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Nope, you didn’t misread the title of today’s piece on tea.  Sure tea is a great drink, I love the stuff.  More and more studies are celebrating teas healing powers every week, but did you know you can also use it to cook.  How about some Earl Grey cookies or Tea Smoked Salmon? 

Let’s start with the basics.  Here’s a quick overview of tea varieties.  The major kinds of tea are black, green, white, oolong.  All teas come from the one plant, Camellia sinensis.  The difference between the teas comes from processing of the leaves.   Black tea like green and oolong comes from the upper leaves of the plant.  White tea is slightly different, it comes from the same plant, but it is the buds of tea leaves, not the leaves themselves.  Two other popular teas, aren’t really teas.  Red and herbal teas come from other plants and thus aren’t truly classified as tea. Red tea comes from the rooibos plant found in South Africa.  Red tea is caffeine-free.  Herbal teas actually come from a variety of plants including mint, chamomile, and verbena. 

Black tea goes through the most processing and has the highest caffeine, ranging from 25-110 mg of caffeine per cup.  Caffeinated coffee contains around 100-135 mg of caffeine per cup.  Green tea is less processed than black tea and has far less caffeine.(8-30 mg of caffeine per cup)  White tea is like green tea, in that it is far less processed than black tea and the caffeine levels are similar with green tea (6-25 mg per cup).  The flavor of white tea is quite mild.  I love white tea with pomegranate, it’s a delicious combination, mild and fruity.  Oolong tea is kind of a cross between green and black tea.  It isn’t as processed as black tea, but is more processed than green tea.  It tastes a lot like black tea, only milder.  It contains 12-55 mg caffeine per cup. 

That’s a quick run down of teas.  There are plenty of brands available to suit any taste.  I recommend trying a wide variety of tea.  You may find that once you start drinking it you will like all different types.  My favorite of all teas is Earl Grey.  I would suggest trying at least a couple of brands to find the one that works best for you.  From brand to brand the flavor of the tea can be substantially different. 

Here are a couple of recipe ideas to take your tea drinking to the next level. 

This first recipe for Earl Grey Cookies comes from Martha Stewart and can be found at www.marthastewart.com.

Earl Grey Tea Cookies

Makes about 8 dozen

You can grind the tea leaves in a small food processor or with a mortar and pestle.

• 2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
• 2 tablespoons finely ground Earl Grey tea leaves (from about 8 bags)
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 sticks (8 ounces) unsalted butter, softened
• 1/2 cup confectioners’ sugar
• 1 tablespoon finely grated orange zest

1. Whisk together flour, tea, and salt in a small bowl; set aside.

2. Put butter, sugar, and zest in the bowl of an electric mixer. Mix on medium speed until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Reduce speed to low; slowly mix in flour mixture until just combined.

3. Divide dough in half. Transfer each half to a piece of parchment paper; shape into logs. Roll in parchment to 1 1/4 inches in diameter, pressing a ruler along edge of parchment at each turn to narrow log and force out air. Transfer in parchment to paper-towel tubes; freeze 1 hour.

4. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cut logs into 1/4-inch-thick slices. Space 1 inch apart on parchment-lined baking sheets.

5. Bake until edges turn golden, 13 to 15 minutes. Let cool on sheets on wire racks.

This next recipe is for Tea Smoked Salmon with Wasabi Latkes is from Ming Tsai and can be found at www.foodnetwork.com.

 

ASIAN SMOKED SALMON

1 pound salmon fillet, center cut, skin off
1/2 cup mirin
1/2 cup water
1 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon salt
1/4 cup ginger julienne
1 teaspoon toasted Szechwan peppercorns

SMOKING MIX
1 cup long grain rice
1 cup sugar
1 cup oolong tea or black lychee tea
1 piece aluminum foil
2 wet cloths

Cut the salmon in 4 equal pieces and place in a small hotel pan or baking dish. In a bowl, mix together mirin, water, sugar and salt, stir until dissolved. Add ginger and peppercorns to liquid. Pour brine on salmon and marinate for 1 hour. Pull salmon out of brine and place in a bamboo steamer. In a wok lined with foil add the rice, sugar and tea. Mix well and turn wok on medium heat. When mixture starts to smolder, place bamboo steamer on top. Seal the seam between the bamboo steamer and wok with wet cloths. Turn wok down to low and smoke for 15 minutes. Turn wok off and let smoke another 15 minutes. Salmon will be about medium rare and should be served warm.

WASABI POTATO “LATKES”

2 cups warm riced potatoes (boiled in salted water, drained well)
1 tablespoon butter
1/4 cup sliced green scallions
1 tablespoon horseradish
1 tablespoon wasabi powder mixed with a little water to form paste
Salt and black pepper
1 cup all-purpose flour
3 eggs, beaten
1 cup panko bread crumbs

In a bowl, mix warm potatoes and butter. Mix in scallions, horseradish and wasabi. Season with salt and pepper. Shape potato mixture into 2 1/2 inch diamater cakes. Dredge the cakes in flour followed by egg and finally panko. Deep fry cakes at 350 degrees until golden brown.

PLATING

Put a small mound of apple salad in the center of the plate, a potato cake on top and the salmon on top of the cake. Drizzle emulsion around the plate and garnish with chives.