Category: cooking with tea

Spiced Apple Cider Chicken & Chun Mee Steamed Veggies

Posted on by Tea Guy

Spiced Apple Cider Chicken & Chun Mee Steamed Veggies

Serves 4

BOWL 1

  • 4 Chicken breasts (I used boneless breasts)
  • 4 cups Fresh apple cider

BOWL 2

  • 1 Tbsp Fresh ground black peppercorns
  • 1 Tbsp Cinnamon
  • 1/2 tsp DamnGoodPepper Special Blend (DamnGoodPepper.com)
DamnGoodPepper.com Blends

BOWL 3

  • Brussels sprouts (I used 10 total)
  • Baby carrots (I used 12 total)
  • 1 Tbsp butter/margarine
  • 1 cup Freshly brewed chun mee Chinese green tea (loose leaf preferred)
  • Freshly ground sea sale (to taste)

PREPARATION STEPS

  1. Allow contents of BOWL 1 to marinade for two to three hours in the fridge
  2. Place contents of BOWL 1 into a deep skillet/sauce-pan on med-low
  3. Add contents of BOWL 2 into the skillet/saucepan
  4. Place contents of BOWL 3 into a small or medium sized pot on med-low
While cooking the chicken should be 50-75% submerged in the apple cider. The cider itself will condense as the liquid boils off, but the flavor will continue to be absorbed by the chicken.
The chun mee Chinese tea gives a deeper vegetal texture that pulls out the sweetness of both the carrots and brussels sprouts. BE CAREFUL not to over-brew the chun mee as it’s a fairly temperamental Chinese green tea which easily becomes a acerbic and bitter which would not serve this meal well.
After about 15min on the stove, both the chicken and the veggies should be ready.
Strain the veggies so there’s no liquid pooling on the plate, and discard any leftover contents of spices and apple cider from the pan with the chicken.
Serve and enjoy!

Recipe: HOT Three Meat Lapsang Meatballs

Posted on by Tea Guy

HOT Three Meat Lapsang Meatballs

Makes a crap-ton of meatballs.

This recipe is based on several I found online, but with a completely awesome twist or two of my own. I’ve never made meatballs before, so I figured I’d give it a shot tonight.

 

BOWL 1

These three meats blend together and accentuate each other’s flavors very well. It’s preferred to use non-lean meats as they have difficulty remaining moist during and after cooking.

  • 1lb finely ground chuck
  • 1lb finely ground lamb
  • 1lb finely ground veal

Three meats and spices mixed together

BOWL 2

This selection of spices (and Lapsang Soughing) were ones I selected for both flavor and experience. The Lapsang adds a fire roasted touch to almost any dish and worked perfectly with this recipe. The fresh grated ginger is just a touch smoother and nicer on the palate than using the powdered dried stuff. The citrus peel I thought would add a nice undertone, and I think it worked really well.

I love it SPICY, so the DamGoodPepper blend I used came in very handy. Word to the wise… this pepper blend includes portions of Habanero, Ghost pepper and Scorpion pepper… some of the hottest peppers in the world. With just one tablespoon three pounds of meat was made spicy enough for most people (though I think I’ll use more for MY next batch.) Feel free to use another spice blend, or less of the DamnGoodPepper blend to taste.

  • Fresh ground de-peeled ginger root
  • Fresh, finely grated citrus peel
  • ~3 Tbsp Crushed Lapsang Souchong leaves
  • 1 Tbsp Damn Good Pepper (Original Blend) (DamnGoodPepper.com)
  • Pink Himalayan Sea Salt (to taste)
  • 1 Tbsp Crushed black peppercorns
  • 1 Tbsp Paprika
BOWL 3

This combination seems a bit odd, but it actually works rather well. The milk and breadcrumbs combine to lock moisture into the meat keeping them moist even if you freeze most of them for later. Adding the garlic here, versus with the other spices in BOWL 2 allows the garlic to work its way into the breadcrumbs as well as the meat. YUM!

  • 1/4 cup milk
  • 1/2 cup Finely diced garlic
  • 1 cup fine bread crumbs
hot-three-meat-lapsang-meatballs4
PREPARATION STEPS
  1. Mix ingredients of bowl 1.
  2. Mix ingredients of bowl 2.
  3. Mix ingredients of bowl 3.
  4. Combine contents of bowls 1 & 2 until well blended.
  5. Combine contents of bowl 3 with blend from 1 & 2.
  6. Mould meatballs from blended mixture.
  7. Place meatballs in a large pan on medium heat, tending as needed until thoroughly cooked.
hot-three-meat-lapsang-meatballs6
Enjoy alone, with sauce or pasta.