Archive for the 'Cooking with Tea' Category
Olivia May at From the Kitchen of Olivia brings us another terrific Cooking with Tea Recipe!
Over the final few weeks of her CSA share, Olivia built up quite a collection of red peppers. Both hot varieties (Krimzon Lee, Serrano, Jalapeno, Shishito) and sweet bells (Apple Pimento, Carmen, Red Knight Bell) were filling up the crisper until enough accumulated to make this relish.
Sweet with piquant heat and spiced just so with orange, cinnamon, and clove using Arbor Teas Organic Holiday Spice Black Tea, this ruby-toned relish makes a useful condiment to have on hand to dress up holiday meals or to gift away to friends this season. Or use it to top a soft cheese and crackers for a quick snack or appetizer, mix with ketchup for a fancy chili dipping sauce, or dollop over your take-out ramen bowl to add a festive touch.
Check out the full recipe for Holiday Spice-y Red Pepper Relish.
December 08 2011 | Cooking with Tea | No Comments »
Happy (almost) Thanksgiving everyone! When I think of Thanksgiving, I think of pumpkin pie! I tried spicing up my pumpkin pie this year by adding Masala Chai Black Tea to my pumpkin pie filling. The result was a pumpkin custard that had a richer, deeper spice flavor, and a sugary sweet top. Terrific! I used this recipe to create pumpkin pie custard and served it in individual ramekins. But, the custard can be baked in one large dish or poured into your favorite pre-baked pie crust to create the perfect pumpkin pie. Check out my full recipe for Masala Chai Pumpkin Pie.
Aubrey
Arbor Teas
November 15 2011 | Cooking with Tea | No Comments »
Grillin’ season is upon us! Will you have a vegetarian to feed in your group? Often meatless patties are dry and disappointing, especially the ones that come packaged from the grocery store. Veggie burgers are so easy to make in your home kitchen, requiring fairly minimal forethought and prep work. Here is a unique idea to impart a tea flavor into a vegetarian burger. This recipe combines the earthiness of Arbor Teas organic Yerba Mate with a bit a smoke from organic Russian Caravan Black Tea. The lentils are cooked directly in the steeped teas, gaining an extra boost of flavor as they soak up the liquid and soften. Black beluga lentils retain their shape fairly well when cooked, so they are worth seeking out. Other varieties may cook up too mushy, causing the patties to fall apart.
Happy Summer everyone! Hope you enjoy this Cooking with Tea recipe From the Kitchen of Olivia!
Smoky Yerba Mate Lentil Burgers
makes 6 burgers
2 cups boiling water
1 tablespoon loose leaf organic Yerba Mate
1 teaspoon loose leaf organic Russian Caravan Black Tea
1 cup dried Beluga lentils, picked over and rinsed (will yield about 3 cups cooked)
4 large eggs continue reading »
July 11 2011 | Cooking with Tea | 1 Comment »
Hurry! Before Meyer lemons are out of season, go make this pie! Or don’t. Just wait for the right occasion and be inspired by what citrus is in abundance at that time. The original inspiration for this recipe came from Martha Stewart as a chamomile version of lemon meringue pie in a homey cornmeal crust. All of these elements, the mellow chamomile flowers, the zesty lemon, the pillowy marshmallow meringue, and the crunchy cornmeal work together in a wonderful, satisfying combination. But with the variety of organic loose-leaf teas available from Arbor Teas, why stop there? You could alter the recipe into a summery mojito rendition by subbing in lime for lemon and organic moroccan mint green tea for chamomile, all atop a buttery shortbread crust. Organic jasmine green tea and grapefruit (or those giant pumelos) would make a sophisticated, perfumed dessert. Tangerine and organic schizandra white tea, orange and organic earl grey black tea, or even blood orange and organic holiday spice black tea are a few more pairings I brainstormed to go with your favorite graham cracker, gingersnap, or chocolate cookie crust. Here is the original lemon-chamomile recipe. Let me know what combinations you dream up!
Citrus and Tea Cream Pie
adapted from Martha Stewart
Cornmeal Pie Dough
1½ cups all-purpose flour
¾ cup medium-ground yellow cornmeal
¾ teaspoon salt
¾ teaspoon sugar
12 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
¼ cup ice water
Lemon-Chamomile Cream Filling
3 cups whole milk
3-4 tablespoons loose organic chamomile (or whatever other tea flavor strikes your fancy)
¼ cup cornstarch
1 cup sugar
¼ teaspoon salt
4 large egg yolks
1½ teaspoons finely grated lemon zest (or other citrus zest)
¼ cup fresh-squeezed lemon juice (or other fresh citrus juice)
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
Meringue
4 large egg whites
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
¼ teaspoon cream of tartar
a pinch of salt
To make the Cornmeal Crust:
Pulse flour, cornmeal, salt, and sugar in a food processor to combine. Add butter, and process briefly until mixture resembles coarse meal. With the machine running, slowly add ice water until dough just begins to hold together. continue reading »
May 06 2011 | Cooking with Tea | 1 Comment »
2010 seemed to be the year of DIY in the food world, and I have no doubt that 2011 will continue to be the same. If the reasons are not for putting up (canning, curing, dehydrating, etc.) to preserve the abundance of harvest for leaner times like our great grandparents used to, or not meant to ease reliance on commercially-packaged, convenience foods, then it’s to satiate the curiosity of how basic foodstuffs are produced and to relish in the pure satisfaction that you can DO IT YOURSELF.
Remember taking turns to shake that jar of cream in kindergarten until it thickened and yielded a soft, spreadable butter? Patience-inducing yet awe-inspiring to a 5-year old. Making cultured butter from scratch is just one step up from that sort of classroom demo magic. And using a modern stand mixer makes it an easily approachable task if your kitchen amenities are sans old-fashioned butter churn and butter bats. Furthermore, fresh, liquid cream presents a blank canvas on which you can layer a custom flavor profile at the very foundation, before churning. You can add cultures for tangy-ness as well as ingredients, like tea, that steep best in liquid without altering the final texture. Compound butters, a different approach to flavored butter where herbs, aromatics, syrups or fruit pastes are mashed into solid butter, while good in there own right, offer only the opportunity for flavor afterthoughts, post-churning.
So in the spirit of DIY, I present you with directions for culturing butter and flavoring it using Arbor Teas’ organic, loose-leaf tea. Cultured tea butter should not be confused with Tibetan butter tea, a yak milk-derived, fortifying hot beverage for the iron-stomached. This is a wholly different dining experience. I chose two very different Arbor Teas to make two unique flavors. The first was organic genmaicha green tea, which is composed of Japanese green tea leaves mixed with toasted brown rice kernels. This tea flavor brings to mind popcorn, and thus lightly salted butter flavored with genmaicha lends itself to savory applications: smeared on crusty bread or slathered on roasted vegetables. The second was organic masala chai black tea. Redolent with warm spice and delicately sweetened (post-churn) with honey, this makes a welcome addition to a breakfast table spread or to afternoon tea fare. continue reading »
February 04 2011 | Cooking with Tea | No Comments »
According to the Tea Association of the USA, tea is the most widely consumed beverage around the world, next to water. Naturally, different tea drinking cultures have developed in different parts of the world based on varying needs, tastes and types of tea available in those regions. Today, we start our journey around the world of tea with a look at “butter tea” from Tibet.
Butter tea, known as Po cha in Tibet, is made from churning tea, salt and yak butter. The tea used is a particularly potent, smoky type of brick tea from Pemagul, Tibet. A portion of this brick tea is crumbled into water and boiled for hours to produce a smoky, bitter brew called chaku. This is then stored until used to make butter tea. To make a serving of Po cha, some of the chaku is poured in a wooden cylindrical churn called a chandong, along with a hunk of yak butter and salt and churned for a couple of minutes before serving.
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December 05 2010 | Cooking with Tea and Tea Culture | 1 Comment »
Last time I was in DC, I made a point to dine at Teaism. If you’re not familiar, it’s a restaurant and tea shop that offers simple tea cuisine, including Japanese bento boxes, Thai curries and Indian tandoor breads. I ordered a bento box. It provided all of the ingredients necessary for makeshift handroll sushi. Tea-cured salmon was the star of the kit. Tea-curing was a new concept for me, something I just had to try for myself when I got back to my kitchen. If you think logistically, it’s basically a variation on gravadlax, but with tea leaves instead of dill. Just imagine the flavor potential tea offers! I tried three very different organic loose leaf teas from Arbor Teas collection: a smokey lapsang souchong black tea, a fragrant jasmine green tea, and a citrusy schizandra berry white tea.
Samples were offered at a brunch that centered around the task of making homemade bagels. Surprisingly, jasmine yielded the most predominant flavor, and was preferred by all who sampled. The lapsang souchong gave a more traditional lox-like option. For something light and different, schizandra berries, found in Arbor Teas’ newest organic loose leaf tea, lent a hint of tangerine. Though salmon is most common, this method of curing can be applied to any fatty fish. One day, I’d like to try it on pork belly to make bacon… If you get to it before me, let me know how it turns out!
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November 01 2010 | Cooking with Tea | 5 Comments »
This summer brought with it plenty of sweltering heat and an outcropping of icy treats on a stick for relief. With all the press they’re getting lately, frozen pops appear to be the latest trend. It’s peculiar how life cycles; everything once old and nostalgic is eventually new and hip again. This is fantastic news for the home cook who doesn’t have the patience or the dedicated appliance needed to whip up a batch of gelato or semifreddo or ice cream. Making popsicles is easy and requires no special equipment!
The recipe guide below calls for just five simple ingredients. Adding Arbor Teas organic loose-leaf tea to the pops adds a whole new flavor dimension and an extra level of refreshment. Upon freezing, the tea flavor truly comes forward of the fruit. This is achieved by first making a tea-infused simple syrup. You could stop here and use the chilled syrup in cocktails or more casual summertime beverages, or you could forge on by adding fruit and freezing it on a stick. Wide grins are your guaranteed reward for just these few extra measures.
The flavors of pops I’ve made so far include: Peppermint-Blueberry, Crimson Berry Fruit Tisane-Cherry, Pineapple Passion Green Tea-Strawberry, and Raspberry Green Tea-Peach. Purposefully, though, this recipe is specific about ratios and vague on flavors. I’m leaving it to you to peruse the Arbor Teas selection and be inspired by what’s available at your local fruit stands. And don’t be deterred if you don’t own frozen pop molds. Try the tricks outlined here for a simple substitute.
Hope you enjoy this Cooking with Tea recipe From the Kitchen of Olivia!
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August 18 2010 | Cooking with Tea | No Comments »
Requiring only a handful of ingredients, few things are more simple, yet so satisfying to make than classic shortbread. These delicate cookie complement a glass of milk or a cup of tea equally well, and their buttery, not overtly sweet nature takes on additional flavors with ease. Here I’ve paired a basic shortbread dough with three classic organic, loose leaf teas from Arbor Teas: organic Earl Grey Black Tea, organic Matcha Green Tea, and organic Masala Chai Black Tea. With each tea selection and a few additional mix-ins, three distinctive flavors and hues spring from the platform of a once plain dough. Try all three, or mix and match to your own preferences.
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June 30 2010 | Cooking with Tea | 5 Comments »
A Chinese tea egg （cháyèdàn) is a traditional snack food commonly sold by street vendors or in markets throughout Chinese communities. It’s a hard-cooked egg steeped with tea leaves and traditional Chinese spices, which adds a savory, slightly salty tone to a normally neutral flavored source of protein. The shell cracking method is an important feature in this recipe that not only lends to a beautiful design, but allows the tea and spices to seep into the egg white. The tea used for making tea eggs is usually high in dark-brown tannins. Pu-erh is commonly used, but it can be substituted with any black tea leaf. Green tea is often considered too bitter, but may be worth trying if you’d like to explore the effects of the marbling pattern from an entire color palate of organic loose leaf teas from Arbor Teas.
I like the idea of imparting unique flavors directly to a hard-cooked egg, but I’m not one to eat such things directly out of hand. A quick poll of the egg eating habits of some friends, however, confirms that I seem to be in the minority. In any case, if you’re like me and prefer to incorporate hard-cooked eggs into other recipes here are a few suggestions to take tea-steeped eggs to the next level:
- Sieved over roasted fresh asparagus or a salad of spring greens. Press the eggs through a strainer, or grate on the finest facet of a box grater to create mimosa flower-like bits.
- Deviled with whole-grain mustard and cream fraiche to serve at you next picnic or barbeque
- Mashed with olive oil and sea salt. Enjoy as creamy sandwich filling between slices of crusty bread
- Stirred into a sauce gribiche, a vinaigrette bound with chopped hard-cooked egg, shallots, capers and herbs that makes a fine complement to roasted potatoes or grilled fish
Hope you enjoy this Cooking with Tea recipe From the Kitchen of Olivia!
Chinese Tea Eggs
6 eggs
2 TBS organic loose leaf Pu’erh
¾ cup soy sauce
2 tsp sea salt
2 tsp dark brown sugar
4 pieces star anise
1 cinnamon stick
1 tsp cracked black peppercorns
2 strips dried tangerine or mandarin orange peel (optional)
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May 14 2010 | Cooking with Tea | 2 Comments »
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