Pan Roasted Duck Breasts with Red Rocks Cherry Sauce

Pan Roasted Duck Breasts with Red Rocks Cherry Sauce is an elegant dinner for two that is easy to make...

Ingredients: Duck

·      2 duck breast, scored

·      Salt & Pepper

Preparation - Duck

1.     Pat dry, score & season with salt & pepper.

2.     Heat skillet over medium heat until hot, 3 minutes.

3.     Lay breast, skin side down, and lower heat a little. Render fat for 15-20 minutes and until skin is golden brown.

4.     Flip breast and cook until brown and crispy.

5.     Place on baking sheet with rack & place in oven until instant thermometer reads 125-130°, 10 minutes.

Ingredients: Red Rocks Cherry Sauce

·      1 cup chicken stock

·      2 TBS Red Rocks tea

·      1 shallot, minced

·      ¼ cup red wine, dry

·      2 TBS dried cherries

·      1 TBS butter

·      1 tsp lemon juice

·      Salt & Pepper to taste

Preparation - Red Rocks Cherry Sauce

1.     Steep 2 TBS of Red Rocks tea in 1 cup boiling chicken stock for 6 minutes. Strain tea leaves.

2.     Pour off all but 1 TBS fat from pan and heat.

3.     Add shallots and cook until soft.

4.     Add wine and cherries, scraping bottom of pan. Simmer until wine evaporates, 2-3 minutes.

5.     Stir in Red Rocks chicken stock concentrate and simmer occasionally, until sauce has reduced and is thickened, about 1/3 cup, 3-5 minutes.

6.     Off heat, stir in butter, lemon juice, salt & pepper to taste.

Holiday Tea Infused Turkey...

If your turkey turns out like this, you got a problem...

Photo by HaloHaloph

Don't worry, no kids were hurt taking this photo...

If you want a turkey infused with holiday spices and healthy red tea, follow this recipe...

Photo by Christina Perozzi 

Holiday Tea Infused Turkey

Ingredients:

• (14 to 16 pound) frozen young turkey
  

For the brine:

• 1 gallon chicken stock, low sodium
  
• 4 tablespoon Holiday Spice Rooibos Tea (blend of red rooibos and aromatic holiday spices... cinnamon, clove, orange peel, apples, almonds, & rose petals!)
  
• 1 cup kosher salt
  
• 1/2 cup sugar
  
• 1 tablespoon black peppercorns
  
• 1 gallon heavily iced water

Preparation - 2 to 3 days before roasting:

1. Begin thawing the turkey in the refrigerator at 38 degrees F.
   
2. Tea-Infused Brine: Combine the vegetable stock, Holiday Spice Rooibos Tea, sugar, salt and in a large stockpot over medium-high heat. Stir occasionally to dissolve solids and bring to a boil. Then remove the brine from the heat, cool to room temperature, and refrigerate.
3. The night before you cook the turkey, combine the tea-brine, water and ice in the 5-gallon bucket. Place the thawed turkey (with innards removed) breast side down in brine. Ensure the turkey is fully immersed, cover and refrigerate 8 to 16 hours, turning the bird once half way through brining.
   

For the aromatics:

• 1 red apple, sliced
  
• 1 orange, peeled and sliced
  
• 1/2 onion, sliced
  
• 1 cinnamon stick
  
• 2 TBS Holiday Spice Rooibos Tea
  
• 1 cup water
  
• 4 sprigs rosemary
  
• 6 leaves sage
  

For turkey coating:

• Tea-soning:
  

·      1 ½ TBS Holiday Spice Rooibos Tea

·      1 ½ tsp rosemary

·      1 tsp thyme

·      1 tsp sage

Salt & pepper to taste

Canola oil

Aromatics & Gravy Base:

• 1 lb onion, large dice
• ½ lb fennel, large dice
• ½ lb carrots, large dice
• ½ lb apple, large dice
• ½ cup almond, roughly chopped
• 1 TBS Holiday Spice Rooibos Tea
• Canola oil
• Salt & pepper
• 3 cup dry white wine
• 6 cup vegetable stock
• Corn Starch slurry, mix 1 TBS cornstarch & 1 cup water together
• 1 lemon, juice
• 3 TBS unsalted butter, chopped

Preparation:

1. Preheat the oven to 525° F. Remove the turkey from brine and completely rinse it with cold water and pat dry with paper towels. Discard the brine.
   
2. Combine the apple, orange, onion, Holiday Spice Rooibos Tea, cinnamon stick, and 1 cup of water in a microwave safe dish and microwave on high for 5 minutes. Add steeped aromatics to the turkey's cavity along with the rosemary and sage. Truss the turkey and coat the skin liberally with canola oil and sprinkle tea-soning. (How to truss a turkey video by Alton Brown: www.foodnetwork.com/videos/how-to-truss-a-turkey/27751.html)
   
3. Mix onion, fennel, carrots, apples, almonds & tea together and coat with canola oil and sprinkle with salt & pepper. Place mixture on bottom of roasting pan and place the turkey on roasting rack on top of aromatics to make gravy base.
   
4. Place the turkey on lowest level of the oven and roast at 500 degrees F for 30 minutes. Reduce the oven to 350° and insert a probe thermometer into thickest part of the breast. Roast until an instant thermometer reads 160° F, about a total of 2 to 2 1/2 hours. Let the turkey rest, loosely covered with foil for 15-20 minutes before carving.
   
5. While the turkey in resting, place the roasting pan with gravy aromatics on top of stove and heat on high. Add wine and deglaze by scraping the bottom of the pan. Add chicken stock and simmer for 5-7 minutes. Add 1/2 of the slurry and stir occasionally. Cook until thickens and remove from heat. Add more slurry, 1 tsp at a time, if you want gravy thicker. Strain gravy and place back on medium heated stove. Whisk in lemon juice and butter until combined. Season to taste with salt ad pepper. Serve with turkey.
   

Happy Thanksgiving...

Be Grateful & Eat Well...

The Tea Spot Celebrates the Holidays...

Celebrating the holidays since 1986, the Holiday Food & Gift Show in Denver was a fun way for us to meet many existing and new fans of The Tea Spot... 

I personally procrastinate when shopping for holiday gifts, up until now. Attendees of this gift show made me realize how important it is to shop ahead to get the perfect gift for somebody you love. 

Janice (left), Karen (middle) and Janice's Friend (right)

Shoppers like Janice bought the Dripless Teapot and a tin of Earl of Grey for her tea-loving mother. Her friend bought a Tuffy Steeper and a tin of Boulder Blues for her brother, the world-traveler. She also bought the Steeping Mug and a tin of Bolder Breakfast for her hard-working husband.  They were so excited about finding the perfect gift for the people they love; it made me realize how important it was that we were there to help.

For those that missed our booth or didn't make it to the event, don't worry you can visit our website...24/7...

Roasted Harvest Roots served in a Jack-o-latern

Roasted Harvest Roots served in a Jack-o-latern

Harvest roots blanched in tea and roasted in tea-sonings. A great side dish for any holiday dinner.

Yield: 8-10 servings

Ingredients

• ¼ cup canola oil
• 1.5 lb beets - roasted, peeled & cut (large dice, ¾ x ¾  x ¾ )
• 2 TBS Harvest Spice loose tea, for blanching water
• 2 lb Sweet Potatoes – peeled & cut (large dice)
• 2 lb Butternut Squash - peeled & cut (large dice)
• 2 lb Rutabaga – peeled & cut (large dice)
• 1 lb Carrots, peeled & cut (large dice)
• Cheese cloth & string
• 2 cups Maple syrup
• 8 TBS butter, divided into ½ TBS pieces
• Harvest Spice Tea-soning: To make tea-soning, hand blend the following ingredients...
• 1 TBS Harvest Spice, finely grounded
• 2 TBS Brown sugar
• 1 ½ TBS Salt
• ½ TBS white pepper
• Optional - Jack-o-lantern serving bowl: 1 large Pumpkin, hallowed 

Preparation:

1. Preheat oven for 375. Place whole beets on tin foil. Oil beets with canola oil and sprinkle salt & pepper. Cover and place in oven for 30-40 minutes, until soft in center. Take out beets and let cool. When cool, peel with damp tea towel. Cut into large dices ( ¾ x ¾  x ¾ ).
2. While the beets are roasting, blanch & shock the rest of the roots in tea infused water. Place 2 TBS of Harvest spice in cheesecloth and tie with string. In a large pot, bring salted water & tea to a boil. Place sweet potatoes in boiling water and let cook until slightly softened, about 15 minutes. Stain and immediately place in ice water to shock, stop cooking. Take out of ice water bath and strain to dry. Following the same process, blanch & shock the butternut squash (blanch about 8-10 min), rutabaga (blanch about 5 min) and carrots (blanch 3 min) all separately since they cook at different time.
3. In a large bowl, mix all the roots together. Place all the vegetables on oiled baking sheet and drizzle with maple syrup. Sprinkle tea-soning. Evenly place butter pieces on top of the vegetables.
4. Place veggies in oven and bake for 15-20 minutes. Rotate baking sheet and let cook for another 10 minutes. Season to taste.
5. Optional - Jack-o-lantern serving bowl: While the roots roast, hallow out a pumpkin and place it in the oven for 10-15 minutes to let it warm and soften. Place the roasted roots in the pumpkin and serve.

"A Cuple of Tea" (WINNER of the 2009 Calm-a-Sutra of Tea Scholarship)

The Calm-A-Sutra is a national scholarship given by Tea USA for the most creative tea video, as a means to educate consumers about the delicious taste and the numerous health benefits of drinking tea, specifically black, green, white & oolong which are all from the Camellia Sinensis plant.

And the winner is....

Moral of the story: don't be prejudice; all tea comes from the same plant...