Wednesday, October 3, 2007

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 Souch
ong 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!

35 comments:

  1. Hummm...la texture de ta mousse a l'air terrible !

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  2. C'est plein d'idées fantastiques tout ça. J'adore la saveur du thé fumé dans les recettes, une saveur d'automne, tu as raison.

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  3. de bons petits plats a déguster , et pas mal cette idée de cuisiner avecdu thé

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  4. Que de bonnes recettes qui font plaisir

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  5. Hummm les belles photos qui donnent envie encore une fois... En tant que fan de chocolat j'ai tout de même un (gros) penchant pour la mousse!
    Biz

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  6. Quel chouette thème, surtout en ce début d'automne!

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  7. et moi si tout va bien, je ne me contenterai pas uniquement de voir tes photos mais de participer a votre prochaine reuion... :) :)
    Corinne

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  8. SYLVIE: Merci, Sylvie :-P! Effectivement, elle est terrible...

    GRACIANNE: Merci! Tout était délicieux...

    MOUNET: Merci! C'était une super idée et une soirée très réussie!

    PAPRIKAS: Merci au nom de tous :-D!!!

    EOL: Merci!!!!! Tu devrais la tester (voir ma recette) car elle est mortelle!!!

    MAYACOOK: En effet, le thème était bien choisi...

    CORINNE: Je me réjouis d'y être et de goûter à tes recettes ;-P!!!

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  9. I wish I lived close enough to participate! Your pictures are beautiful and the food looks so good! How delightful to have tea as the theme...

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  10. Génial ! Vous avez vraiment dû vous régaler ! J'ai toujours eu envie de m'arrêter manger quelquechose dans le restaurant de la boutique Mariage frères à Paris (avec que du thé forcément) mais les prix... autant le faire soi-même ! ;)

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  11. que de magnifiques petits plats!! bises micky

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  12. Wow, I would never have imagined you could make so many amazing things with tea! What a great theme, and how fun! :) How nice for you to have a group to have these parties with.

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  13. Hum, tu me donnes faim et je n'ai rien préparé pour ce soir ! C'est super comme rencontre ! Bises !

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  14. que de bonne recette.... ça donne faim tout ça..

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  15. j'irai bien en suisse en novembre ... c'est génial ce thème ! j'adore !!!!

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  16. Yes I will stay tuned! Tres belles compositions en tt cas

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  17. Toutes ces recettes sont pleines d'idée et moi qui ne bois pas beaucoup de thé, je l'apprécie dans la cuisine.

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  18. Chez toi, c'est de la r é g a l a d e. On passe, on aurait envie de tout goûter !

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  19. Plein de belles idées autour du thé!
    Bien sympathique cette rencontre...

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  20. FOODHOE: Thanks! Yes, that would be great! Those "Dinner Parties" are always very enjoyable...

    CHARLINE: Merci! Oui, l'avantage avec le fait maison c'est que ça coûte pas cher et on est libre de créer ses propres menus...

    MICKYMATH: Merci! Bises...

    CHRISTINE: Thanks! Yes, I am very lucky to have found such a group...

    GUYLAINE: Merci! Oui, vraiment super sympathique! Bises...

    ZAARI: Merci :-D!!!

    MARION: Merci! Tu es la bienvenue...

    MAMINA: Merci, Mamina! Le thé en cuisine c'est fabuleux...

    ERYN: Merci pour ton compliment si flatteur :-D!!!

    CHRIS: Merci... Oui, un bon moment passé en compagnie d'autres passionnés de cuisine!

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  21. c'est chouette ces rencontres même si ertains sont partis ailleurs!!! le cake me fait particulièrement envie, cake or bread, doe'nt mater ;-)
    is it your personn on the sofa ?

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  22. mmm..all the food on your blog is so tempting..I wish my human could cook. It takes her all her time to under cook a steak. Enough said.

    Fancy a stay at my house? I need some decent food!

    x

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  23. I can't wait to see what you all bring at the next get-together. Sometimes I wish I did not live so far away...

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  24. Oh my. It all looks and sounds delish. I am waiting for the Chinese bun recipe. They are my all-time fav dim sum. Just shaking thinking about it as we don't have dim sum here in Nashville. One of my most-missed foods from DC. :-( Ok, anyway, thanks for sharing. I always love all your wonderful photos.

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  25. Oh Gosh..how I wish I live nearer to you and what a lovely bonding with friends and having good food too.

    Thank you for sharing - I Luv it!

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  26. c'est une bonne idée de se retrouver autour d'un pdt !

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  27. I enjoy cooking with several different teas. Some of my favorites are green tea ice cream, jasmine rice and Lapsang Souchong smoked salmon.

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  28. BRIGITTEGUYANE: Oui, c'est vraiment sympa! Malheureusement, je figure sur aucune des photos ;-P...

    HRH YAO-LIN: That's sad your human doesn't cook all that much ;-P... I'd love to cook/bake for you! xoxoxo

    CYNTHIA: I bet it'll be great... Yes, if you lived here, you could join our little group of foodaholics!

    SHIONGE: Thanks! You'll have to move, then ;-P...

    VANESSA: Tout à fait :-D...

    SURFINRITA: Thanks for passing by and for the kind comment! Those recipes sound interesting...

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  29. C'est très sympa ces réunions autout d'un thème. Et je reste sans voix devant ces idées avec le thé.

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  30. Waow! Quelle belle reprise! J'aime cette idee de choisir un theme. Tu voudrais rejoindre notre equipe de dejeuners internationaux? Moi j'adorerais! Il faut que je relance tout ca moi aussi! Bonne semaine, Rosa :)

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  31. HÉLÈNE: Merci! Oui, c'est vraiment sympa...

    CONFITUREMAISON: Merci! J'aimerais bien rejoindre ton équipe, mais je crains que l'Amérique soit une destination un peu trop éloignée ;-P... J'adorerais aussi, crois-moi :-(!!! Bonne semaine...

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  32. Rosa, I love drinking tea, and cannot start or end a day without a hot steaming cup, but I had no idea how truly versatile tea can be in recipes and different dishes...how interesting, and what a fun idea for a themed dinner party. :-)

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  33. BELINDA: Yes, tea is very versatile and many dishes can be made with it! Those themed Dinner Parties are awesome...

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  34. i'm so glad to see these dinners continuing on....and i'm sooooo sad i am not there! everything looked 'scrummy'. let me know ahead next time and i'll try to prepare a virtual dish ;) gotta keep my hand in the game as there are no foodies here. big hugs

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  35. RAI: I'm ever so pleased to read your comment, dear Rai!!! Yes, they are continuing and that's great, but your presence is being missed... Ok, I'll let you know (the next one will be on the 11th of November and the theme is "autumn"). That'll be fun and in that way, you can participate even if you live on another continent! Big hugs and till soon again!!!

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