Monday, August 31, 2009

How to TEAS your palate...


For your first tea tasting it's helpful to taste the four different types of single estate teas to better understand the basic varieties: white, green, oolong and black. Once you've had an introductory tasting, it's fun to move on to a tasting featuring only one type of tea but that is another blog post...How to REALLY TEAS your palate...

Four types of tea should make for a comprehensive, though not overwhelming, tasting. I recommend steeping about 1/2 tsp per 1/2 cup of each tea. Steep the tea according to the directions on the package or the recommendations of the tea merchant. Tea, like wine, has a general sequence to tasting: 1) Look 2) Smell 3) Taste

TEAS your palate
Ask yourself the following questions when sampling the teas. Take tasting notes to learn your palate. These questions help you get a sense of the quality of the tea. They also help you determine whether you like and would purchase the tea.

  • 1. Look: Describe the appearance of the dry and wet leaves. Are they whole or broken? Are the leaves twisted or flat, regular or uneven? Describe the color of the tea liquor (liquid). It is clear or cloudy?
  • 2. Smell: Close your eyes and inhale. What does it smell like? Does the smell ignite any nostalgic memories, like rolling around in the grass or smelly socks?
  • 3. Taste: Now, slurp the tea. Don't worry about making loud noises. Spread it all over your tongue and mouth. What flavor notes do you detect? Finally, swallow the tea. Is the finish (or aftertaste) long or short, meaning do the flavors dissipate quickly or last for a while in your mouth? What flavors remain? Do you want another sip or would you rather feed it to your plants?

  • Like many things in life, tea tasting is very subjective. Many people love the smokey aroma and flavor of Lapsang Souchong, but not me. Although the smell brings back memories of camping in the Grand Tetons, the taste reminds me of eating the ashes of a campfire. Pu-erh, on the hand, also brings back memories of camping in the Grand Tetons while the dark liquor coats my mouth with rich, and earthy memories of gardening fresh vegetables in my back yard.

    Do you have a tea worth tasting or one we should stay away from? 

    Friday, August 28, 2009

    Herbs & Spice Pairing with Tea

    It’s been more than a year now, since I have had the pleasure to be guest-blogging for the T-Ching site, a favorite site for many tea lovers. Beautiful in its simplicity of design, and more profound in its pursuit of tea information on all levels – gastronomic, scientific, social, literary… you name it, and they have a thread on that tea-related topic! The people we correspond with there are most professional, welcoming and courteous – it’s been a real pleasure. Today I wanted to share here a recent post I did on T-Ching, since we still have a bit of Farmer’s Market season left, and since this post got a good amount of interest. Hope you enjoy…

    Inspired by the bounty of fresh, beautiful herbs available at our summer Farmer’s Markets, this is the first of a two-part series on tea and herb pairings. Next month I’ll present some tea rubs developed by our own Tea Spot Chef, Karen Harbour. This post begins with the basics and explores pairing teas with fresh herbs and spices.

    We tend to think of certain herb personalities as being especially well fitted to a particular primary ingredient – such as basil with tomatoes, rosemary with lamb, oregano with anything Italian, or chives with eggs or potatoes. But the interesting conversations at a breakfast meeting I attended this morning got me thinking way outside the box. So in this light, I stopped by Whole Foods Market on my way home, and bought some fresh herbs and spices to experiment pairing with my teas at home. I strongly encourage you to check out some of these winning combinations. (There were some serious losers that came out of this experiment as well, but for now I won’t dwell on the negative!)

    Fresh Basil: Our Boulder Blues blend of green teas, wild strawberry, and rhubarb makes this herb sing! Try open-faced sandwiches of Italian bread spread with goat cheese, tomato, and basil with an iced Boulder Blues on the side and you’re set for the perfect gourmet summer lunch or snack. Best of all, you can cold-brew the Boulder Blues tea. Cold brewing instructions can be found here.
    Fresh Mint: The connection here seems far-fetched, but because of chocolate’s affinity to Darjeeling, and the heaps of chocolate mint I have growing in my yard, I was led to trying this combination – and what a win it is! Perhaps my favorite discovery of this project. So please do try a nice pot of Darjeeling accompanied by anything made with fresh mint, like tabouli, stuffed zucchini, roasted potatoes tossed with garlic and mint leaves, or even fresh strawberries tossed with mint and honey. There’s something about the slight astringency in the tea with the refreshing juice of the herb that makes this a perfect match!
    Chives: This one had me stumped for a while. But two great pairings for dishes made with fresh chives (like omelets, savory herb custards, or quiche) are Japanese Sencha (green tea) and Genmaicha (another typical Japanese green tea blended with roasted rice).

    Cumin: Apricot chutney with iced Gunpowder Green tea. In fact, the chutney used as a glaze for pork or poultry with this tea is quite yummy. Or, crackers with mascarpone cheese and apricot chutney with the Gunpowder Green on the side…fantastic!

    Cloves: Try a dusting of freshly ground cloves on green apple slices with a pot of pu-erh on the side – just heavenly!

    Gourmet Sea Salt: Lapsang Souchong is a perfect complement. The strong salt bite of a gourmet sea salt in a dish of your choice balances the intense flavor of smoked tea, making this a great pairing.

    Ginger: Love it with Oolong, especially a darker roasted oolong. Think Asian veggie stir-fries made with fresh ginger and garlic, a spinach salad tossed with a ginger-peanut dressing, or even ginger-snap cookies if you’re in the mood for sweets.

    Chiles: A must-try with Keemun. I tried a lot of black teas for this pairing, including Yunnan (which was my first instinct), Assam, and even white teas…but the Keemun did the trick. It’s all about the balance of Keemun’s natural malty sweetness and chile pepper’s fiery kick-in-the-pants in two of my favorite dishes made with fresh chiles – a red thai curry and a colorful veggie stir-fry.

    Food pairing really is all about balance…and the willingness to try new things and spit some of them out along the way! But an effort that’s well worth it, and I hope you’ll agree, was well worth sharing in the end.


    photos, in order, from:
    http://thenonconsumeradvocate.files.wordpress.com
    http://www.salmonellablog.com
    http://wendyusuallywanders.files.wordpress.com

    Thursday, August 27, 2009

    Simply Adorable! A hidden gem of a coffee shop found in Lafayette, CO

    So in my constant search to find the best coffee shops, roasters and tea shops to work with, I came across a new coffee shop I had never heard of called Mojo's Coffeehouse, located right near us in Lafayette, Colorado. I tried to find some information about the coffee shop and the best source I had to go off of was Yelp. There were some nice comments about the shop so I decided to check it out. I gave them a call and set up an appointment to meet this past Wednesday.

    Not being from Colorado, and only passing by Lafayette on my way to Denver, my previous opinion of the town was that it was a pretty nice suburb with mostly chain stores, restaurants and coffee shops to choose from. I've driven route 287 (the main route through town) a number of times and have never really gone out of my way to see what was beyond that street, assuming it was more housing or just more of the same.

    Boy was I wrong, and I will reiterate the famous old saying "you can't judge a book by a cover" or rather my NEW saying, "you can't judge a town by just one street". I printed out the directions and drove most of the way on 287 but google directions took me down a side road and I headed into a whole new world of Lafayette. All of a sudden I was in a quaint New England town (not literally people, figuratively). This area (and I'm not sure for how many blocks it looked like this), but this area of a couple of blocks was completely adorable! Shaded sidewalks with intermittent trees. Cute brick store fronts with unique designs in the window. A little bank, a little Italian food shop, and the most adorable corner coffee shop with patio seating!

    Wouldn't you know! This is the coffee shop I was looking for!

    Mojo's Coffeehouse is cute, cozy, bustling with locals and is definitely far from your mainstream chain coffee shops. Once inside you can find a variety of seating options, pending on whether you want to curl up in a couch, work busily at a table on your computer, or sit by the window and people watch. It has all the trappings of an eclectic coffee shop with fun drinks, yummy pastries and a delicious scent wafting through the air while the quiche was in the oven baking. (this is starting to sound like a yelp post itself!). Well my intention was to say how excited I was to find this quaint part of town and shop where I least expected it. It was so reminiscient of small town that it made me want to be settled down, with a couple of kids at school and take a break to go grab a cup of tea with a couple of friends, but only for a second I swear!

    I don't have any pictures (none on yelp yet and I believe they're working on a website) but here is the yelp postings for the shop http://www.yelp.com/biz/mojo-coffeehouse-lafayette-2.

    As for our meeting? Well come by Mojo's Coffeehouse on Labor Day and you might just see some new teas on the shelf ;)

    Tuesday, August 25, 2009

    The Fundamentals of Wine Tasting...

    Last night in culinary school we learned how to taste wine technically and organoleptically. Technical wine tasting uses all your senses so you can taste the wine in its purest form. 


    Photo by CLTV

    The following is a general sequence to technical wine tasting: Look, Smell, Taste
    1. Look at the wine. Use a white background to better identify the color. Tilt red wine to help identify the age of the vine and its maturity.
    2. Smell the wine, swirl the wine for 30 seconds, agitating the stereoisomers in the wine causing the wine to awaken the aromas and flavors that may be inactiveSmell the wine at the front of the glass by tilting the wine towards you (smell forward). Smell the wine at the back of the glass by tilting the wine a little away from you (smell backward). Alternate smelling forward and backward, noticing and describing the difference
    3. Taste the wine, take a sip and swoosh it around your mouth. Feel how your mouth reacts to the wine. Take another sip, slosh it around, take in some air and examine the texture and body of the wine. Feel and describe how your mouth feels after your swallow.
    But before you even look, smell or taste the tea you can actually learn a lot from its label but that's another blog post...

    Organoleptical wine tasting adds another dimension by pairing food with wine. The general rule when pairing food with wine is that both the food and the wine should taste better together then apart. Like peanut butter and jelly...Which brings me to another rule, wine tasting is a subjective sport. What I think might taste good paired with something, you might think tastes horrible...The bottom line is that whether tasting technically or organoleptically you need to use all your senses which may ignite nostalgic memories and bring you back to playing in the sandbox with your best childhood friend...

    Smelling Benton-Lane, Willamette Valley, Pinot Noir, 2007, 13.55% last night reminded me of camping in Yellowstone. The wine's musky, earthy aroma lingered in my nose as a memory of sitting by the campfire emerged in my mind. As I tilted the wine on its side against a white napkin, the rainbow of reds with a translucent glow around the edge appeared. The different color reds imply that the wine is mature and ready to drink. The translucent edge refers to oldness of the vine (not the wine). The first sip made my mouth salivate. The second sip quenched my thirst. Notes of grass, berries and subtle tannis finally began to develop by the third sip. A great wine worth tasting for $26.

    Do you have a wine worth tasting?

    Tune in next week when we discuss how to taste tea....

    Friday, August 21, 2009

    My cup of tea was somewhat weak :( evoking further memories of “Tea”…

    Last night, we were at Santa Fe Opera’s production of Donizetti’s “Elixir of Love”, one of the funnest and most melodic operas ever. If you’ve never been to the opera before, this would be a fine place to start… The production was stellar: original, aesthetically beautiful, and superbly executed. But the soloists’ singing left me a bit wanting… which brought back memories of the last time I left the opera here wanting for more – Tan Dun’s Tea opera 2 years ago.

    Needless to say, as both an opera and tea lover, and a great admirer of Chinese culture, I had expectations for Tea… Tea, the opera, is set in ancient Japan and China, and tells a tale based on historic facts of erotic love, mystery and intrigue surrounding the chase for the legendary tea master Lu Yu’s Book of Tea. This too, was a superbly professional production by Santa Fe Opera, but the only things that remain in my memory 2 years later are a shrieking E-flat clarinet, great banners of paper being rustled and ripped, and the sound of water being poured in and out of uplit glass bowls.

    Like with all artistic endeavors, the outcomes are mixed – from production to production, even from night to night. But with a house having the stature and legacy of Santa Fe Opera, we’ve been thrilled here enough times to know that the outcomes can be world class. With the exception of the amazingly lovely bassoon solo last night in the tenor’s aria, this production left me wanting for more than the warm personality and solid performance of the two male leads. So onwards and upwards to Don Giovanni tonight and La Traviata tomorrow… we’ll be sure to hydrate plenty and caffeinate ourselves before the long evening shows here at 7000 ft altitude with Bolder Breakfast and Earl of Grey Puerh. And here’s to hoping our next “cup of tea” in Santa Fe is stronger! (Image courtesy Santafeopera.org)

    Thursday, August 20, 2009

    Simply Fantastic! A mug to keep stealing coworkers hands at bay!

    Ok this may have less to do with tea than I normally blog about, but this is the COOLEST mug I've seen in a while, so I had to share it! This mug actually has a key that can be removed, which produces a hole so that only YOU can drink from it. This mug insures that your coworkers or roomates who can't find their own mug, will keep their grabby hands away from yours! Mug security if you will. I LOVE IT!

    Tuesday, August 18, 2009

    The Pressure of Culinary School

    Who: Tea Spot Chef
    What: Mid-term practical
    When: August 18th, 2009 / 6:30-9:30pm 
    Why: Because I love to cook & want to learn...


    It seemed like a simple enough menu, but it was wasn't as easy as I thought...

    The Menu:
    • Mixed salad & dressing
    • Puree of carrot soup
    • Mashed potatoes
    • Sauté squash
    • Seared chicken breast

    As I was saying, it seemed simple enough. I even practiced this past weekend. I made the exact menu for 6 of my friends and did such a better job. Of course I didn't have chefs looking over my shoulder critiquing every little thing. I never thought the pressure would get to me, but it all came down to the last 15 minutes. In the end it is all about presentation, attention to detail and being well organized. When under pressure, these are the same things I struggle with outside of the kitchen.

    WOW, what a breakthrough!!! I knew I was going to learn how to cook but never thought that culinary school would be such a personal learning experience. 

    At the end of the day, I passed my practical. BUT to tell you the truth, the most important part of this experience was understanding that if I learn how to conquer my weakness in the kitchen, I could conquer them out of the kitchen...

    One of the hardest things in life is identifying a weakness, which is why I thank chef Michael and Chef Marilyn for bringing them to my attention. The next hardest thing is to own a weakness, but I know if I don't then I won't grow because I can't change. 

    That said, I have 8 weeks until my final. I wonder how much I'll change...

    Anybody have a similar experience they'd like to share...

    Boulder... tea bagging capital of the nation.

    I'm a huge fan of Steven Colbert. He's got the driest, most sarcastic delivery of any comedian, ever, rarely breaking character or cracking a smile during delivery of his ridiculous arguments. He's committed to the degree that the first time I saw him, I thought he was actually the pompous conservative political pundit that he plays. I'd go so far as to say that I'm a proud member of his Colbert Nation (his fan base). OK, enough gushing...

    Boulder was recently featured in Colbert's "Better know a district" segment, where the host features different political districts around the nation and interviews their congressional reps. In this interview he features Boulder, congressman Jared Polis, and tea bagging. So I thought I'd share...

    The Colbert ReportMon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
    Even Better-er Know a District - Colorado's 2nd - Jared Polis
    www.colbertnation.com
    Colbert Report Full EpisodesPolitical HumorHealth Care Protests

    Monday, August 17, 2009

    Big Thanks to Steven Knoerr of 39 Steeps


    Tea enthusiast Steven Knoerr recently reviewed our Green Twisted Spears on his tea blog 39 Steeps. This particular tea is an Organic & Fair Trade certified loose green tea from Sri Lanka - a region that has traditionally produced black teas, black ceylons.

    He discusses the leaves, the tea, the preparation, the cup, and his overall impressions. We're pleased that he seemed to enjoy the tea overall and noticed the unique notes of the Sri Lankan terroir,
    "I like how the Sri Lankan terroir affected the flavor of the green, because it was like finding a friendly acquaintance in an unusual place: say, a friend from church, greeting me when I'm climbing up a mountain slope in Colorado."


    He also commented on the unique new taste of green tea from Sri Lanka (formerly called Ceylon),
    "I've never had a green Ceylon before, and I'm pleased with the beautiful handcrafting of the leaf, which was sufficiently interesting to merit an experiment with the tea, all by itself. While this tea isn't as nuanced or bold as the Chinese greens I am more accustomed to, when taken on its own merit, it's pleasant. I'd be interested to see what kind of tea the Ceylon producers will be producing in a hundred years, after much practice and developing cultivars specifically for the green tea style."


    You can read the full tea review here. Be sure to check out the comments section where an interesting discussion takes place about green teas from Sri Lanka - a relatively recent endeavor in this nation.

    Thanks, Steven, for checking us out and for the feedback!

    Friday, August 14, 2009

    Tea and Honey

    It’s noticeable, that particularly in Europe, people tend to think about sweetening their tea with honey. I can’t remember the last time someone brought me some honey with my coffee, and this got me wondering why… does sweetening tea with honey really work better than sugar? I think the answer lies in that the subtlety of tea actually allows the flavor of the honey to come through, and actually work with the honey to create a completely new sweet flavor (all kidding and nastiness aside – a dollop of honey in a cup of coffee would simply get lost!). The floral aspects present in both tea and honey work beautifully together. With all the amazing honeys available at farmer’s markets, I tried a few.

    Not being a habitual sweet tea drinker, this was a fun excursion into sweet flavors – each like a candy defined by a tasty tea base, then prolonged or sometimes lifted by the honey flavors.

    I’ve now tried creamy honeys, various floral honeys,

    including orange blossom, and am anxious to try some lavender honey with my Earl of Grey. I recommend it, and in a future post plan to talk through some tea and honey pairings…Sweet Dreams!

    Thank you abeilles.apiculture.free.fr for the photos!

    Wednesday, August 12, 2009

    Simply Musical: Songs about the health benefits of tea!

    A few weeks ago I posted a blog on where we could find tea mentioned in music, which led me to the well known song "Tea for Two". Well this week I was made aware of two songs that a couple has written, sung and videotaped on You Tube for the Calm-A-Sutra video scholarship contest. The videos demonstrate their love of tea as well as being incredibly informative of the health benefits of tea. While they seem to be using tea bags for their video, we won't fault them for this. Below are the two videos, so grab your cup of tea, sit back and enjoy!





    Tuesday, August 11, 2009

    Contest: TEAS Your Favorite Recipe...

    Your challenge: Take one of your favorite recipes and 'TEAS IT'


    Winner of the most creatively tea-licious recipe posted here before September 15th 2009 receives a $25 gift certificate to theteaspot.com.


    Why TEAS your recipe?

    • It enhances the flavor of almost any recipe            
    • It provides health benefits                     
    • It's a unique culinary ingredient         
    • It’s already in your cupboard, loose leaf or tea bag

     How to TEAS a recipe?


    For more on how to TEAS a recipe, check out Tacoma's Tea ExaminerCasie Swanson's, recent article


    You can also visit The Tea Spot Chef's blog and The Tea Spot.


    Looking forward to testing your recipe. Let me know if you have any questions.

    Wednesday, August 5, 2009

    Simply Historic: The Boston Tea Party

    Just the other night when I was watching a movie I couldn't believe how many times "going for coffee" was mentioned as a double entendre for going on a date, for work meetings and just meeting anyone in general! "Grabbing a coffee" is truly imbedded in our society as a social activity that goes way beyond the actual act of getting a cup of joe. Even though coffee may have its spotlight in our everyday ongoings and vernacular, tea has had more that its fifteen minutes of fame, in fact, history is "steeped" with tea! (yeah I had to do it)

    This weekend I will be headed to my hometown city of Boston, and it took me all of two seconds before I realized I would write about the Boston Tea Party. Growing up in the American education system we all learn about this event at some point and for some of us (particularly those of us on the east coast) you learn about it in elementary school, middle school and again in High School! Despite that all of that education some of the details are still a little fuzzy, so I'll do a brief, slightly less boring, version of the Boston Tea Party (pronounced: Bhawston Tea Pawtty)


    So what most of us remember of the Boston Tea Party is that sometime in the 1700's (1773 to be exact) the colonists were pissed about being taxed on tea and other products that were being imported from Great Britain, and in response they rioted against the shipment and threw all of the tea into the Boston Harbor (Hawbaw). Ok this we know. But today, in a brief and interesting fashion, I will explain WHY the British were taxing the American colonists, WHY the colonists were pissed, and WHY they threw the tea into the harbor.

    Back in the early 1700's tea had become immensely popular and the British Empire had a nice monopoly on it. Any tea being imported by the East India Company was taxed 25% and then was given an additional tax upon consumption. Not only that but there were many people who were smuggling tea through the Dutch importers! Tea was being smuggled like drugs are today! The Dutch had a much better price on tea because they didn't put a tax on it when it was imported into the country. The British, hating to lose, and hating to lose money even more, decided to shift the tax over to the American colonists. Now at this time you could tax if your Parliament representative agreed to the tax, but the American colonists had no representatives and couldn't fight these charges.

    In 1772 the price of tea increased, sales decreased and therefore a surplus of tea began to build up in Great Britian. Decisions were made to keep costs down and so they cut out the middleman wholesalers and decided to export to the colonies on their decisions, not based on actual demand. I love this, it actually makes America look like the British dumping ground for everything they didn't want to deal with! Sell it to the Europeans? No, no they'll still be able to get a cheaper smuggling price. Wait, what did you say? Those folks across the water? Oh yeah, let's just send it to them AND still tax it, they won't know what's coming!...But they did.

    The American colonists heard what was going on as the seven ships crossed the Atlantic carrying 600,000 pounds of tea to deliver it to the ports of New York, Charleston, Philadelphia and Boston. In the three other cities, the protests convinced the tea consignees to send the tea back to Britain, unopenend and untouched. Boston however had a more difficult fight because the governor Thomas Hutchinson ignored the protestors and convinced the tea consignees (who were his sons) to keep the ships in port and ordered all the tea to be brought to shore.

    Thousands of colonists gathered in Fanueil Hall and the Old South Meeting House to discuss how to deal with the three ships full of tea in their port. The infamous Samuel Adams, while not directly involved, held the meeting to discuss the issue and firmly supported the colonists' revolt on the British taxation. After all the meetings and finding out that neither side was backing down, the colonists took action. That night about 100 men, some dressed as Native Americans, boarded all three tea ships and dumped ever single carton of tea into the water.

    There is a fanatastic personal eyewitness account from one of the men who dressed up as a Native American and joined the hundreds that joined in removing and sinking all the tea from the ships that fateful night. You can find it located here http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/teaparty.htm



    The Boston Tea Party was one of many events where colonists and the British Empire didn't see eye to eye, however many consider it to be the event that lit the fuse of the American Revolution powder keg (pronounced: pawda keg). So I guess in a way, our freedom to have coffee dates, no inforced importation of goods, and the fact that we don't speak in a British accent (although we all want to) can be attributed to tea and its place in history. Not a bad rap at all.

    I hope you've enjoyed this bit of tea history!

    Links to pictures and information
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boston_Tea_Party
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:BostonTeaPartyJoyceNotice.jpg
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Boston_Tea_Party_Currier_colored.jpg
    http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.blisstree.com/flyawaycafe/files/2007/07/downtown-boston-skyline.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.blisstree.com/flyawaycafe/photo-op-boston-skyline/&h=480&w=640&sz=89&tbnid=AL14JyPCH_xFpM:&tbnh=103&tbnw=137&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dboston%2Bskyline&usg=__cK6grIp87y4rSEOkCTOGwEVS5E8=&ei=6sB5SqWlN4XQsgOctqyRDQ&sa=X&oi=image_result&resnum=1&ct=image

    Monday, August 3, 2009

    Casanova Crab Cakes

    A letter of apology to Lady Casanova, my mother...

    While taking a quiz in culinary class tonight it dawned on my that I completely forgot one of the most significant days of my life, August 3rd, the day my mother was born. 

    Although it sounds absurd to even think about what could've happened if that day never occurred, it's not absolutely ridiculous. Summed up best by Robert Frost,  
    "Two roads diverged in a wood
    And I took the one less traveled by
    And that has made all the difference" 
    Reflecting how I became so passionate about cooking, I realized that it was my mother guiding me to take the road less traveled. The most significant fork in the road where my mom pushed me to explore the kitchen was when I was a freshman in high school. 'Let's have a dinner party for your friends', she said to me. After a few days of coaxing, she finally pushed me to create a 5 course menu. To tell you the truth, the only thing I remember cooking was the appetizer, New England Crab Cakes. I remember them being crunchy on the outside, tender in the middle and full of flavor in every bite. 
    The guilt of not calling my mother started to build in class but I couldn't leave. The only thing that helped to temporarily extinguish my guilt was the fact that we were coincidentally learning how to make crab cakes. Making crab cakes tonight sparked memories of my mother and I in the kitchen creating delicious meals, laughing and loving our time together. 
    A smile shined within my heart while I plated the crab cakes tonight. At dinner, a tear was brought to my eye while my team graciously complimented the dish on its flavor, texture and seasoning of the cakes. I knew I made them with TLC, I just wished my mother was there to taste the TLC.

    Casanova Crab Cakes with Roasted Pepper Remoulade

    Yields: 10 appetizers (3 - 2 oz cakes/plate = 60 oz)

    Prep Time 30 min / Cook Time 20 min / Plating 10 min

    Ingredients:
    • 2 lb crabmeat, lump
    • 1 lb crabmeat, claw
    • 6 oz mayo
    • 4 eggs, beaten
    • 1 TBS dijon mustard
    • 1 TBS Worcestershire
    • 1 TBS salt
    • 1 tsp white pepper
    • 1 TBS Cayenne Pepper
    • 3 TBS Parsley, chopped
    • 8 scallions, finely sliced
    • 4 oz bread crumbs
    • 2 oz slivered almonds, toasted and crushed
    • 3 oz panko crumbs
    • 1/3 cup clarified butter or canola oil 
    • 1 Roasted Bell Pepper, peeled, cored, seeded & small diced
    • 1 pt Remoulade Sauce (use recipe below or buy tartar sauce)
    • Lemon wedges, garnish
    • Mixed greens, garnish

    Preparation
    1. Pick over crab cakes and remove shell
    2. Mix together mayo, eggs, mustard, Worcestershire, salt, pepper, cayenne, parsley, scallions. Add bread crumbs and fold to combine.
    3. On a plate, mix Panko crumbs with toasted almonds. Scoop out a 2 oz and place it on the Panko crumbs mixture and cover it completely with Pankos. Mold a crab cake by softly pushing top and bottom together and pressing sides to firmness. Place on baking sheet. Can be made up to two days in advance.
    4. Pan-fry cakes in oil or butter until brown on both sides and cooked through. 
    5. Add roasted bell pepper into Remoulade sauce.
    Remoulade

    Yield 1 qt

    Ingredients:
    • 4 oz Dill pickles
    • 2 oz onion, brunoise
    • 2 oz capers
    • 1 qt mayo
    • 1 TBS Anchovy paste
    • 2 TBS parsley, chopped
    • 3 TBS Lime Juice
    • 1/3 cup Sriracha

    Preparation:
    1. Mix all above ingredients together, can be made up to 1 week in advance.
    Tune in for next week when I forget my dad's Birthday...Just joking, I forgot that date a few months ago...

    Love you mom... 

    Can't wait to incorporate tea in the recipe and enjoy it with my mom...