Tea Eggs
- Serves: 6 as a snack
- Preparation Time: 5-10 minutes
- Total Cooking time: 30 minutes
An exotic and yet very easy alternative to serving devilled eggs as an Hors d’oeuvre, tea eggs are a traditional Chinese recipe that are beautiful to look at as they are delicious to taste, taking on a delicately marbled appearance and a mellow yet very savory flavor from being kept in a marinade of strong black tea and soy sauce. You may want to keep some of these on hand as they keep relatively well in the refrigerator and make great snacking for a poker night, as well as a part of another recipe that will be following in the next couple of weeks to come.
| Amount | Measure | Ingredients |
|---|---|---|
| 12 | large | eggs |
| 8 | bags | black tea (use a variety such as Oolong or Pekoe) |
| 6 | cups | very hot (near boiling) water |
| 1/2 | cup | soy sauce |
| 1/8 | tsp | Chinese 5 spice powder (available in most markets in the asian section) |
| 1/4 | tsp | garlic powder |
To prepare:
Place the eggs in a medium pot and cover with cold water. Bring to just to a boil and turn off the heat letting the eggs sit in the water another 20 minutes (this step can be done the night before) drain off the water and let the eggs cool. Meanwhile, place the tea bags into the 6 cups of water and steep 5-10 minutes until very strong. Remove the tea bags and squeeze them thoroughly. Next, add in the soy sauce, 5 spice powder and garlic powder and stir well to blend. Crack the eggs when cool but do not peel them and add them back into the tea mixture. Bring to a boil then reduce heat to low and simmer the eggs at least 10-15 minutes. Remove from the heat and let sit at least 1 hour, preferably overnight in the liquid. To serve, peel the eggs, discarding the shell and serve either whole, or quartered as an appetizer or part of a salad.
Sort of Norwegian Oatmeal Cookies
- Serving Size: makes 2 dozen cookies
- Preparation Time: 15 minutes
- Total Cooking time: 12-15 minutes
I don’t know whether or not these are authentically Norwegian in origin, I was introduced to the recipe while in baking classes in culinary school. The instructor of the class, Ron Ericsson (please forgive me if you read this and I have misspelled your name after all these years Ron) made these in one of the first classes of the course and while he made these all I could think was “that’s not how mom makes them”. However, I was won over as soon as these lacy, deliciously crispy cookies came hot and fresh out of the oven.
| Amount | Measure | Ingredients |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | cup | butter |
| 1 | cup | sugar |
| 1 | cup | brown sugar-packed |
| 2 | large | eggs |
| 2 | tbsp | fresh squeezed orange juice |
| 1 1/2 | tsp | vanilla |
| 1 1/2 | cups | flour |
| 1 | tsp | baking soda |
| 1/2 | tsp | Salt |
| 4 | cups | Oatmeal |
| 1 | cup | raisins |
| 3 | tbsp | dark rum |
| 1/2 | tsp | orange zest |
To prepare:
Soak the raisins in the dark rum and set aside to absorb the rum then cover with half of the sugar, and chop coarsely and set aside. Next, mix the butter, brown sugar, and remaining half of the sugar together until well creamed together. Beat in the eggs, orange juice, vanilla and orange zest. Next, fold in the dry ingredients, mixing well. Add in the chopped sugared raisins and mix thoroughly. Drop by rounded tablespoonfuls onto an ungreased cookie sheet and place in a preheated 375 degree oven for 12 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool 3 minutes then slide off of the cookie sheet with a spatula and cool on a rack or plate. Serve warm or cold with lots of milk.
