50+ Lifestyles

Cooking Family Meals with Tea

By Madeleine Ranshaw, RD, LD
Hy-Vee Registered Dietician
(563) 391-0213
mranshaw@hy-vee.com

There is something nostalgic about sitting on the front porch and sharing a glass of tea with neighbors or family that lends to slowing life down and making memories. But have you tried cooking with tea? With September being National Family Meals Month, it’s the perfect drink to have on the table and perfect ingredient to add to your recipe as your family gathers around the dinner table for a meal at home.

Tea is guilt-free with zero calories per serving. Unsweetened iced tea is 99.5 percent water, making it an ideal thirst-quenching drink. Tea is also packed with antioxidants and offers a way to add flavor to both savory and sweet dishes. The rich flavor of tea is not only soothing in a mug or glass, but it adds depth to any recipe.

In many recipes, you can replace water with tea or use powdered tea (such as matcha green tea or tea ground in a spice grinder) as a garnish, spice or rub on meats. In addition, you can smoke meats or meat substitutes with tea leaves or marinate meats with brewed tea. When steaming foods, such as fish, rice or vegetables, you can add a pinch of tea leaves to the water.

Here are some ideas for savory tea foods:

• Boil eggs and other foods in tea instead of water.
• Infuse teas into broths for soups and stews. Flavorful black teas (like Assams and Ceylons) are better for beef or pork broth, while umami-rich Japanese green teas (like Gyokuro and Sencha) are better for chicken or seafood broth.
• Marinate tofu, seitan, seafood or meat in tea for 30 minutes or more to impart flavor and remove unpleasant odors.
• Use brewed tea and tea leaves as an ingredient in rice dishes.
• Stuff whole fish with oolong or green tea leaves before steaming fish.
• Whisk matcha into sauces and dressings.
• After brewing a Chinese green tea, retain the leaves and sauté them with vegetables and/or meats.
• Poach fruit in black or oolong tea with sugar or honey. Add spices as desired.
• Use tea or tea-infused milk/cream to make tea sorbets and tea ice creams.
• Add a splash of tea to your favorite smoothie.
• For sweeter tea foods, try infusing an Earl Grey tea into a ganache for tea chocolate truffles. As you warm milk to make hot chocolate, steep some tea in it. Strain the tea leaves (or remove the teabag) and continue to make hot chocolate as you normally would.

Madeleine Randshaw is a registered dietician at Hy-Vee. She can be reached at (553) 391-0213 or at mranshaw@hy-vee.com.