Below the orange line: Cooking with tea/tea bags!
Late this afternoon, I received my personalized invitation to the Madison, WI "Tax Day Tea Party" - from the College Republicans. The party runs from 11:30 am - 1:00 pm, over by the state capitol. Many of my students (I work with gay/lesbian/bi/trans students) received invites too. Several of them had not heard of the "teabagging" going on, and were wondering aloud if the CRs and the Republican Party of Wisconsin had any idea what "teabagging" actually meant.
I may go; I may take a tea cup with me. I can't think of a better way to make fun than to stand on the perimeter, holding up my tea cup. A few of my students, however, were thinking more extravagantly - although I don't know the history of it, I've known for some time that "Tea Parties" were a Sunday afternoon standard for many gay and gay-friendly bars. Oftentimes, they are fundraisers for one or another charitable activity.
Follow me across the orange line for more and for a few of my favorite recipes using tea. And feel free to add any recipes of your own.
But when thinking about the Republicans' silly tea parties, one of the first things to pop into my mind was "cooking with tea". Yes - tea isn't just for drinking. I remember the first time I discovered that tea could be used as a cooking ingredient. It was the mid-80s, I was 24 and I had picked up a box of Lipton's Tea. On the back was a recipe for chicken cooked with orange juice and tea. You were supposed to tear open a couple of tea bags and sprinkle them into a pan of chicken simmering in orange juice. I was hooked. I lost that particular recipe long ago, but I've cooked with tea ever since. I've discovered that you can cook with tea in an almost infinite number of ways - if your recipe involves any sort of liquid, there's a complimentarily-flavored tea you can use to infuse the liquid and enhance your recipe.
Jasmine Chicken
(I developed this recipe myself)
serves 4
4 chicken breasts
1 pot of jasmine tea (about 2 cups, cooled)
Salt & pepper to taste
Butter
Flour
Marinate chicken breasts in the tea overnight (or all day while at work) in a gallon ziploc bag, squeezing out all air, and laying the bag flat in the fridge.
Put a heavy skillet to medium heat, with about a tablespoon of butter. Remove the breasts (I used boneless & skinless) from the tea (reserving tea), and season each side with salt and pepper. Sear the chicken on both sides, turning only once, then add the reserved tea to braise until the chicken is done. Remove chicken from pan, pour the tea into a heat-proof container and set both to one side, keeping chicken warm but not cooking. Add another tablespoon of butter and once it melts, sprinkle in a tablespoon of flour; stir to brown (for the non-cooks, you’re making a roux here). Whisk in the tea; Add some salt and pepper to taste and reduce to thickness and consistency desired/preferred. Plate chicken with some jasmine rice (aka Thai fragrant rice – and no, it doesn’t actually taste like jasmine – you can use your favorite rice, or potatoes even, but I liked the idea that it has the same name) and pour sauce over the chicken & rice. Those who prefer their jasmine tea sweet might want to add just a bit of sugar or honey to the sauce.
Baby Root Vegetable Stew With Black Tea Prunes
(from Food & Wine)
serves 8
4 ounces pitted prunes (1 cup)
2 cups strong, brewed black tea
6 tablespoons unsalted butter
3/4 pound baby carrots, quartered lengthwise
2 small turnips, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch wedges
Salt and freshly ground pepper
3/4 pound radishes, quartered if large
2 cups chicken stock or low-sodium broth
3 tablespoons soy sauce
3/4 pound fingerling potatoes, cut into 3/4-inch pieces
1 small onion, finely chopped
1 large garlic clove, minced
1 large thyme sprig
Lemon wedges, for serving
In a small saucepan, cover the prunes with the tea and bring to a simmer. Remove from the heat, cover and let stand until the prunes are plump, about 1 hour. Drain the prunes and discard the tea.
Melt 4 tablespoons of the butter in a skillet. Add the carrots and turnips and season with salt and pepper. Cook over moderate heat, stirring, just until heated through, 2 minutes. Add enough water to cover the vegetables by 1 inch and bring to a boil. Simmer over moderate heat until tender, 7 minutes. Drain the vegetables.
In a medium saucepan, cover the radishes with the chicken stock and soy sauce and bring to a boil. Simmer over moderate heat until the radishes are tender, 10 minutes. Drain, reserving the cooking liquid.
In a large enameled cast-iron casserole, melt the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter. Add the potatoes and cook over moderate heat, stirring, until tender and golden, about 8 minutes. Add the onion and cook until softened, about 4 minutes. Stir in the garlic and cook until fragrant, 1 minute. Add the prunes, carrots, turnips and the radishes with their cooking liquid and season with salt and pepper. Add the thyme and bring to a simmer. Cook over moderately low heat, stirring, until the vegetables are tender and the liquid is slightly reduced, about 8 minutes. Discard the thyme sprig. Serve with lemon wedges. As with all stews, this one becomes better with a day or two of aging.
Darjeeling Ice Cream
(any ice cream recipe can be adapted, simply by infusing the liquid with your favorite tea)
makes about 1 quart
1 cup whole milk
2 cups half and half (can use heavy cream for a richer ice cream)
¾ cup sugar
5-6 Darjeeling tea bags
5 egg yolks
Warm the milk, half and half, and sugar in a saucepan. Remove from heat, place tea bags in the pan, cover and steep at room temperature for an hour. Remove tea bags.
Rewarm tea-infused milk. Wisk egg yolks together in a separate bowl. Slowly pour the milk mixture into the bowl with egg yolks, whisking constantly.
Return the milk and egg mixture to the saucepan, and cook over medium heat, stirring and scrapping the bottom of the pan constantly until the mixture thickens to a custard and coats the spatula.
Cool the mixture completely, and freeze in your ice cream maker.
Earl Grey Truffles
(adapted from the food blog "Mac & Cheese" on Blogspot. I skimp on chocolate in other ways but when making truffles, I always use ultra-premium chocolate, like Scharffen Berger)
makes about 35 truffles
8 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped
3 Earl Grey tea bags
½ cup heavy cream
Place chocolate in a heatproof bowl. Scald heavy cream in a small, heavy saucepan on the stove. Earl Grey tea bags in hot, heavy cream for 30 minutes. Squeeze out tea bags, and remove. Re-heat cream to just bubbling and pour over chopped chocolate. Let sit for a couple of minutes, then stir until chocolate is melted and thoroughly incorporated. Store in refrigerator until chilled (1-2 hours). Scoop out a small portion of chilled chocolate ganache, and, with your hands, roll into balls about the size of...a truffle!
8 ounces ounces chocolate (your choice – milk, semi-sweet, dark, white, etc.), chopped
Melt 2/3 of chopped chocolate in a double boiler, stirring constantly. To temper, use a candy thermometer and bring chocolate to 110-113°. Remove from heat, and add remaining 1/3 chocolate, stirring constantly for about 8-10 minutes, or until the chocolate cools to 79-80°. Re-heat chocolate to 90°, and dip truffles quickly in chocolate. Place on wax paper-covered tray to cool.