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Tea Spiced Pecans

These will add a festive touch to your seasonal gatherings this Christmas, and offer a healthy alternative to the rich foods that often grace the table this time of year. The recipe comes from the Mele Cotte website, and you could use any Steeped Fine loose tea you're presently favouring.

 

Tea Spiced Pecans

1 lb pecans
¼ cup raw sugar (regular, granular sugar would work)
2 Tbsp. loose tea (or preferred flavor/blend) - how about Strawberry Shortcake or Raspberry Cream
½ tsp fine sea salt
1 egg white
1 Tbsp water

Preheat oven to 325°F.  Line baking sheet with parchment paper.  Place the pecans in a large bowl; set aside.

In a spice grinder, finely grind the sugar, tea and salt. Transfer the powder to an airtight container and set aside. (You will have more than you need for this recipe.)

In a small bowl, whisk egg white and water until combined and foamy. Add the dry ingredients and whisk until incorporated. Let stand for 10 minutes.

After the wait time, the sugar should have (mostly) dissolved. Stir again, and then pour over nuts. Toss to coat, stirring several times to glaze pecans. Transfer to baking sheet, in an even layer, and bake for about 35-45 minutes, or until crisp.  (To test, remove a few nuts from oven and let cool 3-4 minutes before tasting.) Store in airtight container. Yield: about 8 servings

Cook’s  Notes:
This will work with any flavor tea or spice.
Pecans can be substituted with other nuts of choice.
Cooking time may vary according to climate and crunch preference.

 Why not give it a try, and let us know what tea and nut combination you create!

Green Tea Poached Chicken with Green Tea Rice

 Cold cucumber adds a refreshing crunch to this Asian-inspired dish. Brown rice soaks up the green tea, giving it a delicate, earthy taste. This comes from Whole Living.

Why not try our Japanese Sencha, or Gunpowder tea?

Green Tea Poached Chicken with Green Tea Rice

Serves 6

• 7 cups water
• 1/2 cup loose green tea leaves
• 1 medium onion, roughly chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, smashed
• 1 stalk lemongrass, quartered and smashed
• 1 2-inch piece peeled ginger, coarsely chopped
• 1 dried Thai chile
• 2 bone-in skinless chicken breasts, 1 pound total
• 2 cups short-grain brown rice
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• Coarse salt and freshly ground pepper
• Lemon wedge, sliced scallions, and cucumber spears, for serving

Directions

1. Bring water to a near boil, pour over tea, and let steep 1 minute. Strain tea into a medium pot. Add onion, garlic, lemongrass, ginger, and chile; let cool slightly, then add chicken. Bring up to a simmer over medium heat, reduce heat, and gently simmer until the chicken is cooked through and a thermometer inserted into the thickest part reads 160 degrees, about 7 minutes. Remove chicken from poaching liquid; strain liquid, discarding solids.
2. Place 4 cups of strained liquid in a medium pot. Add rice, olive oil, 1 teaspoon of salt, and black pepper. Bring to a boil, cover, and reduce to a simmer. Cook until all liquid is absorbed and rice is cooked through, about 50 minutes. Remove from heat and let stand 10 minutes.
3. While rice is cooking, remove chicken from bone and shred into large pieces. Keep chicken in remaining poaching liquid and reheat just before serving. Season with 3/4 teaspoon of salt, and black pepper. Serve rice with chicken moistened with some of the reserved liquid. Top with sliced scallions, cold cucumber spears, and a squeeze of lemon.

Tonia's Cooking!

  If you attended the Women's Lifestyle show in London a few weeks ago, you might have seen our founder, Tonia, demonstrating cooking with tea on the Eat Drink cooking stage.

 

Tonia has charm, a sense of humour, and an enthusiasm for people and tea. If you missed her at this show, you may be able to catch her on TV soon, as she's recently filmed a segment with Sharon Caddy from Real Life, which airs on CTS. She will be heading to Toronto soon to be on Breakfast TV. We'll let you know when, so you can tune in.

 

Some London tea lovers checking out the booth at the Women's Lifestyle show.

I did it again...

... I cooked with tea on the weekend!

I was asked to bring some lunch out to the feed the guys helping my dad re-roof his cottage, so a pot of chili came to mind. I added some Lapsang Souchong to the batch and what a great smoky flavour it added.

While I was browning and seasoning the ground beef in one pan and  then sauteing some onion, celery, carrots and zucchini, I was also thawing some frozen roma tomatoes in a pot over low heat. As they thawed, they released some juice and I added a teaspoon of the tea to it. Once the tomatoes were fully thawed, I broke them up with a wooden spoon and started adding my other ingredients, chili powder and chili lime seasoning, various kinds of beans (rinsed first to prevent too much "music" later - beans beans the musical fruit, the more you eat, the more you... you know!), frozen corn and tomato sauce. I combined all of the ingredients in the pot and left it to simmer.

It was delicous - we enjoyed it outside on the deck with some garlic cheese loaf. The smokiness was subtle and appropriate for an outdoor, fall meal.

Don't hesitate to share your cooking experiments with tea by leaving a comment.

Happy sipping and blessings, Ann

I Did It! I Cooked With Tea!

It's true! AND my family liked it!!

I went online to find recipes using Lapsang Souchong tea. For those of you who haven't sniffed my sample of this tea yet, it's a very smoky tea - for good reason - the leaves are smoked after oxidization. There's a campfire smell when you open the bag. I knew I'd probably rather cook with it than drink it - although, possibly on a cool autumn day, it might just be the cup of comfort I seek.

So I found this recipe called Lazy Day Chicken on a site, submitted by Christine Torres:

Ingredients

·                                 4 skinless chicken breasts

·                                 1 cup sliced carrots

·                                 2 tsp Lapsang Souchong tea, steeped in 1 cup water

·                                 1 tsp dried parsley

·                                 1 tsp garlic salt

·                                 1 tbsp honey

·                                 2-3 tbsp barbecue sauce

·                                 1 tsp flour

·                                 2 cups rice

Directions
Steep tea. Add to large skillet with 2 cups water (including tea leaves), parsley, garlic salt, honey, flour and barbecue sauce. Add carrots and chicken breasts, sliced lengthwise into strips for easy cooking. Cover and allow to simmer for 15-20 minutes. Serve over rice.

 I didn't have any parsley, so I left that out. I also tasted the tea leaves after they had steeped and decided my family wouldn't appreciate if they were in the dish - a little too bitter for the palate in this house I'd say. I used dried roasted garlic, rather than garlic salt. All in all, the dish was well accepted. I think there is room for improvement, though, so next time I make it, I will use maple syrup instead of honey - I think it would complement the smokiness. Also, my hubby would have liked the smoky taste to be a bit bolder, so I would steep 3 teaspoons of the loose tea, longer, in the 2 cups hot water. It's a black tea and I didn't want it to get bitter, so I steeped for about 3 minutes - I'll try up to 5 minutes and experiment with the tea quantity. I'd add freshly ground black pepper while cooking as well. The 1 tsp flour wasn't doing anything to thicken it at all, so I'd leave that out, until the last minute or two and then mix 1 tbsp flour with a small bit of cold water in a bowl, then add a bit of the broth to the bowl, and then pour the mix back into the frying pan to thicken the sauce.

There was a little of the meat mixture left over this morning, but no rice. So I cooked up some rice noodles and sent the leftovers in Sarah's thermos for lunch today. What a yummy lunch she's getting!

Feel free to share your cooking experiments with Lapsang Souchong, or any other tea for that matter, by leaving me a comment.

Happy sipping and blessings, Ann

 

Cooking with Tea

Are you an experimenter in the kitchen? Are some of your tried and true recipes starting to feel a little tired? Why not try incorporating tea into you next foray in the kitchen. Seriously, tea isn't just for drinking - it's hot in cooking too!

Here are some ways to get started that I've found in my internet searches for new recipes. (I almost never cook or bake the same thing twice, except at Christmas maybe...) Most of these ideas come from Chris Casson, someone who loves to cook and experiment in the kitchen:

Tea as a spice:
Simply grind tea leaves in a pepper mill (try Oolong) and combine with white pepper. This makes an unbelievably delicious rub, perfect for a steak or a pork chop. The tea adds a wonderfully fresh Asian-cuisine nuance to this otherwise ordinary meal.

Tea as a marinade:
Wondering what to do with that extra Earl Grey tea left in the teapot at the end of teatime? Don't dump it.... Use it! Try adding it to your favorite marinade for chicken breasts for an out-of-this-world addition that will be sure to have your guests wondering the source of the mysterious (yet familiar) flavor. As a vegetarian digression, tea marinated tofu is a wonderful substitution in this dish.

Tea as a tenderizer:
Among tea's many benefits and effects, it is an efficient tenderizer. Want to get that falls-off-the-bone, melts-in-your-mouth effect for that dish that is great, but could be even better? Try adding some tea! Not to be camellia-exclusive, Rooibos "Red" tea has been shown to have similar results and may add yet another unique nuance for your culinary delights.

Tea as an aromatic:
Although many chefs are nearly as hesitant as magicians to divulge their gastronomic tricks, Chef Lamach (whose cooking many have described as magical) revealed one of his cooking secrets. "In cooking," he says, "one has to pay close attention to the retro-nasal aromatics - the 'flavor' you get in the cavity of your nasal passage. This is the true flavor that will always come through in your food and therefore must be complemented." Tea is the perfect complement to many flavors, filled with rich and subtle aromatics. Adding a touch of Jasmine tea to a rice dish will add many different interesting levels of smell and flavor that are sure to impress.

Tea as a dessert:
It is a fairly common practice to take tea after a meal. But what about tea as the dessert? This trend is quickly building in popularity in the food industry and is revolutionizing the way we think about our after-dinner sweets. Most people have been introduced to Green Tea Sorbet, but what about Earl Grey Muffins or a Jasmine Ganache? Because many teas take sugar well, it is sensible to conclude that many sweets would take tea well. Many bakers and chocolatiers are adapting and adding new recipes to include the wonderful hints that tea can add.

Tea as a green:
Finally, don't forget that tea, like many greens used in cooking, is an edible leaf. People remark when they are sniffing my tea samplers at a party about the very "green" or somewhat earthy smell of green tea. Why not use this taste to your advantage? Tomorrow morning, when making omelets, instead of using the usual spinach, try substituting Sencha leaves!

As I experiment and collect recipes, I'll be sharing them here and in my monthly newsletters (so you should sign up if you haven't yet!). Let me know if you try any of these ideas, or make up any recipes of your own. I'd love to share your experiences. I hope you get rave reviews!

Happy sipping! Blessings - Ann