Recipes
Tea Picnic
This post is for those of us who like the crusts cut off. The extra effort and attention that goes into making these beautiful tea sandwiches shows in every detail — the sweet shapes, the colorful combinations and, as always, the thoughtful flavor pairings. Make a platter for friends or a plate for yourself and enjoy a lazy summer picnic while the weather is fine. Since we're taking this picnic over the top, we've suggested some tea pairings as well. You can check out easy methods for cold brewing here!A bold curried egg salad is seasoned with our French inspired Vadouvan Curry, served on whole wheat bread and a cherry tomato topper. The flavor is deep and rich in this toasted blend with cumin, cardamom, mustard seeds, black pepper and fenugreek seeds. With a squeeze of lemon juice and watercress, these sandwiches go great with a malty Indian black tea like our Keemun black tea. For a cooling crunch with spectacular flavor, we seasoned the cucumber sandwich with our Orange Tarragon. This blend has chives, shallots, garlic and black pepper, adding many layers of flavor to the cream cheese spread complimenting the cucumbers. These cucumber sandwiches are anything but boring! Pair them with a cup of Rwandan Green Tea which is a vegetal green tea that will cut through the rich cream cheese and compliment the cooling cucumber. Because no picnic is complete without dessert, we made a sweet finish, open-faced mascarpone sandwiches. The creamy mascarpone gets its speckles from Madagascar vanilla beans that not only smell amazing, but go great with berries and a sprinkle of lemon zest. To finish off our tea picnic we paired a bold cup of Earl Grey with this sandwich. This classic tea is scented with bergamot, a perfect combo with the vanilla bean and sweet blackberries.
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Curried Roasted Cauliflower
Here at World Spice, we have some "tried and true" cookbooks that we can't do without. When we look for inspiration to jazz up our usual side dishes, The Side Dish Handbook by Tori Ritchie is one we reach for again and again. This wonderful cookbook can be used as a primer for side dishes using grains, vegetables and legumes. It's helpfully organized alphabetically, having a stand-out recipe for each main ingredient, including this tasty recipe for Curried Roasted Cauliflower.You'll also find such delicious dishes as English Pea and Onion Gratin, Creamed Corn with Chipotle and Queso Fresco, Butter-Braised Turnips with Caraway and Braised Moroccan Eggplant, just to name a few. These dishes use global flavors to make "basic" ingredients fresh, new and interesting. After all, the right accompaniments can liven even the most simple roast chicken dinner.From the author: "If you can find an orange cauliflower (check your local farmers’ market), the electric hue is a fun way to amp up the curried color of this dish, although a classic white one is fine. Don’t amp up the amount of curry, however, or that’s all you will taste."The following recipe has been excerpted from The Side Dish Handbook: Featuring 40 recipes and expert tips on your favorite ingredients by Tori Ritchie. It was published by Weldon Owen in 2015.
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Vadouvan Paste
Vadouvan Curry is a spice blend with South Indian and French influences, and the name means "sun-dried spices" in French. This fusion blend can be used just like a curry powder, or made into the iconic Vadouvan paste, a rich blend of onion, shallots and aromatics.Making Vadouvan paste takes a little doing, but is worth the effort. Some some specialty shops sell the paste for $100 per pound! A little does go a long way, and the paste is a wonderful short-cut to add fully developed curry flavors into your dish in an instant. The flavor is bold and subtle at the same time, with a meaty base surrounded by an intricate spice melange. Proportions and methods for making Vadouvan paste vary, we tried out several and liked this one best for its simplicity.Try Vadouvan paste in our Vadouvan Vegetable Pie.
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