A baker’s dozen bloggers have come together to share different recipes that use tea during the month of November. Whether you’re a fan of sweet or savory #TastyParTEA’s creations will make your mouth water.
See all the posts on our Facebook page, check out the pins on our Pinterest board, or follow the conversation on social media with hashtag #TastyParTEA.
Now if you’ve been following this blog, you would know this isn’t the first time I’ve cooked with tea in my kitchen. If you’re feeling especially tea-driven, I also suggest:
- My Englishman-in-Texas-style Chili featuring Earl Grey tea
- My English Breakfast Chili also featuring Earl Grey
- My Gunpowder-Tea Poached Peaches and Chicken inspired by the movie Labyrinth
- My Earl Grey and Dark Chocolate Gougeres (I know, I’m a creature of habit)
- My Game of Thrones inspired Rabbit Pie using chamomile tea
So as I promised in the announcement post, here is my recipe post for this event sponsored by Charles Viancin and The Republic of Tea: Brain-Boosting Green Tea and Gruyere Polenta Bites!
Brain-boosting, I say? Well the Republic of Tea sample I chose to work with was their Brain Boost SuperGreen Tea. This tasty bag of boiled leaves features a mind-sharpening blend of green tea, matcha powder, and ginkgo biloba, flavored with blackcurrant and honey, perfect for perking you up while cramming for geek trivia night. Pick up some. I’ve found it’s also quite delicious mixed with amaretto.
I ended up using this tea for dual applications for this recipe. First I made up some polenta using the tea as the liquid base, topped it with shredded gruyere cheese and let it melt.
Once that cooled, I topped that with some smoked salmon, sliced almonds, and a syrup made of more tea, honey, and almond extract. Whether you decide to serve these up warm or cold at your party is up to you, they’re great either way. If you liked these, be sure to further down the post to see all the other bloggers participating in #TastyParTEA, as well as check out how you can win some gorgeous tea accessories from Charles Viancin.
Brain-Boosting Green Tea & Gruyere Polenta Bites
Equipment: Stovetop, medium saucepan, teakettle, wire whisk, spatula, Two 8×8 or one 9×13 baking dish, refrigerator, 1.5-inch round biscuit or cookie cutter.
Ingredients:
- 4 cups water
- 7 Brain Boost SuperGreen Tea bags
- 1/2 cups cornmeal
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
- pinch kosher salt
- 2 cups shredded gruyere cheese
- 1/2 cup sugar
- squeeze lemon juice
- 1-2 drops almond extract
- 2 tablespoons honey
- 4 oz smoked salmon, flaked
- 1/4 cup sliced almonds
- cooking spray
Instructions:
- Bring the water to a boil in a teakettle and pour into a large, heat-safe mixing cup with the teabags. Let steep about 3-4 minutes before removing and discarding tea bags.
- Pour three cups of the tea into the saucepan to a rapid boil over high heat. Add a pinch of salt and all the butter.When butter has melted, stir in 1 Tbs of cornmeal.
- Bring the tea in the pan to a boil again and pour in the rest of the cornmeal, stirring with a wire or spatula quickly in the same direction to prevent lumps from forming.
- When the mixture begins to bubble, turn the heat down low and stir with the spatula until it has thickened to the point where it forms a ball and no longer sticks to the pan. Turn off the stove and remove the pan from heat.
- Prepare the baking dish(es) with baking spray and distribute the polenta between them. Top with the gruyere cheese and allow to melt. When melted, put dishes in the fridge to chill while you are making the syrup.
- Clean the saucepan and wire whisk, then pour the remaining tea, sugar, honey, lemon juice, and almond extract into the pan. Bring to a simmer over medium-high heat and keep whisking until the mix has thickened. Cover the pan with a lid to keep warm.
- Remove the dishes from the fridge and cut rounds with the biscuit cutter. Top each round with flaked salmon and almond. Drizzle rounds with syrup before serving.
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Oh, those look amazing! Thanks for sharing and I love your suggestion of the tea wtih amaretto. Genius!!
Thank you! Discovered it while I doing some photo editing. My husband made me some of the Brain Boost tea and put my jar of amaretto honey on the tray with it. It went stupidly well with the blackcurrant so I decided to amp up the almond flavor in the dish to boost the tea’s presence.
What a perfect little bite to enjoy during that intense game of trivia.