiches with toothpicks. (I used five on a fairly small sandwich, and the filling still had a tendency to sneak out the sides.)

Dip the sandwich into the batter so it is completely covered. Drop sandwich into hot oil. Fry until golden brown. Remove from oil and drain on paper towels as you remove the toothpicks. Cut in half and serve.

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