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My husband, Will, and I planted our first vegetable garden at the tail end of spring. We were so excited to harvest a variety of tomatoes, pumpkin, okra, squash, cucumber and a plethora of greens and herbs by the beginning of fall. After carefully planting each and every seed, hand watering daily, and taking morning garden tours and connecting with their progress, much to our dismay, a pesky little rabbit or squirrel took it upon themselves to feast at our expense.
What they don’t find appealing to their palate are the more potent herbs, such as the mint and tarragon and spicy greens. For some reason they have also left behind the delicate thyme too. Lucky me!
This recipe made me rethink salads. Growing up when I tried to help my mom out in the kitchen, she would always put me in charge of the veggie chopping for salads. I barely learned the secrets of cooking the main entrees, but I got really good at nailing the salads.
It is truly such a fulfilling pleasure to pluck fresh herbs from your garden and include it in your meal. I picked some thyme, sage and tarragon, which I couldn’t believe I found a recipe that called for three untouched ingredients from my garden! I soaked, washed and chopped them and took a little over a tablespoon of the mixture and tossed it with the salad. The combination of the baby greens I used along with the potent herbs was fantastic! Not too overbearing from the defined sage and tarragon leaves.
Brewing the Darjeeling with rice vinegar was innovative. Darjeeling has a naturally flowery aroma that complemented the herbs and greens and fit into this salad in its own defined piece of the puzzle.
Will, who is a clinical salad dodger, devoured it. Perfectly light and airy, it went well with the main course of whole, roasted chicken.
A while back I embarked on a journey to try every recipe printed in the fabulous book, Culinary Tea by Cynthia Gold and Lise Stern. My journey was interrupted by a gift from God…I became pregnant with my first child. As I could not reap the fruits of my labor, i.e., as I was now prohibited from consuming caffeine, I decided it was best to wait until now.
With my son sound asleep right next to me this 3rd month of his birth, I have shaken the dust off of my copy of Culinary Tea and am ready to dive back into trying all recipes.
 What I have discovered is that a copy of the book in its entirety can be found in Google Books. So rather than typing in all of the recipes into my own blog, you can follow along as I post the link to each recipe I try. This way, you can be sure to get them verbatim and I can be free from any blame for a typo of something like 2 tablespoons of sugar vs. 12 tablespoons of sugar. Not that that has happened so far…but anything is possible.
Yea! I get to cook with tea again! Is it strange that I like being a housewife? And a mother? How old fashioned can I get really? I’m 33 years old, grew up in the states, have a graduate degree, worked full time in a high profile profession, run an online business and I still believe that wives should cater to their husbands.
We have friends where their wives don’t know where to find the measuring cups in their own kitchen. These same friends come to potluck dinners with the husbands making the food. I must really be old fashioned because this notion always bothers me. Either way, I believe being a great cook is part of being a strong, well-rounded woman, and I'm excited to share ideas and recipes when I come across a good one.
Back to the amazing tea recipes. I recently cooked up a batch of Smoky Tea-Spiced Almonds, a variation from Smoky Tea-Spiced Pecans because I didn't have pecans and I was determined to do a recipe soon and not be held back any longer.
Not having a tea spice grinder, because I haven’t heard of one until today, I used my hubby’s coffee grinder instead. Yes he does drink coffee. Que lastima! I wonder if he will notice the hints of smoky Lapsang Souchong in his morning cup tomorrow, hehe!
Nuts and Lapsang are like tailgating in football. They were made for each other. Smoky Tea-Spiced Almonds are an excellent, healthy snack to any sporting event. It has the smoky touch that Lapsang provides but not too overbearing, in fact, it could be a bit smokier. It also has a sweet and spicy combo from the cayenne and allspice that makes you want to pop one after another into your mouth. It makes a perfect snack for football playoffs.
Tea with scones or biscuits, a cup of tea at night or in the morning? These are all the typical ways we think of enjoying our tea. I have to admit that a cup of tea is something I didn't really think of enjoying outside of my daily routine. That was until I started reading the great articles on here, written by Ani. The recipes of delicious cuisines made with the finest California Tea House Teas were delicious to read about. Then it hit me! Everyone has heard of the everyday ways to enjoy tea. How about something a little adventurous? So I started researching. How can I incorporate tea into other times? We often pair wine with food, why not tea?
 There are many different ways to enjoy your tea not only with dessert, but DURING your meal, as you would a fine wine. So if you are feeling adventurous, or want to step outside the figurative box, try these tips at your next dinner party.
First, when considering what to pair teas with, consider the where the tea originates from. What kinds of cuisine are typical for these areas? Green teas like California Tea Houses Daughter Ring Green Tea tend to pair very nicely with seafoods, sushi and lighter dishes like chicken or salads. However, due to their ability to assist with digestion, they are also good with deep fried food. Think along the lines of white wine pairings, and you should be good. Don't forget, this is an adventure, be daring!
 When you are feeling a little more spicy, try a nice black tea. These go well with spicy foods like mexican, curry or steak dishes. Think red wine pairings here. Chinese food isn't just for Oolong anymore either. Next time brew up some Yunnan Golden Buds and try that. Full bodied black teas are also ideal for rich desserts. Try a nice cup of CTH's Bird Nest Pu-Erh, which has fabulous flavor, and assists with digestion after a heavy meal, with some chocolate cake, or custard.
The most important thing to remember when trying out a food pairing, is to have fun, and let your senses be your guide. Be daring! If you do find a tea and food pairing you just have to brag about, don't forget to post it here on our forum, so we can all try it out!
In researching this article, I came across the following legend regarding the origin of Genmai-cha:
In feudal Japan, there was a servent named Genmai. One day he was serving his master, a samurai lord, some tea. As he served the tea, some grains of rice fell out of his pocket and into the tea. His master, furious at him for ruining the tea, executed him on the spot. The samurai lord decided to drink the tea anyway and loved the flavor that the rice added to the tea. He ordered that his tea be served that way every day from then on and called the tea Genmai-cha in honor of it's accidental creator.
The contemporary story associated with the origin of Genmai-cha is that frugal Japanese housewives added brown rice (genmai in Japanese) to their tea as a filler to stretch the little tea they could afford.
Whichever story you choose to believe as the true, Genmai-cha is a great variation to plain green tea. The toasted brown rice added to green tea adds a rice cake flavor to the tea. It is also called Popcorn Tea because while toasting the rice, some of the grains may pop, similar to popcorn. And best of all, it's easy to make using rice and the green tea you already have.
The method I use to make this tea starts with toasting about 2 tablespoons of brown rice in a skillet on low-medium heat. Add the toasted rice to a sauce pan of 4 cups of boiling water and allow it to simmer for a minute or two. Remove the pan from the heat and allow the rice to steep for a couple minutes. Add 1 tea bag or 2-4 teaspoons of green tea and allow that to steep for a few more minutes. Strain out the tea and rice and you have about 2 servings of Genmai-cha.
At heart, I’m a chocolate lover. Since I’ve gotten older, my only change in vice, for sometimes it can reach unhealthy proportions, has been to move onto the dark side. If I had a chocolate number, 85% would be it.
However, sometimes you just want a little variety with your cacao. I’ve tried nuts; I love chunks of almonds swirled in. Espresso flavored bars are good too. But after investigating on the web, I realized I had been missing out on something pretty big—tea & chocolate.
Here’s what I found: It’s easy to buy artisan-quality chocolate bars online, Dagoba and Vivani are just two of the big names in the business, but I didn’t want that. Plus, living in China, the shipping was a luxury I couldn’t afford—or wait for. I was in the tea capital of the world and while the Chinese don’t have as keen a taste for sweet stuff, imported and domestic chocolate does exist; I would make my own.
But I live in a Chinese apartment and my tools only include a hot plate and a microwave. Oops.
So, I traded a bar for a truffle instead and Green Tea Dark Chocolate Truffles were born.
Here’s the recipe:
1/3 cup heavy cream
¼ cup sugar
½ teaspoon matcha green tea
7 ounces dark chocolate
1. Combine cream, sugar and 1/2 teaspoon matcha green tea in nonstick sauce pan and whisk to blend. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly; remove from heat.
2. Immediately add 5 ounces fine chopped chocolate to hot cream mixture and gently stir to blend. Spread chocolate/cream ganache mixture in shallow dish and refrigerate until firm to touch.
3. Shape chilled chocolate ganache mixture into balls and arrange on plate or baking sheet lined with wax paper. (If chocolate ganache gets too soft to roll into balls, refrigerate briefly.)
4. Freeze truffles until firm.
5. Melt 2 ounces chopped chocolate in top of double boiler. Dip frozen truffles in chocolate to lightly coat. Cool.
6. Roll cooled truffles in matcha green tea powder to lightly coat. Store truffles in refrigerator until ready to serve.
Recipe found via recipe.com
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