TEA CUISINE
photos by Julian Landa
Afternoon Tea | Tea Cocktails | Testimonials
2 sides of salmon, preferably with skin on
1-cup brown sugar
1-cup kosher salt
1 lemon
2 teaspoons finely chopped garlic
1 handful coarsely chopped dill or other herbs. Cilantro works nicely.
1 cup Jasmine Green Tea leaves
Fresh ground pepper
Check salmon for stray bones, rinse and pat dry.
Blend brown sugar with kosher salt and put aside
Spread a large piece of plastic wrap on table. Lay sides of salmon out on the plastic wrap. Spread garlic evenly over both front and back of both filets of salmon. If the salmon still has it's skin on it, then spread the garlic on the inside, skinless sides only.
Liberally grind black pepper and squeeze the lemon over each side of both filets. Take 1/4 of the salt and sugar mixture and spread it out on the plastic wrap to be roughly the size and shape of the salmon sides. Place one side on the sugar/salt mixture, skin side down. On the inside of the salmon that should now be facing up, heavily sprinkle half the chopped herbs and half of the tea. Spread half of the salt/sugar mixture over the tea. Sprinkle the remaining tea and herbs over salt. Place the second side of salmon over the herbs and salt, sandwiching it in, skin side out and press together gently but firmly. Spread the remaining 1/4 of the salt/sugar mixture over the back of the top filet.
Bring plastic wrap up around salmon to wrap it very well. Place in a hotel pan. Place a second hotel pan into the first pan so that it presses down on the fish. Place weights in the second pan. Refrigerate. Turn fish roughly every 12 hours and check for doneness. You are looking for it to become firmer and take on a translucent look. Depending on the thickness of the filets it should take somewhere between 24 and 48 hours to cure.
This salmon is particularly nice plated with lightly dressed mixed baby greens, an herbed crème Fraiche and a dollop of Wasabi caviar.
Alternative uses are in a club sandwich with a good apple smoke bacon. Spread the bread with the herbed crème Fraiche and add lightly dressed baby greens and thinly sliced onions.
Use in a tea sandwich for afternoon tea, or as a canapé.
SPICED ORANGE and TEA ROASTED PORK TENDERLOIN
served with mango, peach and habanera salsa on a bed of wilted greens.
2 pork tenderloins, roughly one lb each, cleaned of excess fat and silver skin.
4 Tablespoons of ‘Tea Spice Rub'
Orange juice, preferably fresh squeezed, roughly 2 cups
1 Roasting Pan, not aluminum or other reactive metal. Glass or stainless steel will work well.
Preheat still oven to 375 degrees, convection oven to 325.
Rub the pork tenderloins with the ‘Tea spice Rub' and let sit, well covered, in the refrigerator over night. Remove from the refrigerator and place in a roasting pan, as small a pan as your tenderloins will fit in without crowding. Pour orange juice (preferably fresh squeezed) in the pan to 1/3 of the way up the sides of the tenderloins.
Roast in preheated oven until desired doneness, preferably pink. Baste often. May be served hot or room temperature.
Chutney:
1 medium sized mango, still fairly firm
1 large or 2 medium sized peaches, still fairly firm
Brown sugar
1 medium red bell pepper
1 small habanera pepper, or less. If unavailable replace with a teaspoon of red pepper flakes.
1 small red onion
2 limes
1/2 orange
1 Tablespoon freshly chopped herbs.
A blend of cilantro, basil and Italian parsley works well, but feel free to vary.
salt and pepper to taste
1/2 teaspoon of ‘Tea Spice Rub'
Peel and 1/4 inch dice 1 medium sized mango and 1 or 2 peaches. You want them to be firm enough that you can cleanly dice them. Wash, seed and dice the peppers. Be sure to wear rubber gloves when you work with the habanera pepper and DO NOT RUB YOUR EYES. Chop the habanera as small as you can, dice the red pepper to 1/4 inch dice. Peel and dice the red pepper to about 1/8 inch dice. Toss all together. Squeeze in the juice of 2 limes and 1/2 orange. Sprinkle in the tea spice rub, fresh herbs and additional salt and pepper to taste. Stir well. Adjust by taste. Chill until ready to serve.
APPLE TEA CAKE
Yield: (1) 10 inch cake
Between all of the tea, apples and applesauce, this cake is incredibly moist and holds nicely for several days.
Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees.
Spray one 10" spring form or standard cake pan and coat interior well with one tablespoon sugar. Set aside.
1 cup unsalted butter (2 sticks) chopped into large chunks
2 1/4 cups plus 1 tablespoon sugar
2 eggs
1 cup applesauce, preferably all natural
1 cup quadruple strength black tea, Ceylon works very well (2 heaped tablespoons of leaves steeped for 5 minutes)
2 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon bourbon or brandy
2 3/4 cups All-Purpose flour
1 3/4 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups thinly sliced, peeled apple
5 tablespoons cold butter, cut into 5 pieces
1/3 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup lightly toasted chopped pecans
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1. Beat 1 cup cold butter with paddle attachment in mixer until softened. Add 2 1/4 cups sugar and beat until smooth. Scrape down sides and beat in eggs one at a time until smooth.
2. While butter and sugar are beating, bring 1 1/4 cups water to boil and pour over 2 heaping tablespoons of black tea. Nilgiri and Ceylon work nicely with the apples, but virtually any good black or oolong tea will work well. Steep for 5 minutes and strain. With the water absorption by the leaves, you should end up with roughly one cup of very strong tea.
3. Blend together 1 cup applesauce, the steeped tea and the bourbon or brandy. Set aside.
4. Sift together the 2 3/4 cups AP flour with the baking powder, cinnamon, ginger and salt. Set aside.
5. Add 1/3 of the flour mixture to butter/sugar mixture. Beat until just incorporated. Add 1/3 of the applesauce and tea mixture, again beating until just incorporated. Alternate dry and liquid ingredients until all incorporated scraping down sides as needed.
6. Add sliced apples and mix until just blended. Remove from mixer and spoon into sugared cake pan. Scrape bowl clean with spatula and lightly smooth top of batter in the pan.
7. Return bowl to mixer and beat 5 tablespoons of cold butter until soft. Add 1/3 cup brown sugar and continue until smooth. Add lightly toasted pecan and ground ginger and beat until just incorporated.
8. Remove pecan mixture from bowl and crumble over top of the batter filled cake pan.
Bake in preheated oven until tester or paring knife comes out moist but clean. Roughly 90 minutes.
Serve warm or at room temperature with Tea Spiced Chantilly Cream or vanilla ice cream.
