TEA THEMED CHALLENGE DINNER PARTY

Finally, after a few months break, our international "Dinner Party" (see post 1 & post 2) foodaholics (not so anonymous!) group has met again for another of our gourmet celabrations. That was a relief. I had been looking forwards to our monthly meetings a whole lot!

Since the sweet and very much missed Rai at "Ugly Fruit" has left Switzerland in order to go back to Iowa (USA) things have been very calm and our little foodie troop has shrunk consequently (also with the departing of Claudia for the UK). Before, thanks to Rai's social skills, our "Dinner Parties" were bustling with life and crowded with people who just came to have a good time while enjoying our wonderful food. Now things have mellowed down, so we are trying to get more people to come to our party as it lacks a little dimension with only a few participants...

Anyway, Kiriel at "Papillon Pantry", our host, Hal & Al and myself had a lot of fun on the occasion of our last gathering on September the 23rd. The theme that evening was "Tea". The idea was to cook or bake something that would either contain or would be flavored with the tea(s) of our choice.

Here is what we made:

Hal & Al (Norway & USA) brought a wonderful "Lapsang Souchong Velouté". It was made with pureed beans, rice, tomatoes and an infusion of this special tea from the Fujian province in China.

Their autumnly tasting soup had a great smoked flavor and was very comforting. An excellent and delicious dish to start with!

For dessert, they made a very wintery/Christmassy/Halloweenesque and slightly exotic "Tea Brack", a yeast-free cousin of the famous Irish "Barmbrack". It contained dried cranberries, chopped dried mango chips, raisins and sultanas. It was flavored with "English Breakfast" tea and cinnamon. Their bread was smooth, spicy, rich and gorgeously fruity. Scrummy!

Kiriel (Australia, see her blog), as inventive as ever, offered us Chinese-style "Tea Noodles", a delicious starter contained in dainty little aperitive spoons and cooked in tea-steeped water. Delicate...

As main course, she had the idea to prepare a kind of tea encrusted gravlax that she baptized "Salmon With Gunpowder Green Tea" (see recipe). To accompany her fish dish, she also made "New Potatoes With Green Tea Mayonnaise" and "Steamed Green Beans With Toasted Almonds". It w as just simply gorgeous and dazzlingly flavored!

Then, for dessert, she fulfilled our dessert cravings with a delightful and very cute dessert served in tiny leaf-shaped dishes. Those "Chai Tea Creams With sesame Praline" (see recipe) were pleasantly aromatized with star anise, vanilla and "English Breakfast" tea. Exquisite!

I (Rosa) (Switzerland/England) baked a batch of scrumptious "Chinese Char Siu Bao-Style Lapsang Souchong Flavored Meat Buns" (recipe soon to come) which were ovenbaked (contrarily to their steamed alter egos). I used a "Hot Dog Rolls" dough and made bun-shaped breads that I filled with a ground beef mixture consisting of bell pepper, chopped onions, chopped garlic and Cloud Ear mushrooms spiced up with chopped ginger, soy sauce, oyster sauce, Thai sweet chilli sauce, sweet soy sauce and Lapsang Souchong broth. I was really amazed to see how good my invention tasted and how enjoyable that smokey flavor was when coupled with those Chinese ingredients...

As it is my habit, I also brought a rich dessert. This time it was a drop-dead "Earl Grey Chocolate Mousse" (recipe soon to come, see my other "Chocolate Mousse" recipe) that tasted as if it was aromatized with "Orange Pekoe" tea (thanks to the bergamot). This mousse was a real sin of gourmandise with it's truffle-like taste and texture. It is decadently rich with butter, deliciously chocolatty, voluptuously light and unctuously deadly!!!

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All in all, our "Challenge Dinner Party" was extremely entertaining and pleasurable! We ate exceptionally well and spent a lovely moment together chatting about food, amongst other things.

~ From left to right: Kiriel and Alison (Al). ~
~ From left to right: Alison and Halvor (Hal & Al). ~

Our next rendez-vous is planned for November, so I hope you'll stay tuned!