Hannah's Country Kitchen

Welcome

Reaching the final of Masterchef 2007 was a rollercoaster of emotion, with huge highs and lows, but I loved every minute and learnt a huge amount. I owe a great deal to John and Gregg who had faith in my ability when I did not believe in myself. Since competing on the programme my life has changed considerably. I now write cookery columns for two magazines, give cookery demonstrations and am just working on my 13th cook book - unlucky number for some but not for me!!! I love all forms of country cooking, using seasonal and locally sourced produce. This blog is to enable me to share with you a few of my recipes and baking ideas. Enjoy Hannah xxxx

Thursday, 12 July 2007

A cup of tea is a British institution - it solves all manner of problems and I for one always feel better after having a freshly brewed cuppa!

At the moment, the tea of choice in our house is violet tea. It has a strong flowery perfume and I am hatching up plans of making violet tea sorbet and violet tea bread (soaking the raisins and sultanas in violet tea) when I next have a spare few minutes.

I also use tea as the base of my smoking liquor when smoking fish and duck.

We had the teas in the photo at my mums last weekend - they were her birthday present from my brother and were almost too pretty to use. The tea is in silk pyramid bags with a little leaf at the top! I'm not sure that the silk bag does much to improve the flavour but it certainly makes the tea drinking feel more decadent that usual!

8 comments:

Celia Hart said...: That's really beautiful - did the covered cups and tea bag stands (sachets would be more apt for these) come as a set?

I think that the English "way of tea" can be as much a ritual as the Japanese tea ceremony. It's just different.

Celia; 12 July 2007 at 10:40
David Hall said...: Hannah - on MasterChef I recall making ENDLESS cups of tea for you :o)

Hopefully see you Sunday

Cheers
David x; 12 July 2007 at 11:39
Anonymous said...: I don't really drink tea anymore, but when I did I used to love drinking this special tea put out by Bigelow's Tea in America, called Constant Comment. It was a blend of tea mixed with orange and spice and it was lovely. I still love the smell of it!; 12 July 2007 at 18:40
Anonymous said...: Hi Hannah,

I totally agree about the tea, I can't live without it!

Do you know where the tea your brother bought came from?

Thanks!

G; 16 July 2007 at 13:56
Hannah said...: I have asked my brother to come and leave details of where the tea was from so hopefully he will post it soon!; 16 July 2007 at 14:05
Anonymous said...: Great, thanks Hannah. I think it'll be perfect for my friend's birthday later this month. She's also a bit of a tea obsessive!

G; 17 July 2007 at 09:49
Anonymous said...: sorry ginger - i can't remember the name of the shop i brought them in. I have asked hannah to ask mum to look at the tin - there will be a website on it.
G x; 18 July 2007 at 21:42
Robbiegirl said...: I love tea, but I'm always disappointed that there are very few kinds of decaf tea.

I never touch caffeine (I sleep badly enough already without that!) so I really feel like I'm missing out. It's only recently I've been able to find decaf Earl Grey.

Violet tea sounds wonderful though!; 24 July 2007 at 15:34