A Unusual Snack (Tea Eggs)

You know those marble eggs you see at craft fairs and never buy, because you know that one day the kids will be fighting and they will grab it off the knick-knack shelf and toss it through a window?  You can make the culinary version of marbled eggs by following a simple, although extended method of preparation.  Tea eggs are good things to have hanging around the fridge to snack on.  They can also be included whole into many Chinese style stews.  tea eggs are beautiful to look at and have a rich, vibrant and complex flavor.

This recipe is adapted from Barbara Tropp’s The Modern Art of Chinese Cooking, Hearst, 1982.  It is an essential resource, with easily understood recipes.  A revised paperback version is available on Amazon for $3.57.  Tropp argues that this recipe is best made with older eggs, ones that have been in the fridge for a week.  They will peel easier and since this recipe is all about the smooth, marbled appearance of peeled eggs, go with the older ones.  Use fresh, aromatic tea and make them ahead, allowing the eggs to marinate in the broth for an extended period of about 18 hours.

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Tea Eggs

8 large eggs

2 tbs. soy sauce

1/4 tsp. salt

2 whole star anise, broken

2 tbs. fresh, whole black tea leaves

1 cinnamon stick

2 2-inch strips of orange peel, remove white pith

Hard cook the eggs by putting the eggs in a large soup pot and covering them with cold water.  Add 1/2 tbs. salt and bring them to a boil.  Turn down the heat and simmer for 20 minutes uncovered.  Drain then cool under cold running water.  When the eggs have cooled, using the back of a large serving spoon, tap the eggs while turning, creating a spider web network of cracks in the shell. 

Place the eggs in a slightly smaller pot, one that gives them a little room, but where they fit snugly.  Cover the eggs with about 3 cups cold water.  There should be 1 1/2 inches of water over their top.  Add the seasonings and quickly bring the water to a boil.  Reduce the heat to a low simmer, stir to make sure that the seasonings are submerged and cover the pot, simmer for 3 hours.  Occasionally top off the liquid if has boiled away and swirl it to make sure that the seasonings stay in solution.

After boiling, turn off the heat and allow the eggs to steep for at least 8 hours at room temperature or up to 18 hours.  Discard the liquid.  Refrigerate the eggs tightly covered.  They will keep for at least 4 days in the refrigerator.

The eggs should be peeled before serving, either cold or at room temperature.     

A Soup for James (Cold Peach Soup)

Peaches are just about ready to come in Pennsylvania.  The better ones are available at farmer’s markets.  You should test the peaches before you buy.  They should look and smell like late summer.  Are they warm or cold?  Peaches that have been refrigerated are more likely to have traveled far, maybe from the Carolinas or further south.  If the peaches are warm, it is likely that they have been picked and rushed directly to you.  Secondly, feel the fruit.  As you lift them they should feel heavy in your hand, filled with juice, not mealy.  Lastly, gently with your thumb, press down on the top of the peach.  It should yield slightly and not be firm to the touch.  If it is still hard, put it back.  You want a tree-ripened peach.  If your thumb punches through, it is probably either just perfect or over ripe.  Either way, you have bought that particular fruit.  Don’t try to sneak it back on the table.  You’ll be sticking the farmer, since no one else will want to buy a peach with your thumb print

Make cobbler.  Fannie Farmer has a great recipe.  Make pie using Julia Child’s crust.  A simple tart, made with impeccably fresh peaches and glazed with apricot jelly is just one of those things that let us all know we are loved.  Eat them up, because peaches don’t get any better in the fall.   

The first time I got a compliment from Chef Jean Pierre Petite at the Café Royal in Philly was for a peach soup I made in August of 1984.  Normally, he spit out the food that I cooked and cursed about how much money I was wasting, how much time he would have to spend to fix my stupid mistakes, how my palate was made of tin…you get the picture.  This time was different.  He actually liked my cooking and put it on the daily menu.  Here is the recipe.

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Cold Peach Soup (serves 8)

4 pounds fresh peaches, peeled, seeded and roughly chopped

2 cups dry white wine

1 cup water

1 cup sugar

1 cup buttermilk

the juice of 1 lemon

4 tsp. fresh mint, chopped

Combine the wine, water and sugar in a medium saucepan.  Bring it to a boil, simmer for five minutes, then remove the liquid from the heat and cool completely.

In a large nonreactive soup pot, mix the peaches, buttermilk and lemon juice.  With a hand blender or food mill, puree the fruit.  Slowly stir in the wine syrup, mixing until it comes to a thick soup consistency.  Taste for sweetness.  You may want to add more sugar, but if the peaches were perfectly ripe that will be unnecessary.  Chill the soup for one hour.

Serve the Cold Peach Soup in chilled bowls garnished with chopped mint.  This recipe also works well with melons and many other soft fruits that puree smoothly. 

The cooks used to add vodka to the leftover peach soup and drink it down.  I can’t endorse that kind of bad behavior.

Tomatoes coming soon, but until then... (Black Bean Salad)

It is the very beginning of tomato season in southeastern Pennsylvania.  They haven’t turned up on most of the farm stands, however the mid size folks, those with a greenhouse to start the plants around March, will have beautiful, large tomatoes for you to enjoy.  Since the large volume, the mother lode of tomatoes isn’t here yet, try using them mixed in with other things, for example as a flavor component in a salad. 

Black Bean Salad is a good example of this.  Fresh tomatoes combine well with the other vegetables, while their juice, mixed in with lime, avocado and olive oil makes a fine dressing.  While I don’t always encourage this kind of thing, canned Goya Black Beans are a good product and will save the hassle of cooking dried.  After all, it is summer, we don’t want to spend these glorious days in the kitchen.  Serve the salad over romaine or with grilled chicken that has been marinated in lime, garlic, chilies and olive oil.

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Mexican Black Bean Salad (serves 6 as a main course)

2 15.5 ounce cans of black beans

2 large tomatoes, peeled and diced

1 green pepper, diced

1 red pepper, diced

1 red onion, diced

1 bunch scallions, sliced

1 avocado, scooped and roughly chopped

1/2 bunch cilantro, chopped

4 tbs. olive oil

the juice of 2 limes

2 chipotle chilies in adobo sauce, chopped (La Costeña is a good brand)

salt and freshly ground black pepper

Open the cans of black beans, place them in a colander and rinse them with cold water to wash off all the juice.  Allow them to drain completely while you assemble the salad.

In a large mixing bowl, combine the tomatoes, red and green peppers, onions, scallions and avocado.  Season them with salt and pepper.   Make the dressing in the same bowl by adding the olive oil, lime juice and chipotle chilies.  Again adjust the seasoning with salt and pepper.  Allow the salad to rest at room temperature for 10 minutes so that the flavors of the vegetables and dressing will marry.

Stir in the black beans.  Mix to combine everything, check the seasoning and make any final adjustments, then cover the salad and refrigerate for at least an hour before serving.