Archive for the 'Cooking with Tea' Category
Buttery and cake-like in texture with an ornamental, fluted shape, the madeleine is quite likely the most beautifully described cookie in literary prose. For it is the taste of a madeleine dipped in tea that sets into motion a vivid flood of memories recounted in Marcel Proust’s fictional novel, A la Recherche du Temps Perdu. Traditionally a dry cookie, perfectly conducive for dunking into a complementary cup of tea, this madeleine recipe combines the elements of tea and cookies in a singular elegance. The citrusy flavors of bergamot (from the tea) and orange (from the zest) play brightly in the foreground of these delicate cookies, while brown butter provides a nutty base. Although it may seem a bit unusual, adding ground tea directly to the batter creates lovely flecks of texture (not unlike a poppy seed) in addition to flavor. Grind loose tea leaves in a coffee/spice grinder or with a mortar and pestle and use straight away for maximum freshness. Hope you enjoy this Cooking with Tea Recipe From the Kitchen of Olivia!
EARL GREY TEA MADELEINES
Adapted from Dorie Greenspan
Makes 12 large or ~36 mini madeleines
6 TBS unsalted butter
¾ cup all-purpose flour
½ tsp baking powder
1 TBS Earl Grey Black Tea, ground to a powder
Pinch of salt
⅓ cup sugar
Zest from ½ an orange, grated
2 large eggs, at room temperature
2 TBS honey
1 tsp vanilla extract
Heat butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. Allow the butter to melt and then continue cooking, swirling the pan often to prevent burning, until it turns light brown and gives off a nutty aroma. Cool completely before using. Meanwhile whisk together the flour, baking powder, ground Earl Grey tea, and salt in a separate bowl. continue reading »
February 17 2010 | Cooking with Tea | 1 Comment »
The health benefits
of green tea seem to be popping up perpetually in the news these days. Just recently a published study found that drinking green tea increases the effectiveness of antibiotics. Good news for those suffering this flu and cold season! Another well-vetted remedy for these ailments is a humble bowl of chicken soup. Why not combine the two to give your immune system an additional boost? Yes, green tea can be incorporated into the broth of the soup, but did you consider for an extra-added health benefit that the steeped leaves could also be eaten—as a vegetable? Go ahead; incorporate some of the unfurled tea leaves within the soup instead of discarding them in the compost bin.
In developing this recipe, I played quite a bit with the ratio of green tea to chicken broth. The tea adds subtle notes of astringency as its smooth, light-bodied flavor competes with the aromatic celery, parsley and peppercorns on the palate. Be it your goal to boldly bring forward the tea’s flavor or to creatively incorporate more green tea in your diet, try playing with the ratios yourself to suit your taste preferences. A good starting point is 1 teaspoon of loose tea per 1 cup of chicken stock. Interestingly, the noodles absorb the green tea flavor and color as they cook in the soup, providing yet another vehicle with which to consume the tea. As for any soup or stew, homemade stock makes all the difference in this recipe, adding a level of clarity and richness to the flavor. It is well worth the extra time it entails.
Wishing you wellness this winter. Hope you enjoy this Cooking with Tea Recipe From the Kitchen of Olivia!
Dragon Well (Green Tea) Chicken Noodle Soup
Serves 4-6
1 whole roasting chicken, rinsed well
1 large onion, quartered
6 carrots, divided
4 celery stalks, divided
One bunch of parsley, stems and leaves separated
6 ounces pappardelle (or other wide style) egg noodles
About 3 TBS loose, organic green tea such as Dragonwell (Lung Ching)
1 TBS (or to taste) salt
1 TBS (or to taste) whole peppercorns
In a large stockpot, combine the chicken with onion, 3 carrots and 2 celery stalks cut into two or three pieces, parsley stems, salt and peppercorns. Add 8 cups water (or just enough to cover chicken) to the pot. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer gently for about 30 minutes. Skim and discard impurities from the top frequently.
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January 21 2010 | Cooking with Tea and Tea and Health | No Comments »
Imagine buttery sweet combined with salt and smoke. These are the flavor components that form quite possibly the most divine confection to come from my kitchen to date. Boutique caramels, flavored salts and smoked anything are all making headlines as current food trends. Here I combine them together into one sweet indulgence. The smoke flavor is easily achieved using Arbor Teas Organic Lapsang Souchong Black Tea. If you need a holiday gift to delight your favorite foodie, this recipe might just be the perfect treat! Be sure to make enough to treat yourself as well, though. Passing a small test batch around Arbor Teas friends and staff garnered rave reviews but also generated a bit of competition as to who would keep the extras. If you know you have a propensity for hoarding, I suggest doubling the recipe. Happy holidays! Hope you enjoy this Cooking with Tea Recipe from the Kitchen of Olivia!
Smoky Lapsang Souchong Caramels
Adapted from Pure Dessert by Alice Medrich
- makes 40 (1-inch) caramels –
2 TBS organic lapsang souchong black tea
1 cup heavy cream
½ cup Lyle’s golden syrup
1 cup sugar
rounded ¼ tsp fine sea salt
2 tsp pure vanilla extract
1½ TBS unsalted butter, cut into chunks, softened
Smoked sea salt to garnish
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December 18 2009 | Cooking with Tea and Tea Fun | 2 Comments »
Tea and scones go together like milk and cookies. One is just simply more enjoyable in the company of the other. Taking it one step further, I decided to meld the two together by flavoring my favorite scone recipe with tea. Masala chai tea offers the perfect balance of aromatic spices that can be imparted to dough through a cold infusion technique. With notes of cardamom, clove, cinnamon, ginger and black pepper, there is absolutely no need to open the spice cabinet or fiddle with many measuring spoons for this recipe. Those holiday flavors you are trending toward this cool weather season are available, conveniently packaged in an environmentally friendly canister, in Organic Masala Chai Black Tea from Arbor Teas. While the ingredients come together quickly, you will need to plan ahead to let the cream steep. The longer the tea infuses the more pronounced the masala chai spices will be. Butter and cream make these scones rich and moist, while cake flour lends a tender, crumbly texture. Hope you enjoy this Cooking with Tea Recipe from the Kitchen of Olivia!
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December 04 2009 | Cooking with Tea and Tea Fun | 2 Comments »
With immense pleasure we at Arbor Teas would like to introduce you to Nancy Biehn, Chief Executive Chocolatier of Sweet Gem Confections, an artisan chocolate shop located right here in our hometown, Ann Arbor, MI. Over the past few months a sweet collaboration has been forming between Nancy and us—we’ve teamed up to bring you handcrafted, organic tea-infused truffles!
Simply delighted to be a part of this exciting project, I dropped in on Nancy one evening to observe her master craftsmanship firsthand. The display of chocolate mastery I witnessed was nothing short of amazing! She was making a white chocolate, masala chai tea ganache that, when cooled, would be rolled into orbs and dipped in white chocolate. Without missing a beat while attending to all the stirring, cooling and additional stirring that the ganache required, Nancy poured perfectly tempered milk chocolate into shell-shaped molds, turning out the excess onto her parchment-covered workbench in a spectacle that can aptly be described as a chocolate “rain shower.” These shells will eventually enclose earl grey black tea-infused milk chocolate ganache. While those were cooling, she painted a shimmery campfire motif on the tops of a batch of 65% cacao dark chocolate Laspang Souchong truffles. Talk about a multi-tasker!
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November 03 2009 | Cooking with Tea and Products and Tea Fun | 3 Comments »
Have you ever wanted to capture the smoky fragrance of Lapsang Souchong black tea into something edible? Here is a delicious way to try it in an appetizer inspired by a recipe from Heidi Swanson’s cookbook Super Natural Cooking. Lapsang Souchong has a heady campfire aroma and provides an easy way to impart a wonderful smoked flavor to foods without having to go through all the hassle of actually firing up the smoker yourself. Here I use it to season a sauté of shiitake mushrooms and a bit of pulled pork packaged neatly in a spring roll wrapper. Feel free to substitute fillings with cooked shrimp or scallops or even tofu to name a few ideas. In place of Arbor Teas’ organic Lapsang Souchong, you may also want to try their organic Russian Caravan Black Tea. A blend of Chinese Keemun and Lapsang Souchong, it will have a less potent smoke factor.
For the dipping sauce I created a rich plum butter flavored with an organic black tea mixed with bits of real vanilla bean pods (check out the recipe here). Please don’t be daunted by the recipe if making jam isn’t your thing. It’s only meant to inspire. Purchase your favorite jam, chutney or marmalade; the results will be equally good.
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October 19 2009 | Cooking with Tea | No Comments »
Living in Michigan, I am fortunate to have in my community great local farms and orchards that grow a wide variety of berries and other fruits. Compared to our long, cold winters, however, the growing season always seems so short. For this reason, the greater part of my summer was spent making various jams, fruit butters, chutneys, and sauces as each new fruit came into season. This is my effort to preserve the bountiful harvest in anticipation of the winter to come. Popping open a fresh jar on a gray winter’s morning to spread on toast or spoon into oatmeal should do just the trick to brighten anyone’s spirits, encouraging fond memories of summer past.
Beyond the typical uses, though, jams or preserves or butters (or whatever you might have) can make a solid basis for a vibrant basting or dipping sauce - just add a little vinegar to temper the sweet or add chilies for heat and you are on your way to creating more excitement in your meal. In yet an entirely different direction, often I like to tuck dollops of jam into baked treats for use as pastry fillings. All this is to say that a lot of potential is sealed away in those little glass jars!
Perusing Arbor Teas’ extensive line of fair trade, organic loose teas, I came across their organic vanilla bean black tea. This tea is unique in that it is blended with large bits of organic vanilla pods. If you’ve ever purchased a vanilla pod (or even just enjoyed the flavor of genuine vanilla beans), you will understand the decadence of this addition. Immediately it struck me as a perfect match for the beautiful Sweet Vision plums I’d purchased from the farmer’s market to make plum butter. The organic black tea adds a welcome astringency to the tart-sweet plums and the sensual hint of vanilla does not go unnoticed.
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October 19 2009 | Cooking with Tea | 2 Comments »
It’s not uncommon for folks who are passionate about tea to have other culinary interests, and quite often foodies such as ourselves delight in finding new and interesting ways to merge their various food passions. Well, our latest passion is chocolate, and we figured it might be worth sharing some thoughts on the subject of tea and chocolate pairing.
Successful combinations of tea and chocolate can be achieved in a variety of ways. You can look for tea/chocolate pairings that share similar flavor characteristics, thereby enhancing one another. Conversely, you can also find very satisfying combinations where the flavors of the tea and chocolate contrast – these are sometimes the biggest hits. Lastly, look for tea/chocolate pairings where the characteristics of each aren’t necessarily the same, but are compatible or complimentary in some fashion. Along these lines, we offer a few ideas for you to try, but by no means is this list exhaustive – let your palate, your creativity and your sense of adventure be your guide!
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September 30 2009 | Cooking with Tea and Tea Fun | No Comments »
In the celebratory spirit of this inaugural “cooking with tea” post, and the joy brought through collaboration among friends, let’s have organic matcha tea cakes and ice cream! Matcha, traditionally consumed during the Japanese tea ceremony, has a thick, rich green taste with a discernable bitter quality. Its flavor is strong enough to be retained when combined with butter, eggs, milk and sugar in this delectably moist cake. Plus, the green powder lends such a lovely vibrant-hued crumb with an ever so slightly grainy texture. On a whim (and with a nod to the end of the summer season), I paired this cake with sweet corn ice cream, which is NOT for the faint of vegetables! Lavender, agave, honey, buttermilk or tea-infused ice creams or gelatos (perhaps a future post) would all be wonderful substitutions. The cake is topped with an organic kukicha green tea-infused whipped cream. One of my favorite Arbor Teas, kukicha is made of a gorgeous variegated combination of leaves and stems, which yield a delicate green tea flavor. It imparted just the subtle flavor I was after for this whipped cream so as not to compete with the matcha cake.
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September 03 2009 | Cooking with Tea | 3 Comments »
We at Arbor Teas want to inspire you to think outside the pot. Yes, a perfectly steeped cup of tea holds much tradition and most definitely nourishes the body and mind, but there are many more ways - both savory and sweet - to use these fragrant leaves. Think saturating as an infusion into milk or cream, stocks or sauces, crushing to form a substantial base for a dry rub, or heating directly in the frying pan as you would to coax the intensity from any spice layered into a stir-fried-type dish. The possibilities are endless, invite much creativity and encourage playfulness.
But first, an introduction is in order. I’m Olivia, an avid baker and home cook who occasionally blogs about my kitchen exploits. I must disclose I have no formal culinary training, although ironically I have a background in gustatory science. I also have an immense passion for food and very encouraging (and happily satiated) family and friends. Two of which, Jeremy and Aubrey of Arbor Teas, have asked me to share with you recipes that use their organic loose leaf teas. I hope you enjoy!
September 03 2009 | Cooking with Tea | No Comments »