Cook with Us #24 - @docsmith Handcrafted Knife Contest Round Two - Tea-rubbed Chicken with Strawberry Tomato Salsa
The Boston Tea Party was nothing like the name suggests - no tea party was had on 16 December 1773 in Boston; instead 342 boxes of tea were dumped in the harbour as an act of protest against the British Government for the Tea Act.
The British however simply tightened the tax laws which made the people of the Massachusetts colony even more determined to end the unfair taxation laws in which they had absolutely no say as they had no representatives in the British Government.
Boston harbour was closed until the colonists had paid for all the tea that was lost.
As such, the simple brew that originated in China as a medicinal drink played a big role in starting the American Revolutionary War, the end of British control and the start of American independence!
Tea has always been my drink of choice when having a break during the day - and I'm sure many have been offered a cup of tea during times of distress by a good friend or relative.
I'm super excited to be through to Cook with Us #24 - @docsmith Handcrafted Knife Contest Round Two, as we're all vying for a knife.
I posed the question to the talented @docsmith - is it a beauty or is it a beast? - and his resolute answer was - a beast of a knife it will be!
Thank you to the CWU team of @chefsteve, @offoodandart and @pandamama for this opportunity!
So for this week's challenge, we've been given a Mystery Basket of four ingredients -
- Chicken or Tofu
- Tomatoes
- Tea
- Strawberries
Being a traditional home cook, I've only ever used tea in drinking or making Fruit Cake, but having to use it with those other three ingredients really posed a problem, especially with Chicken!
How wrong was I!
I went to granny Google for advice and learnt that tea makes a good marinade for Chicken.
Still doubtful, but looking at various recipes I started forming my own ideas of a tea marinade.
Definitely Lemon tea plus grated Lemon Zest, my favourite herbs for Chicken namely fresh Rosemary & Thyme - plus a touch of spice in Star Anise - and a Rustic Garlic & Herb seasoning.
I had thought of making a tea rub for the chicken & grilling it, so added the same herbs, plus Lemon Zest and Garlic & Herb dry seasoning.
Strawberry Tomato Salsa would be perfect to serve with smoky Tea-rubbed Chicken which I served cold.
Shall I say it again - I was very wrong - there was no need to doubt the wisdom of the CWU team putting all those items into one mystery basket - the chicken was absolutely delicious - tender and so tasty with the smoky tea rub - plus serving it with the Strawberry Tomato Salsa for sure is going to become a new firm favourite!
TEA-RUBBED CHICKEN
serves 4-5 as a starter or 2 as a main
- 4 deboned Chicken Breasts
Lemon Tea Marinade:
- 1 cup Tea made with 3 Ceylon Tea Bags
- Juice of 1 Lemon
- Star Anise
- Fresh Rosemary
- Fresh Thyme
- Rustic Garlic & Herb Seasoning
Tea Rub:
- Tea leaves from 3 Tea Bags
- 1 tablespoon grated Lemon Zest
- 2 tablespoons fresh Rosemary & Thyme - finely chopped
- Rustic Garlic & Herb Seasoning
To flatten Chicken breast fillets without messing - place in between plastic food wrap before pounding with a mallet or rolling pin.
Hubby confessed that my pallet was in his fishing box so out came the rolling pin - worked like a charm!
Mix marinade ingredients together & marinade chicken minimum 3 hours (or overnight), remove from marinade & pat dry with paper towels.
Mix rub ingredients together & rub on both sides of chicken.
Sprinkle Olive Oil on top & pat to cover entire breast.
Grill on both sides till just cooked - do not overcook!
Cover with foil and refrigerate when cooled down.
Slice & serve on a bed of Strawberry Tomato Salsa.
STRAWBERRY TOMATO SALSA
- 200-300 gram Strawberries - sliced
- 2 Tomatoes - deseeded & diced
- 1/2 Red Bell Pepper - diced
- 2-3 sprigs Spring Onions - diced
- Handful of fresh Sweet Basil
- Handful of fresh Coriander
Dressing:
- 1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh Mint
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh Coriander (Cilantro/ Dhania)
- 1 teaspoon grated Lemon Zest
- 2 tablespoons fresh Lemon Juice
- 2 tablespoons Balsamic Vinegar
- 2 tablespoons Olive Oil
- Salt & freshly ground Black Pepper
Place all Salsa ingredients except Basil & Coriander into a salad bowl.
Mix dressing ingredients together & spoon half over Salsa.
To serve, place Salsa around edges of serving plate, with Basil & Coriander leaves and remaining dressing spooned over.
Slice Chicken and place in centre.
And as always a quick look for all the busy-bodies:
Thank you for stopping by
Comments, upvotes & resteems all much appreciated :)
Copyright @lizelle - All Rights Reserved
As always great post and nice recipe. I like the historical link to one of the ingredients. I like the idea of liking an event to a food element. It’s an excellent memo technique to remember stuffs. And I’m sure I won’t forget this particular event. Don’t you like that particular colour tone that the tea gives to the chicken? It gives a sepia tone to pics too.
Thank you for your lovely comments @foodforsoul, I'm hooked on tea with chicken now, am marinating a whole chicken for roasting tonight ;) I was quite keen to use a local tea called 'Rooibos Tea', but that has quite a distinctive flavour, will try it sometime however. You're right about the colour, very different to my usual fresh Lemon & herb marinade! But tea marinade gives it a delicious flavour and the meat was so tender & moist!
Never too old to learn a new trick hey ;)
Had fun with tea!
Congratulations! This post has been chosen as one of the daily Whistle Stops for The STEEM Engine!
You can see your post's place along the track here: The Daily Whistle Stops, Issue 254 (9/11/18)
Thank you so very much @thesteemengine!
That really looks delicious @lizelle have never considered strawberries into a salad like that. Chicken turned out finger licking good.
For future reference, I use Rooibos tea in Potjiekos 500 ml of boiling water on 2 or 3 bags for strength, found it goes really well with just about any meat used.
Thanks @joanstewart, will remember that! I was keen to try rooibos here but played it safe. Was really yum!
Now if they'd dumped beer overboard the war would have started a lot sooner :-)
Talking of beer... I often use beer in my marinades and recipes... but I quite like the idea of tea... gonna give that a bash soon.
Thanks as always for some delicious looking & sounding recipes.
\m/
Haha @braaiboy! I must still try a beer marinade but you really should try the tea rub as well, would be delicious on the braai, thanks for your support :)
Hmmm, that sounds interesting. I can almost imagine how tea would work well with chicken. Gg!
It worked like a bomb @therneau! I'm marinating my chicken in the same marinade for roasting now, coming for dinner? ;)
Want to try rooibos next time as Joan suggested!
Yeah, sounds great!
Ah @lizelle - you never disappoint me - such a lovely story, such great photographs and again a wonderful recipe. Feel like I can taste it as I'm reading. Well done
Ah thank you @pandamama, I really enjoyed this challenge and am so chuffed it turned out so delicious!
@lizelle this dish looks incredible! Your tea marinade and then tea and spice rub was such a great idea. The resulting grilled chicken looked so appetizing! Then to pair it with the strawberry and tomato salsa made it even better! This dish sounds smoky, savory and refreshing at the same time! Great job and good luck in the dessert round!
Thank you so much @chefsteve, it really was a challenge for this home cook ;) My brain's been in dessert mode, hope to do something special and worthy of a final :)
Okay Lizelle, I think this is my ticket here, it looks delicious. It reminds me of some chicken I had down in Monterey Mexico. I while I claim I don't eat veggies that is only part true when I actually think about since I do eat a ton of salsa, never had any with strawberries that I know of, but I do eat those as well. So this looks like a winner to me. Best of luck in the contest.
So glad to hear you do eat salsa mr Papper, this was delicious indeed! Thank you for your great feedback & good wishes, there's some serious competition here though!
If I didn't know better I would think that I am half Mexican with as much salsa as I do eat. There is a little taco restaurant down the road that I eat lunch at when I am home, they have the best chips and salsa so I go in there and buy two pork tacos with the flour tortillas just so I can get the chips and salsa. They don't even take my order, when I walk in they know what I am having and they bring me the water with lime and the chips and salsa. That is the best $3.46 meal I have found and leave full each day.
I think your competition fears you, your recipes and posts are top notch.
Wish I could taste a real Mexican tortilla!
Well at least I'm through to the final round but two very good chefs there as well, it's Desserts this time!
I'm not so concerned about the winning, but really enjoy the challenges and the interaction, although it's always nice to win hey ;)
Oh, that is right up your baking pan; desserts. I am pulling for you.
Thank you mr Papper!
I can't wait to make this recipe. The lemon tea marinate on the chicken along with the fresh herbs and spice rub before grilling it adds even more flavor to the chicken. The chicken is perfectly grilled and looks super juicy. The strawberry tomato salsa is brilliant and I would never have thought of putting those ingredients together. So fresh and tasty. Best of luck.
Ah thank you @loveself, I always look forward to your thoughtful comments, this was real delicious :)
Oh your lemon tea marinade sounds divine!! I can imagine it would be good on pork too!
Good luck in the final round!
Thank you so much @goldendawne, really looking forward to desserts ;)