Something’s brewing

Cooking with tea is a practice as old as the beverage itself, with desserts and tea just one successful combination.

Tea is a most versatile leaf, and when used in cooking adds a new dimension in flavour and aroma. Over the years, one popular use has been to add tea leaves to the food-smoking process. Other uses include sprinkling the leaves over roasting duck or tenderising tough steak in a strong brew of black tea.

However, I feel tea is better used in desserts. Green-tea ice-cream, for example, works particularly well. This is because tea, when used as a sweet spice, loves sugar. It adds the most remarkable aromatic and exotic flavours to many recipes.

If you can, obtain the tea leaves from a specialist teashop. I wouldn’t tell them you are going to cook with it, though, as tea drinkers can be a bit precious about their cuppas.

I know that pumpkin-flavoured polenta sounds strange, but then so do pumpkin pie and tapioca pudding, and the taste and texture are similar. Try it, for it is gorgeous. I call this dish a “hazy shade of winter” because of its rich autumn colours.

CHAMOMILE-TEA-INFUSED PEARS, POACHED CRANBERRIES AND PUMPKIN POLENTA

2 cups sugar

1 punnet of fresh cranberries

First, make the sugar syrup. In a saucepan, boil the sugar and water together for 2 minutes, then divide equally between 2 small saucepans. Immediately place the chamomile tea and lemon peel in 1 saucepan and the vanilla pod in the other. Fill a small bowl with cold water and add the lemon juice. Peel the pears, then cut in half, remove the stem and scoop out the seeds with a teaspoon or melon baller. To prevent browning, plunge the halves into the bowl of water as you go. Cut each half into 8 segments, then add to the chamomile-infused syrup. Cook for 4 minutes over a low heat, then set aside to cool. Wash the cranberries, then add to the vanilla syrup and cook gently for 4 minutes. Watch the cranberries closely, as they have a tendency to turn to mush quite quickly. Again, let the cranberries cool in the syrup.

Serves 4.

PUMPKIN POLENTA

¼ crown pumpkin, juiced (it should

a pinch of nutmeg

Place the pumpkin juice, milk and sugar in a saucepan over a low heat. Immediately whisk in the polenta and slowly bring to a gentle simmer. Stir occasionally, making sure the polenta doesn’t catch on the bottom of the saucepan. Cover with a lid and cook for an hour. Stir in a pinch of nutmeg, then place a spoonful of polenta in each of 4 individual bowls. Drain the pears and cranberries, reserving the syrups for future use, and arrange on the polenta. Serve immediately.

Serves 4.

CRÈME BRÛLÉE, WITH ITS velvet texture, always seems luxurious, especially when scented with tea, which adds an elegant touch.

I first tasted lychees at the Yangtze restaurant in Wellington when I was a lad, and I loved the mysterious, exotic taste. It’s also when I fell in love with cabaret acts. I think lychees are one of the few fruits that taste better out of the can.

JASMINE-TEA CRÈME BRÛLÉE

1 cup milk

1 can of lychees, drained

Preheat the oven to 140?C. Heat the milk and cream, then add the tea and bring slowly to the boil. When the mixture is nearly boiling, whisk together the egg yolks and the 100g of sugar. Add the milk and cream to the yolks and sugar by pouring it through a fine sieve. Discard the tea leaves. Whisk vigorously to prevent the eggs from scrambling, then pour the custard into 4 ramekins. Place the dishes in a deep roasting dish, pour in enough water to come halfway up the sides, then slide the dish into the oven. Bake for 40 minutes, then remove from the oven and refrigerate until set. Sprinkle a thick layer of extra sugar on top of each ramekin so that it will create a hard crust when cooked. Caramelise under a hot grill, or use a small blowtorch. This step can be done up to an hour before serving. Serve with lychees on the side.

Serves 4.

RUM BABA IS A BIT of a classic and not that hard to make. I like to serve mine with the acidic bite of mascarpone cheese, but you can use whipped cream or crème fraîche if you prefer.

BABA AU RHUM WITH TEA-POACHED FIGS AND MASCARPONE

BABAS

mascarpone or whipped cream to serve

Preheat the oven to 180?C. Lightly grease a muffin pan. Put the flour into a bowl and make a small well in the middle. Heat the milk and yeast to blood temperature, then pour into the well. Allow the mixture to ferment for about 10 minutes. Lightly whisk the eggs and sugar, then mix with the flour until it forms a soft paste. Slowly add the butter, beating until it is combined and forming a smooth paste. Allow the mixture to rest for 10 minutes, then half fill the prepared muffin pan. Bake for about 10-15 minutes or until the babas turn an even golden brown, then remove from the oven and turn out onto a wire rack to cool. Once they are completely cold, place in the syrup. (The babas can be stored in the syrup.) To make the syrup, bring the sugar, water and rum to the boil for 2 minutes. Allow to cool before adding the babas.

To serve, heat the babas gently in a microwave for 90 seconds before placing on serving plates. Put 4 fig halves next to the babas and serve with either mascarpone or whipped cream.

Serves 4.

TEA-POACHED FIGS

8 fresh figs

2 raspberry or fruit-flavoured tea bags

Wipe the figs clean then slice in half lengthways. Bring the sugar and water to a boil for 2 minutes, then add the tea bags and figs. Cook over a gentle heat for 4 minutes, then remove from the heat and allow to cool.

Serves 4.