Seeing lavender in Provence, France, wasn’t an option this year so instead I visited two local lavender farms in Chester County, Pennsylvania earlier this month – Mt Airy Lavender in Coatesville and Warwick Furnace Farm in Glenmoore. Lavender loves the dry and rocky conditions found in the south of France – these conditions also happen to be ideal for growing some of the best wine making grapes in the world. While this area of Pennsylvania isn’t ideal for lavender, both farms have worked hard to cultivate their plants.
Here’s a few things that I learned about lavender. There are more than forty varieties. French lavender is bigger, flowers for a short window and is best for scents such as perfumes and oils, while English lavender is smaller, flowers all summer and is best for cooking. Peace Tree Farm in Bucks County, Pennsylvania (one county away from Chester County) has produced a cultivar called Lavandula Phenomenal that is doing quite well in these parts of Pennsylvania and other parts of the United States. At Warwick Farm their crop of Phenomenal had grown so tall and bushy they anticipated needing to run their lavender harvester over it twice for harvesting.
I used the dried culinary lavender buds that I’d purchased at Mt Airy Lavender as part of this marinade for chicken thighs. I added to them honey, lemon (zest and juice), garlic and olive oil. The marinade was so pretty I decided to use it for the photograph instead. I marinated the thighs overnight but if you missed that window, eight hours or so will do.
I got the chicken thighs at our local butcher, Worrell’s in Malvern, Pennsylvania, and asked that they remove the bones but keep the skin on. You could use any type of chicken thigh, chicken breast or pork tenderloin with this marinade.
I first cooked these thighs in their marinade using the sous vide method (‘under vacuum’ or ‘low temperature for a long time’) at 167°F for 45 minutes and then Ed finished them on the gas grill for just a few minutes. He set the grill to high, flipped them regularly to ensure nice grill marks and so they finished cooking. Make sure to watch them carefully as the skin on the thighs and honey in the marinade make it easier to burn. They were delicious!
Don’t have a sous vide? No worries, just marinate and cook them completely on the grill. You can find culinary lavender online if you don’t happen to have any in your spice cabinet.
[Photos: Mt Airy Lavender in Coatesville (first) and Warwick Furnace Farm in Glenmoore (second)]
| Honey-Lavender-Lemon Chicken | Print |
- 3 tablespoons honey
- 2 teaspoons dried lavender buds
- Zest and juice from one lemon
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 3 garlic cloves, minced
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 3 fresh thyme sprigs
- 8 boneless/skin-on chicken thighs
- In a bowl or resealable bag, mix honey, lavender, lemon zest, lemon juice, olive oil, garlic and 1 teaspoon Kosher salt and ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper. Add chicken thighs and thyme sprigs. Marinate overnight or at least 8 hours.
- Preheat grill to medium. Grill chicken for about 10-12 minutes, turning once. Cook until browned, crisp at the edges and cooked through. (See notes for using the sous-vide method.)
- Serve hot or at room temperature.
* You can use any type of chicken thigh, chicken breast or pork tenderloin with this marinade. For the chicken it could be with skin and/or bones or without.
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