Where to Find Me on The Web -- Guest Posts at A Great Good Place for Books, Will Write for Food, More

Coffee lovers were whipped into a frenzy by this and I learned a lesson

Lately, in addition to working on my food and recipe columns for the j, Northern California's Jewish Resource, I have had two guest posts.

The first was on the blog of  food writing teacher, mentor and friend Dianne Jacob, where I wrote about the challenges of creating recipes during the early days of the COVID-19 stay in place orders, when grocery shelves were often bare and home pantries in survival mode.  It includes the lessons I learned by being an internet trend follower (including the dalgona coffee pictured above.)

The second was in support of one of my favorite independent bookstores, Oakland's wonderful  A Great Good Place for Books (they ship, too). Owner Kathleen Caldwell and staff are always helpful, supportive and knowledgeable and I wanted to do what I could to help. This post also had a coronavirus angle, suggesting folks get Andrea Nguyen's excellent Vietnamese Food Any Day for a break from SIP comfort food and carbs. In VFAD, Nguyen follows in her mother's footsteps (food steps?) and shows how to resource classic and new Vietnamese recipes from local supermarkets. The post has a few photos of the dishes I made from the book.

Oh, and if you'd like to know more about the best iced coffee I ever made, see my article/post at the j for instructions and variations on dalgona or whipped coffee.  Key tip, you can NOT sub out the instant coffee. And wear an apron, it gets messy.

For more of my regular recipe columns from the j, you can find them on my j author page. They appear in print every other week and are released online shortly before or after publication.  Make the j your home for globally inspired Jewish recipes. Plus, if you ever have a question about the recipe, email me at the address at the bottom of the post, and I'll try to help you out.

In the Bag: Sometimes You Just Need A Coffee To Go -- Steeped Coffee Single-Serve Brews

Steeped Coffee individual brew bag in action 

Just a quick shout out to Steeped Coffee (which provided free samples) for their real coffee in single-serving brew bags (like large tea bags). I used several on a recent camping trip in the United Kingdom and found it convenient and flavorful, much better than instant. My favorites were the darker roasts, but I appreciated the decaf bags since many places we visited did not offer brewed decaf.

One tip, cover the top of your cup with a plate or napkin while the bag is steeping to keep the drink hotter.

A shout out, too, to Spaceships UK, the company we rented our compact camper minivan from (no freebies, there, we paid). Great equipment and great service.

Photo taken at a private campground in the Lake District in England.

A Hostel Take on a Green Tea French Toast Recipe

Green Tea French Toast came about when I was faced with a limited palette of ingredients in a Japanese hostel’s well equipped kitchen and wanted something homey but still foreign for brunch.

The hostel, the Emblem in Kanazawa, Japan, had a large and well equipped kitchen and a nice seating area. I had bread, butter, eggs, and milk. The hostel provided sugar and salt. All well and good, I could make perfectly good but possibly bland pain perdu with those ingredients, but my custardary, rich take called out for some flavoring agent. At home I’d use cinnamon and vanilla or orange zest. They were not in my larder here, so to speak. What I did have was fresh ginger and a green tea bag. The bag was matcha (powdered green tea) mixed with finely ground green tea. Doing this again, I would use all matcha tea, but the combo worked well for flavoring the custard. I only had enough day-old baguette to make two generous servings with a taste for the curious hostel staff. Usually I serve my French toast with a choice of maple syrup, jam and or yogurt, here I just skipped the toppings, but if you have them, they would work well. I think it would also be nice with a ginger syrup and whipped cream.

For my traditional French Toast recipe which uses challah, vanilla and cinammon, please click here.

Green Tea French Toast
Serves 2-3

½ cup milk
1 matcha and green tea bag (matcha mixed with green tea) or 1 tsp. powdered matcha
2 Tbs. sugar
1 large egg
⅛ tsp. salt
½ tsp. grated fresh ginger
About 10 slices day-old baguette, sliced 1” thick (about 90 grams)
1 Tbs. butter for frying, plus more as needed
Extra sugar or powdered sugar for garnish, as desired
Green tea or matcha for garnish, if available and as desired

Simmer milk (do not boil). Remove from heat once simmering. Add tea bag (or mix in matcha). Let steep until cool. Remove tea bag if using, pressing on it with a spoon to make sure all the liquid returns to the pot. (If using all matcha, stir to make sure it is fully dissolved.)

Beat together sugar, egg, salt and ginger. Slowly pour in the milk, beating constantly, until well mixed. Place bread slices in a rimmed dish, pour milk mixture over bread, covering completely. Let stand, turning slices over occasionally, about 5-10 minutes until custard is mostly absorbed by the bread.

Heat butter over medium heat until sizzling. Fry slices until browned on one side then flip and fry other side until browned, working in batches if need be. Sprinkle tops of finished French toast with sugar or powdered sugar if desired. Sprinkle with additional 1 tsp. matcha or tear open a fresh green tea bag and crumble some of the tea to a fine dust and garnish with about a teaspoon of that.

NYC Photo of the Day -- Coffee Soda

Think of the Manhattan Special as the Red Bull of its day, which goes back to 1895. Cold, sweet and intense, this espresso soda fueled many NYU study hours for me.  Now available in diet, which does help with the post drink jitters, it still is an acquired taste.  It is thick and syrupy, very coffee flavored, sweet and slightly carbonated.  Pretty much everything I like in one small bottle.  The Manhattan Special makes regular iced coffee seem like it's for sissies.

I've only ever seen this in New York.  It might exist elsewhere but to me it's something I can only drink when I'm in a New York frame of mind.

Update: BevMo carries the regular non-diet version.

Iced Coffee by Dong Nai River

I'm in a beautiful lodge within Cat Tien National Park, Vietnam, about four hours from Ho Chi Minh City.  (Forest Floor Lodge.)

Here's what they brought me for my iced coffee. I'll write more about Southeast Asian filtered coffee and iced coffee later, but I just wanted to share this lovely moment.

Green Tea Diaries - Oh What's in My Cup

My favorite green tea in my favorite tea thermos, both from China

I like to start morning off with a cup of green tea.

For years that tea was blended by Gypsy Zen Tea, a California company known for its creative blending of teas and other natural ingredients that has done me wrong twice. First I had to stave off its discontinuance of my beloved Cocaberry blend by mail order and Grocery Outlet shopping and then I had to go through that all over again when Gypsy Zen ended production of pomegranate green tea replacement I compromised on.

Now I'm just playing the green tea field, brewing up individual samples of tea bags I've collected at Fancy Food shows and elsewhere as well as going through my own substantial stash of loose and bagged teas. (FYI - for more serious tea drinking I prefer full leaf brewed teas without added flavors - but my morning tea is different.)

Below is a list of the teas I've sampled with any notes. I'm sure eventually I'll fall in love with another tea and eventually that tea will become unavailable but at least this way I'll have a lot of tasting notes to call on to find a replacement. Watch for Facebook and Twitter status updates for additions to this list.

Most of these teas are bagged, I'll note when they are not.  These teas tend to taste best and not need additional sugar when brewed with just under boiling temperature water and steeped for only a few minutes.

Many bagged green teas in this country look like sweepings from the processing room floor - tiny bits of chaff and dried leaves.  I've indicated when a bag seems to be filled with full leaves.

My favorite morning green tea of all time is the loose leaf jasmine blend I brought back from China.  I keep it in an airtight container and just need a pinch to make a lovely cup. 

• Stash Moroccan mint (a stand by - I think the mint helps the taste)
• Te sweetest jasmine pearls (the best so far -- nice fabric tea bag and nice leaves)
• Stash fusion green and white tea
• Harney tropical green
• Te Shangri La (nice leaves, nice bag but didn't care for added flavor)
• Republic of Tea Pineapple Ginger (doesn't seem to go bitter, nice pineapple taste)
• Harney's Bangkok Green Tea (silk "sachet" with slighter larger tea leaves but still bits and pieces. Very strong coconut and ginger flavor, seems more like a Thai sauce than a tea.)
• Lahaha Jasmine Green Tea (sachet type tea bag with full leaves.  Very perfumy, but nice, no bitterness at all.  Organic, all natural.)
• Lahaha Lemon Green Tea (same sachet, decent tea leaves, dried lemon peel pieces). Not so good. No lemon flavor.  More bitter than the jasmine.  Would not have again.
• Tea Tibet "Kindness" Green Tea.  Just green tea -- but the best cup of plain green tea I've ever had from a tea bag.  Quality tea leaves (maybe a bit broken rather than whole).  This is a non profit company that supports Tibetan educational projects and orphanages created by Kombucha Wonder Drink.  The tea itself is from northern India.  www.teatibet.org
• Ahmed Green Tea with Mint - first one that needed sugar -- tasty with it, not so without
• Numi Gunpowder Green - a superior taste, would definitely get again
• Republic of Tea Honey Ginseng Green Tea -- not bad, but I kept thinking I was drinking a melted cough drop.  If I had throat issues or a cough I'd drink this up.

More to come!

My Lemon Mint Tea Story - From Hammam to Tea Cup

This the first in an occasional series highlighting some of the many teas I regularly drink  (or at least sample).  Since I just inventoried my decaf and herbal teas I know I have 27 boxes or tins of these types alone so this could be a very long running feature.  In addition, I have another few dozen individual leftover and sample tea bags, too.  I haven't begun to inventory the black, green and white teas  I've accumulated.  Plus I have a lot of tea strainers, pots and other equippage to blog about. Oh, and the Fancy Food Show is next month and I always find new teas to try there.

I first learned about the wonderfully refreshing powers of lemon mint tea while I was laying half naked on a small towel on a large marble platform surrounded by billowing, hot steam in a Turkish hammam looking up at the intricately carved domed ceiling and feeling languid in the heat. Christina, one of my traveling companions, was telling me how she was able to find this tea, a favorite of hers she has bought all over the Middle East in Istanbul and encouraged me to seek it out.

"I can't believe Lipton makes it and you can't buy it in the States," she said.

I'm a big fan of both flavors and was intrigued enough to buy a box of Nane Limon Tea (once I had my fill of steam, cold water pool plunges, massages and brisk body scrubs at the hamman) at a Turkish grocery store to bring back with me.

Back in California, I brewed a cup and took a small sip. It was as marvelous as Christina had promised. It is more of an herbal infusion than a tea since the ingredients are pretty much just fruit flavor and herbs such as lemon grass and mint. I found it warming in the winter, cooling in summer.  It was a good pick me up yet it also was a good tea to relax with. It was great iced. It was great hot. Because it was herbal and had no caffeine I could drink it any time.  Only one problem -- I only had 20 tea bags of the stuff.

I hoarded my supply and stopped sharing it with friends and relatives. I searched all the local ethnic and gourmet markets -- no Lipton lemon mint tea, or even any substitutes.

I checked the U.S. Lipton website. Not there.  (But you can see it on the Turkish site.) I thought about mixing a lemon tea with a mint tea and making my own but before I could begin to experiment, I found a replacement brand in a local market specializing in Jewish and Israeli foods.

That's where I found my current lemon mint tea crush -- Wissotzky Nana-Lemon Tea. It's not exactly the same, but very close and wonderful in all the same ways as the Lipton version.  Wissotsky is made in Israel and is available through mail order as well as in some stores here in the U.S.  It's only $2.99 for 20 bags -- a whole lot cheaper than another trip to Istanbul, but of course, the hammam experience is not included.
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The Lipton's box lists ingredients as: lemon grass, mint, lemon peel, lemon flavor, citric acid and chicory root. The Wissotzky tea ingredients as per the box are: Mediterranean spearmint leaves, rosehip, orange and lemon peels, citric acid, spearmint and lemon flavors. I haven't tasted these side by side so I can't say which I like better.

Chai Life -- India Photo of the Day

One of the many delights in India is the wonderful tea.  Most often it was presented as a tea bag, often with powdered milk to stir into it.  (And it was still mighty tasty.) But when it was done right as chai masala as shown above as prepared by a sidewalk vendor in Jaipur, it was a mighty special drink.

Chai means tea, masala means spiced.  It is made with boiled or heated milk.

I really was surprised to have so much tea made from tea bags and to see so little in the way of tea shops, teapots and loose leaf tea, especially since India is second only to China in tea production and consumption.  To be fair, I wasn't really in any tea-growing regions and didn't seek out any fancy hotel teas or tea shops.

India's home grown coffees are tasty, but I opted for chai masala whenever I could. I had it at hotel breakfasts, roadside rest stops and once out of a small earthenware cup at a re-creation of a Rajasthani folk village.  Typical Indian servings are on the petite size.  I always wanted to supersize my cup.

To make chai masala you need a spice mix. You can buy it premade or make your own. (Careful, don't buy a chai latte mix - which will have instant tea and perhaps powdered milk - you just want the spices.  Chai latte is an American concept, a larger, milkier riff on classic Indian chai.)

I don't really have a recipe - I just use a mixture of what I have a taste for -- usually cinnamon, cardamom, ginger and cloves.  Sometimes I even add a bit of black pepper. Some folks also use star anise. I usually use ground spices, but you can use whole, cracked spices if you prefer.  I have made great tasting chai with dairy and non-dairy milks, but in India I only had it with whole, regular milk.

To make a few servings (depends on size of your cup) -- place your spices (perhaps a teaspoon total of the ground spices) in 2 cups water. Bring to a boil. Take off heat, add 2 Tbs. of black, loose tea.  Let steep for 5-7 minutes, until very strong.  Strain.  Return liquid to pot.  Add 2 cups of milk of your choice and sugar to taste (optional) and reheat, stirring occasional, until hot.  (Bringing the milk to a boil is more traditional in India where boiling the milk for 2-3 minutes is seen as a health precaution in some areas. It also brings out the milk sugars and helps give it a more caramelized taste.)

Everything is up for negotiation -- use a few tea bags if you prefer instead of the loose tea.  Add more or less spice or more or less milk or water.  Usually, I use Assam or  Darjeeling tea, but orange pekoe is often used and any black tea will work.  You can even use a decaffeinated tea. I've made good herbal versions with South African rooibos (red) tea.

If you have access to an Indian market, my preferred "quick" chai is Tea India's brand of flavored tea bags.  I have tried masala and cardamom flavors. Both are great and stand up to added milk.

Blog Appetit Goes to the Winter Fancy Food Show

Opening day crowd. Photo by NASFT, used with permission

My feet are sore.  My belly is bulging.  My mind is full of great recipes I'd like to create, products I'd like to highlight and human interest stories I'd like to write.  That's because I spent two days at this year's National Association for the Specialty Food Trade's Winter Fancy Food Show here in San Francisco.  

That's a convention center full of goodies to sample, discuss, photograph and ponder.  I can't believe I covered so much and still missed the guy in the bacon costume or the cheese company making free flip books with participants costumed as over endowed milk maids or saucy cows. 

The place was packed and more than a little overwhelming with more than 80,000 products, so I tried to concentrate on just a few subjects and just take the rest in.

Here are just a few of my favorite new-to me products. I'll be featuring more in the coming weeks, but these made a mighty good first impression on me:

Numi Organic Tea's new savory tea line:  These are flavorful light vegetable broths I think taste amazingly good and are nice restoratives or refreshers by themselves, I think they would be interesting to work into recipes for everything from soups to curries to aspics.  I hope to play with these veggie teas a bit and develop a few recipes.  The line is not listed on the website yet.  The beverages just use vegetables and seasonings for flavor and do not contain any tea so they are naturally caffeine free. Each variety has five calories or less.  Introductory flavors are Tomato Mint, Carrot Curry, Fennel Spice, Spinach Chive, Beet Cabbage and Broccoli Cilantro.Watch for more info from Numi (and me) on this.

Brad's Raw Kale Chips: Kale chips were not hard to find at the show, but these were raw, relatively unprocessed and addictive.  I also liked Brad's raw flavored onion rings and the company's zucchini sticks.  At some point I realized I was eating an inappropriate amount of samples because they were so tasty.  I rationalized it by saying I'd mention them on my blog, so here you go.

Coconut Bliss:  This company managed to combine two of the biggest themes I saw on the convention floor -- coconut and salted caramel flavor.  Unlike many of the flavor combos involving these trendy tastes, though, Coconut Bliss pulled them off in an amazing vegan ice cream. The flavor is so new it's not on it's website yet, but watch for it in local stores.

Oh, and a special shout out to Hudson Valley for it's rich and delectable foie gras product and for the generosity in which they welcomed (repeat) samplers. (Please go to their site to read about their cage free and other innovative methods of humane raising of the ducks that provide the livers they market.)

Watch for me from me on the show and related goings on.  Below are excerpts from the NASFT news release for what it's "trendspotters" saw as up and coming at the show.  To see the complete news release, please go here.

Chanukah Cocktails To Help Light Up the Holiday

From left to right -- The Sufganiyot, The Chocolate Gelt and the Chocolate Egg Cream Shot                  

 

Check your list of traditional Chanukah foods.

• Fried Potato Latkes
• Jelly Doughnuts
• Choclate Gelt
• Cheese or Dairy

What's missing?

Something healthy? (Just kidding)
No, something fun to drink.

Now you can add a few liquid delights to the Festival of Lights -- Chanukah Cocktails.

I recently developed some adult drinks for my column in the j. weekly.  These were featured today in a post on The Daily Meal, complete with photos and background information on how I developed the recipes.  The Daily Meal also features a Chanukah mocktail recipe (see below).

The Chanukah Gift

The four cocktails in the j. article are the Chanukah Gift (developed by friend and expert mixologist Sally Ann Berk), featuring Sabra (a chocolate-orange liqueur) and chocolate vodka with a chocolate surprise; the Chocolate Gelt which features a cocoa powder rim, chocolate vodka (which is clear) and Goldschläger (a clear, gold-flecked cinnamon schnapps); the Chocolate Egg Cream Shot, and the Sufganiyot which has a lemon juice and powdered sugar rim and has vanilla and citron vodkas and Manischewitz sweetened blackberry wine.

The Sufganiyot (which refers to the Israeli and now American custom of having jelly doughnuts as a Chanukah celeberatory treat), has a non-alcoholic version on the Daily Meal site.

Check the j. weekly or Daily Meal links for the recipes.  Here is the Sufganiyot Mocktail recipe.

All the fun, none of the booze

Sufganiyot Mocktail
Makes 1 Drink

Use half lemon-lime soda and half plain seltzer for a less sweet version, or try with 4 oz. of lemon-flavored seltzer.

Lemon wedge
Powdered sugar
1 tsp. raspberry flavored syrup such as Torani
1/2 Tbs. vanilla flavored syrup such as Torani
4 oz. lemon-lime soda, chilled

Moisten rim of champagne flute with lemon. Dip into powdered sugar.  Add raspberry and vanilla syrups.  Carefully pour in soda.  Stir gently.

To make a mocktail (or kid-friendly) version of the very cute and tasty Chocolate Egg Cream Shot, substitute  Torani (or similar) chocolate-flavored sugar syrup for the chocolate liqueur in the recipe.

Summer Fun with Recipes for Hot Dog Toppings, Grill Treats, Cold Soups and More

The skies have gone from overcast to blue, the air is soft and warm and my kid is home from college, it must be summer here in Blog Appetit-ville (Oakland CA).  So here is a wrap up of some of the recipes and posts from Blog Appetit that help celebrate the summer here or anywhere. 

Get Your Red Hots! -- What's summer without hot dogs (or sausages) with all the trimmings.  So grab your weiner (except you Rep. Andrew) and try some one or all of these toppings:  Vegetarian Chili, Tomato Onions and Homemade Relish.   Use a tofu dog and the vegetarian chili and you have a vegan treat.

From The Grill  -- Everyone needs a good barbecue chicken recipe, here's mine. No extra charge for the recipe using the leftovers in a hearty bbq chicken and greens salad. Or try these chicken kabobs with pomengranate molasses barbecue sauce (the best thing I've ever smeared on chicken.). Here's my son's red wine marinade for flank steak (a family favorite).  Try these grilled vegetable kabobs with miso marinade as a main course or side dish. Grilled limincello tuna is served atop a couscous salad.

It's Still Strawberry Season -- Try my roasted strawberry strudel, cold strawberry soup or (vegan) strawberry coconut ice cream.  All are berry, berry good. Or try  my berry sorbet with or without the "berried treasure" and sauce.  Pack leftover sorbet into ice pop molds for the best popsicles or fruit paletas you've ever had.

The Soup that Went into the Cold -- Soup is good for you but not so hot when it's hot. So try a cold soup.  Here's recipes for my beet borscht which is delicious served cold, and my raw, cold mint soup which requires no cooking at all but a bit of the wait for the garlic infused stock to come together.

Make Mine a Cold One -- Try making your own ginger ale or sip an egg cream (did you know there is no egg and no cream in an egg cream) to help combat your own personal heat wave. Or try this simple strawberry licuado-style shake. Or maybe a frozen sweet tea.

Other Summer Food Ideas -- My Cold Peanut Noodle Salad works well as an appetizer or main course. My husband and I serve Vietnamese Spring Rolls (aka Salad Rolls or Summer Rolls) with a variety of filling options at parties, where he custom rolls each diner's selection of goodies in rice paper or lettuce.  Looking for something more formal?  This sliced zucchini appetizer from Chocolate and Zucchini makes a nice summer starter. A friend's mother introduced me to this grilled salad, which is easy and delicious.

Do you have a summer recipe on your blog/website you'd like to share?  Please leave a link in the comments section.

3 Sandwich Recipes Help Make the Tea Plus Clotted Cream Wannabe

“A simple tea, maybe just some egg salad sandwiches.”
Those words by the chair of the fund-raising event I was handling the food for haunted me as I worked on developing some recipes for a recent tea for 50. In my opinion, nothing is that simple when you have to peel dozens of eggs.

Luckily, there was a volunteer crew to help make the food, which focused on classic afternoon tea goodies. In addition to the sandwiches, one member made delectable scones (served with our version of clotted cream) and another provided gooey brownie bites. Fresh strawberries, purchased chocolate truffles and meringues, and a selection of fresh brewed teas rounded out the menu. (With thanks to a friend who oversaw the brewing of something like 25 pots of tea through the event.)

We offered three types of sandwiches (egg salad with watercress and cucumbers, smoked salmon with a flavored cream cheese, and olive and goat cheese) and all were popular. I’ve adapted the recipes to make a more manageable amount of sandwiches, but they all multiply well if you need to feed a crowd. Recipe yields refer to thin tea-style sandwiches.

Egg Salad Sandwich with Watercress and Cucumbers
Makes about 8 sandwiches

Egg Salad with Watercress
1/3 cup mayonnaise
2 Tbs. lemon juice
2 chopped green onions, greens and whites
1/4 tsp. ground pepper
1/8 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. ground mustard seed
6 hard boiled eggs, peeled and diced
2 Tbs. chopped watercress OR parsley leaves

Combine mayonnaise, juice, green onions, pepper, salt, mustard and mix well. Mix in eggs and mash slightly to combine. Mix in watercress. Taste and correct seasonings if needed.

For Each Sandwich
2 slices white or other bread
Softened butter
2-3 Tbs. of Egg Salad with Watercress
4-5 thinly sliced rounds of cucumber, peeled

Lightly butter each piece of bread. Spread egg salad on one buttered side, top with cucumber slices to cover. Place remaining bread buttered side down on top. Press firmly down on sandwich to flatten slightly. Trim off crusts if desired and cut into halves or quarters.

Smoked Salmon Sandwich with Lemon Zest and Caper Cream Cheese
Makes about 8 sandwiches

Lemon Zest and Caper Cream Cheese

1 tsp. finely minced lemon zest
8 oz. whipped cream cheese, at room temperature
1/2 tsp. chopped jarred capers
1/4 tsp. juice from capers bottle

Beat together zest, cream cheese, capers and caper juice until well mixed.

For Each Sandwich
2 slices light rye or other bread
Softened butter
2 Tbs. of Lemon Zest Cream, at room temperature
1-2 thin slices of smoked salmon (to cover)
1/4 tsp. chopped fresh dill

Lightly butter one piece of bread. Spread cream cheese on other. Lay salmon slice(s) on top of cream cheese. Sprinkle with dill. Place remaining bread buttered side down on top. Press firmly down on sandwich to flatten slightly. Trim off crusts if desired and cut into halves or quarters.

Goat Cheese and Olive Sandwich
Makes About 8 Sandwiches

At the event I used a purchased green olive tapenade instead of the sliced olives specified in the recipe. 

Goat Cheese Spread

8 oz. fresh goat cheese, at room temperature
4 Tbs. whipped cream cheese, at room temperature
2 Tbs. chopped walnuts

Mash goat cheese with cream cheese until spreadable. Mix in walnuts.

For Each Sandwich
2 slices multi-grain whole wheat or other bread
Softened butter
2-3 Tbs. Goat Cheese Spread, at room temperature
2 Tbs. sliced, pitted olives OR green pimento stuffed olives

Lightly butter one piece of bread. Spread goat cheese mix on other. Press sliced olives into goat cheese. Place remaining bread buttered side down on top. Press firmly down on sandwich to flatten slightly. Trim off crusts if desired and cut into halves or quarters.

“Besotted” Cream
Makes about 1 1/4 cups

No tea is complete without scones and no scone is complete without clotted cream, traditionally made from long cooking unpasteurized milk and difficult and expensive to find. The idea of combining mascarpone cheese with cream as a replacement is not unique, but it is very tasty. It also is easy to make and its taste left me “besotted.”

8 oz. mascarpone cheese
6 Tbs. heavy cream
1/4 tsp. powdered sugar

Combine cheese, cream and sugar. Whisk together until very thick. Keep cold. Remove from refrigerator about a half hour before serving.
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A version of this article first appeared in the J. weekly.

Cooking with Tea -- Beef Short Ribs in Smoky Tea Sauce and Frozen Sweet Tea Recipes

I have an affinity for tea. Since I was young, it's been an important part of my life.

In my earliest memories it was Lipton tea in a bag.  Then an English cousin introduced us to Red Rose. Then, with the aid of a trusty immersion coil (to boil water in my dorm room in those years before the residential microwave), I discovered the world of loose, herbal and flavored teas at McNulty's Teas in New York City.

I continue to drink tea of all sorts from complex chai to floral jasmine to delicate linden and more.  I have also used tea in cooking.

For several years I have wanted to develop more recipes with tea.  Recently, I took some time and did just that.  The recipes below were developed for a column in the j. weekly I did about a Bay area-based national tea firm, Republic of Tea.  The company started in 1992 and is located in Novato, CA. It distributes more than 200 products nationally. To see the version in the j., please click here.

Two of the company’s teas inspired me to create these recipes. I used its lapsang souchong tea (for more on lapsang souchong tea in general click here) combined with fragrant spices to give the beef short ribs a slightly smoky, wonderfully complex flavor. I used British Breakfast tea (a variant of English Breakfast tea) for the Frozen Sweet Tea, but any unflavored black tea (or decaffeinated black tea) will work. The third recipe, for an ice tea using Republic of Tea's Jasmine Jazz green tea, is adapted from the Republic of Tea website. (For some background on  jasmine teas in general, click here.)

Similar teas from other sources can be substituted. 

I have plans for more recipes using tea.  If you have some you'd like to share, please leave a link in the comments section below.

Boneless Beef Short Ribs in Smoky Tea Sauce
Serves 4

This blog would need smell-o-vision to help you really appreciate the deep, wonderful, exotic scent that wafts through the house as these short ribs braise.  And, once they are done, fork tender, moist and meaty, the taste does not disappoint.  A fine company dish, especially when made in advance and gently reheated.

Note: A coffee grinder does a great job of processing the tea and spices. Grind bread into crumbs and discard to clean before and after.

2 Tbs. plus 1 Tbs. lapsang souchong tea
1/2 tsp. Sichuan OR black peppercorns
4 whole OR 2 tsp. ground star anise
1/2 tsp. ground ginger
1/4 tsp. salt
2 lbs. boneless beef short ribs
1 1/2 cups vegetable stock or water
2 Tbs. oil plus more if needed
1 1/2 cups chopped onion
4 garlic cloves, minced
3/4 cup chopped carrot
1 cup chopped red bell pepper
½ cup chopped celery
2 Tbs. chopped fresh cilantro OR parsley

Grind 2 Tbs. of tea, peppercorns, anise, ginger and salt until very fine using a spice mill, cleaned coffee grinder, blender or mortar and pestle. Rub spice mix all over short ribs. Let coated meat sit for 30 minutes.

Heat the stock to boiling. Take off heat. Steep remaining tea in hot liquid for 5 minutes using a tea ball or strainer. Remove tea leaves, reserve liquid.

Heat oil on high heat in a large, deep pan and brown short ribs on all sides. Set aside. Add more oil to pan if needed, reduce heat to medium high, sauté onion until lightly browned, add garlic, sauté until golden. Add carrot, bell pepper and celery, sauté for a minute and put meat back in pan, adding 1 cup of the reserved tea liquid. Bring to a simmer. Cover, reduce heat to keep at simmer, turning meat and stirring occasionally and adding additional tea liquid if needed. Cook about 1 1/2 to 2 hours until very tender. Remove meat and keep warm. Cook sauce uncovered on high until reduced about in half. Pour sauce over short ribs. Sprinkle with chopped herbs.

Frozen Sweet Tea
Makes 6-8 Servings

This is a sorbet version of the popular Southern drink. The tea is brewed double strength as if for ice tea. Stop the freezing when the tea is slushy and still a bit liquidy and serve it in a glass with a straw for a "Slurpee" or "Icee" version.  If you are serving it as a sorbet, I think a little chopped mint on top is an appropriate garnish.

2 cups boiling water
8 bags or 8 tsp. loose unflavored black or decaffeinated black tea
2 cups water
1 cup sugar
1 Tbs. lemon juice

Pour boiling water over tea bags or loose tea (in tea ball or strainer). Let steep for 5 minutes. Remove tea bags or leaves. Combine the other 2 cups of water with sugar in a small pot. Heat until sugar has dissolved and water is simmering, stirring occasionally. Mix tea and sugar water together. Stir. Refrigerate until cold. Add lemon juice. Stir. Pour into ice cream machine and process according to directions. It will be soft and slushy. Serve immediately or store in freezer. If frozen, let stand at room temperature 20 minutes before serving.

Adaption for Making without an Ice Cream Maker

This version makes a grainer, more granita-like frozen treat.

Once the tea and sugar mixture is cold, pour it into a metal pan or other freezer safe container that is wide and flat. Place in the freezer and stir and scrape the mixture every half hour with a sturdy fork until frozen. Remove from the freezer about 20 minutes before serving and scrape to break up and serve.

Daisy Does Christmas -- Daisy Martinez's New Holiday Cookbook

I don't think I would have looked at Daisy Martinez's new cookbook for fall and winter holiday entertaining except that my sister is a big fan of the TV chef.  Since I didn't really know Martinez's work or food, I was pleasantly surprised by the wonderful Latino and Hispanic flavors her recipes offered and enjoyed the snippets of her life she shared. 

"Daisy's Holiday Cooking: Delicious Latin Recipes for Effortless Entertaining" with Chris Styler (Atria Books) is menu based and includes preparation schedules to help reduce some of the stress of cooking these "major" meals. Between the recipes and the color photos I ended up drooling over almost every recipe in the 163-page book.  They all seemed like they would be delicious.

The 10 menus begin with a "cozy festive fall dinner" and end with a New Year's Day "linner" (mid afternoon combo of lunch and dinner).  In between there are holiday buffets, Christmas events and an elegant New Year's Eve dinner. Each meal has its own color-coded section making it easy to find. The recipes are accompanied  by lots of color photos for inspiration.

While there are many recipes that would work well for vegetarians this is a meat centric cookbook.  It is also Christmas centric, with no options for other winter religious or cultural celebrations.  That's not surprising, since it is a food memoir of Daisy's own tastes and experiences, but it dimmed its appeal for me as a seasonally based cookbook.  However, most of the recipes would be appropriate throughout the year, so the book is not limited to holiday cooking.  An index by course would have made it easier to use the cookbook year round and increased its versatility. This is special event cooking, so don't expect budget cooking or super-quick recipes, although Martinez does include easier variations to get the same flavors.

Directions are thorough and complete with step by step photos of many techniques such as how to cut up a chicken and  Martinez gives ideas on how to use up any leftovers.

Some of the recipes that caught my eye include Achiote-Rubbed Roast Turkey with Manchamanteles (Tablecloth Stainer Sauce) with a chile-fruit note; Pumpkin-Spice Mantecadas, delectable little muffins; Empanaditas with Huitlacoche, Spinach and Mushroom Filling, small, savory turnovers using corn fungus; Arroz con Pato, a duck variation on a popular chicken dish; Coconut Tapioca with Mangoes, a luscious dessert, and Tamarind Margaritas, with spicy salt rims.

Keep reading for the recipes for the Coconut Tapioca with Mangoes and the Tamarind Margaritas and for links to other recipes from the book.

Bittersweet Chocolate Citrus Tart with Jasmine Tea Scented Whipped Cream

I rang the New Year in with friends and this bittersweet citrus chocolate tart from Alice Medrich's book Pure Desserts. The book should be called "Perfect Desserts" because that's what this tart was -- the dark bittersweet chocolate offset by the grapefruit and orange zest and the wonderful jasmine-scented whipped cream just adding to the wild party in my mouth. As wonderful as this tart was, it was the whipped cream that caused a sensation and started me thinking about other jasmine-infused desserts I might make.

I also found the same recipe on line at epicurious.com but uncredited to Medrich. I suspect it's her recipe leftover from an article she wrote and just uncredited in the archives.

The recipe really has three parts -- the tart crust (easy to make and just patted into place, no rolling out), the bittersweet chocolate filling (very straight forward, although she used a new-to-me technique to make sure the egg wasn't raw to avoid food-borne illness) and the wonderful jasmine tea-flavored whipped cream. Just leave enough time for the cream to steep and the tart to chill.

The ethereal cream was an amazement. I've never had anything quite so wonderful atop my chocolate dessert before. Use the best quality jasmine tea you can find (you only need a tablespoon, after all) Look for ones scented with real jasmine flowers, not oils. Medrich recommends steeping in the fridge for 8-12 hours. I didn't start enough ahead so I steeped it about four hours outside the fridge (it was a cold day). You can taste a bit of the cream to see if it has a slight, perfume, floral note to it before straining out the tea leaves. Did I mention the taste is ethereal?

Here's the recipe for Bittersweet Chocolate Citrus Tart with Jasmine Whipped Cream. (fyi -- I skipped the candied orange peel, the tart was perfect without it).

Numi Tea Visit

I recently visited Numi Tea with some friends -- here are a few photos of our experience. The tea garden is an oasis in a busy industrial area literally feet away from Highway 880 in Oakland. It was a great experience.

Here's a link to Numi Tea's main site.

Here's a link to the Tea Garden (cafe).

We tried several different teas and some tea cookies. It was a very pleasant day.

Party Like It's 5770 -- Jewish New Year Cocktail and Baked Brie

My latest cooking column is up on the j. weekly site.
It's Apples and Honey with a Twist ... a wonderful apple and honey flavored cocktail and an amazing baked brie appetizer with caramelized apples, honey and onions.

Party like its 5770 and enjoy these for the Jewish (or any) New Year.

You can find the recipes here.

Below are some further twists I came up with when I adapted these recipes from entrants from last year's Apples and Honey Cook Off sponsored by the Jews Next Dor, a young adults group affiliated with Congregation Beth David in Saratoga, CA. For more info on this year's contest and for more of their apples and honey recipes, check out the Jews Next Dor's blog .

For the cocktail: Dip the rim of the martini glass in lime juice and then in honey or agave nectar crystals. (If you can't find them, raw sugar would work, too.)

For the baked brie: Substitute balsamic vinegar for the wine when cooking the apples and onions.

A Spritz of Flavor -- Fun with Seltzer in the j.

My latest column is posted on the j. website -- Click here to read it. It's all about my love affair with seltzer with recipes for a classic New York egg cream, home-made ginger ale and celery soda.

I did a lot of research into the classic Dr. Brown's celery soda (once called a tonic) and found that there used to be scores of regional celery-flavored sodas including celery cherry, celery cola and celery creme. Today's Dr. Brown's Cel-Ray seems milder to the taste buds than the one my father used to knock back with his pastrami or corned beef sandwich at Katz's Deli. I don't know if they sweetened it for modern tastes or if a celery soda just seems wrong to a child with her more sensitive taste buds. If you like ginger ale, I think you'll like my celery soda. I hope you'll give it a try.

Wickedly Good Ginger Brew for Homemade Ginger Ale, Tea or Syrup

I love ginger. Can't get enough -- in savory dishes, crystallized, as a spice in baked goods, in beverages and candy there is no such thing as too much.

When I was at the Koreana Market, I picked up a bag of ginger to make my own ginger brew.

I like my ginger beverages hot, spicy and with a strong bite, so you might want to modify the directions to suit your taste. Remember you can always use less ginger brew in your soda or tea if you make it too strong, or add more sugar if you don't make the syrup sweet enough.

When you pick out ginger for this brew (or any other use), look for firm, fresh, hard pieces without bruising or mold. Avoid pieces that look wrinkled or dehydrated. Ginger keeps well in the fridge for a few weeks.

Wickedly Good Ginger Brew

This makes about 4 - 4 1/2 cups of unsweetened ginger brew. See variations below for sweetened syrup.

About 3/4 pound of whole, fresh ginger root
About 4 1/2 cups of water

Using a sturdy tablespoon, scrape the peel off the ginger roots. Slice the roots into 1/4" to 1/2" chunks.
Put in a medium saucepan and add the water. Bring to boil, cover and simmer until the ginger brew is potent enough for you. Taste periodically to see how it is. Remember it will be served diluted with water or seltzer and possibly sweetened. I left mine to simmer for almost an hour.

Remove from heat. Cool and strain, discarding ginger solids. Pour into a clean glass bottle with a lid or cap. Store in the refrigerator.

For Ginger Ale: In a large 12-ounce glass, put in sweetener to taste (sugar, sugar syrup honey, agave nectar, stevia, etc.) Add about 1/4 cup of the ginger brew and stir well until sweetener is dissolved. Add ice if desired, top with cold seltzer, stir gently. Serve.

For Ginger Tea: In a small pan, add about a half cup of ginger brew and a half cup of water. Add sweetener to taste if desired. Simmer to desired temperature, stirring occasionally.

To Make Ginger Syrup: After you have strained the liquid from the ginger solids, measure out how much of the ginger brew you want to turn into syrup and add the liquid back to the empty saucepan. Add an equal measure of sugar, honey or agave nectar (or to your taste, I usually use 1 part sugar to 2 parts ginger brew, but 1 to 1 is more traditional). Stir well. Bring back to a boil and then simmer uncovered until the sugar is fully incorporated and the brew has reduced down some. Cool and store in a glass jar or bottle with lid or cap in the refrigerator. Use cold or warm as desired. Try using in sodas, as a syrup for ice cream, waffles, etc., to flavor teas or fruit compotes or stewed fruits, etc.

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Yet another good use for using seltzer!
About the photo -- My ginger brew and a glass of homemade ginger ale.

Buenos Aires Photo of the Day - At the Museum of Mate

Mate is a drink (and sometimes an obsession) that literally stimulates Argentineans. Some sip it all day, enjoying the caffeine and other stimulants in the brew. Others savor it as a link to Argentina's gaucho past. It's a rare tourist who doesn't come home with a mate gourd or cup.

The "good herb" is packed into a gourd or other drinking vessel, not quite boiling water is poured in until the leaves are saturated and then it is drunk from a filter/straw called a bombilla.

Then, more warm water is poured in and the mate cup and straw is passed to the next person. Mate drinking is a very social experience.

The basic mate flavor is slightly bitter and herbal, but flavored (lemon or citrus is a favorite) mate is available as is pre-sweetened. One visitor at the Museum of Mate in Tigre told us her favorite type of mate as a child was "burnt sugar," made by first putting in the sugar and then adding and removing a hot coal. The hot coal caramelized the sugar flavoring the mate drink.

All over Buenos Aires I saw people of all ages carrying a mate gourd in one hand and toting a thermos strapped to them for refilling their cup with warm water.

The Museum of Mate (or actually the Museo de Mate) is at Lavalle 289 in Tigre, less than an hour train ride from downtown Buenos Aires. I couldn't find a web page, but the phone number in Argentina is 4506-9594. I'll update this when I find the url. While the small museum and its collection of mate paraphernalia is charming, the tours and signage are all in Spanish. Luckily, there were other visitors who were able to translate for us. The highlight was sitting in the courtyard and participating in the mate drinking workshop. (I know it was probably bad form but I just had to do a sneaky wipe of the bombilla when I was passed the gourd. I still shudder at the chance I took -- germs from strangers! Oh no!)

Here in the U.S, I've spotted some of the Argentinean brands of mate (or yerba mate) in Latin American grocery stores. There is also an excellent company that imports mate and also offers in a more Americanized format -- in tea bags. I met one of the owners of the company at the Fancy Food Show and was impressed with the product and the company behind it -- Guayaki Yerba Mate. The website also has detailed instructions on how to prepare the drink.

Buenos Aires Tourist Tip: See this post for more info on my time in Tigre. There is also an art museum and a naval museum to explore, but most visitors are there to spend the day on the river. Shop around for your mate cup, you see the "usual" gourd and or wood and leather ones in many venues. I bought a gourd and resin beauty at the San Telemo street fair. I bought my mate at a local grocery store at a big savings from purchasing it at the souvenir and crafts places. I also found very inexpensive mate cups there as well. The oddest mate cup I saw was made of white ceramic with the words I love my grandma in your choice of Hebrew or Englishized Yiddish.