Borragine, Boragine, Borrana

This unusual plant, with its pretty pale blue and yellow flowers (used for decorating salads and desserts) and large deep green, hairy leaves, is very popular in two Italian regions, Campania and Liguria. In Campania it is used as a vegetable like spinach. I like to boil the leaves until tender, then sauté them briefly in extra-virgin olive oil, with garlic and a little chilli, and sprinkle them with lemon juice just before serving. In Liguria, where borage grows freely with many other herbs, it is cooked in a similar way and is an essential part of preboggion, a mixture of wild herbs used as a filling for Pansóti.