Pimp my Mint Tea

Mint tea is pretty damn good, balancing as it does the soothing qualities of a warm cuppa with a refreshing mouth tingling zing.  It is drinkable in teabags from the supermarket and it is more delicate but still drinkable in the form of some leaves from the garden macerated (plus or minus a bit of helpful leaf-directed squishing from a teaspoon) in freshly boiled water.

I don't rate the genuine stuff from Morocco as drinkable; saturated sugar solutions aren't my thing, and I find the stewed mint flavour combined with the sweetness nauseating.  I had to politely sip at the stuff on far too many occasions during a holiday in Marrakech until I realised I could wait until The Photographer and The Bellydancer had finished theirs then discreetly swap our glasses. 

It was therefore with mixed feelings that I received a present from The Fiesta: a bag of Moroccan Mint loose herbal tea from The Cragg Sisters Tearoom in Aldeburgh- it could be good, it could be sickly, which way would it go?

Even just opening the bag released such a stream of minty freshness that my sinuses felt comprehensively invigorated.  It consisted of green gunpowder tea leaves mixed with dried peppermint leaves, and best of all for me, no sugar.

A pot of this tea was made in due course and I was delighted that I'd never imagined mint tea could taste this good.   It was the tea equivalent of the difference between freshly ground quality coffee and mediocre instant stuff.  The green gunpowder tea base gives the tea a strong backbone and staying power on top over which the clean taste of the peppermint can shine without becoming overwhelming.  9/10 for head clearing aromatic freshness.

Teaboy's Scones

Another day, another cup of tea at The Teaboy's.

This time the biscuits were usurped by The Teaboy's homemade scones.  He usually uses bicarbonate of soda in his scones, but had not brought any to the island.  What he did have was an egg.  So a trial was made of egg scones.

This experiment had a very happy ending. The scones rose well and were consumed the second they came out of the oven by The Fiesta, The Teaboy, The Panorama, and myself  The egg added a richness and lightness to the scones.

Dream Team Combinations

Just a very quick post about two amazing food combinations I've stumbled across in the last 24hrs:

1. Goats Cheese + Mango Cutney. 

Cheddar cheese and mango chutney is a well-acknowledged good pairing (which I can say with extra certainty after a mindnight snack of these guys with The Fiesta on sunday) so I decided to branch out.  I took mild goats cheese- creamy. slightly sour, slightly salty, chilled from the fridge, and put it on granary toast with the warmly spiced Geeta's Mango Chutney.  I recommend it.

2. Mushy Peas + Chili Flakes

Last night The Panorama hosted a home-made fish and chip party- which will be a post in itself- but equally as impressive as the fish and chips were the mushy peas.  The Panorama had been concerned that the mushy peas weren't spicy enough, so he added some dried chili flakes.  This worked very well, both alone, with the sweetness of the peas and the heat of the pepper, but also with the battered fish as the chili cut through some of the mouth-coating richness from the oil without overwhelming the delicate flavour of the fish.

The Teaboy was as enthusiastic as me about the chili peas, and we fought over eating the last scraps from the saucepan!

String Bean Thoren

The Fiesta has cooked this many times, sometimes to accompany her famous curries (example shown), more often to appease the demands of hungry housemates who quite frankly think it is awesome.

Aromatic, subtly spicy, and fresh, the Thoren is a great example of Keralan cuisine.  I am reliably informed of this by The Fiesta herself, who is allegedly half-indian.

Green beans, cooked to a perfect bite, are always a favourite of mine, and combining this with crunchy mustard seeds and soft coconut works wonders.  The recipe is below; my only suggestion would be to use stock instead of water, omitting the salt.

• 1.5 tbsp sunflower oil
• 0.5 tsp black mustard seeds
• 0.75 tsp chopped ginger
• 1 tbsp chopped green chillies
• 4 tbsp chopped onion
• 1 cup string beans, chopped into lengths of about 2cm
• 0.25 tsp turmeric powder
• 0.75 tsp salt
• 5 tbsp water
• 10 curry leaves
• 0.25 cups grated coconut

1. Fry mustard seeds in sunflower oil until crackling
2. Add ginger, chillies and onion, continue to fry for about 3 minutes
3. Add string beans, turmeric powder, and salt, fry for about 1 minute
4. Add water
5. Cover pan and cook for 3 minutes until the water has evaporated
6. Add curry leaves and coconut, heat through and serve.

Tesco Finest 72% Plain Chocolate

The packaging reflects the 'Finest' pedigree due to the silver colour that always reminds me of the scratch-off stuff on scratchcards, but somehow manages to look classy in this context.  The foil around the chocolate is easily torn with a fingernail, a la old kit-kat tv ad, revealing a dark and shiny bar that breaks with a satisfying snap.  It melts smoothly on the tongue, releasing an earthy cocoa flavour that strikes the balance perfectly between acidity, bitterness, and sweetness. Even The Fiesta and The Diver, not normally fans of chocolate this dark came back for seconds of this.

Now this is interesting: the first time I tried this chocolate I thought it would be a contender for at least 9/10.  I bought some more, and it just wasn't as good as I remembered.  What I had thought was perfectly balanced flavours turned out to be actually quite boring.  I'd like to be non-PC here; this chocolate is the gastronomic equivalent of stereotypical Switzerland- efficiently meeting all that it promises to but lacking something in the personality department. Rated 7/10.

Wairau Cove

Exciting times!  The first 9/10 on the blog.

A gorgeous Sauvignon Blanc that The Cyclist brought over for dinner with myself and The Fiesta.  Wairau Cove Sauvignon Blanc, Marlborough New Zealand, 2008.  "Incredibly vibrant" says the label. I say quite sweet for the genre but gorgoeus tropical fruit flavours, maybe some lychee in there too.  Less of the almost metallic taste that can characterise Sauvignon Blancs, and the extra sweetness adds a bit more oopmh that means this wine has a bit more scope for pairing with autumnal food.  We had Cottage Pie; not a planned combination, nor even a great one, but it worked, and to be honest we'd enjoyed a lot of the bottle before eating!

I later discovered it was on offer at Tesco (The Cyclist is an intelligent one too!) and stocked up.  I took a bottle for dinner with Bond and Jones, more details about that in a later post.