Amber Welsh Rarebit

There’s cheese on toast and then there’s Welsh Rarebit. It might be a simple dish, but we think it’s one of life’s little pleasures. Its lusciousness comes from different fronts. The warm, crispy bread! The creamy, intensely flavoured topping! When served with a green salad and some tomato jam or onion marmalade, it’s a meal in itself -and it’s perfect with a pot of strong black tea.

We wanted to experiment with this traditional recipe. So we asked ourselves, what if we added our lightly charcoal roasted Amber oolong to the “rarebit”? Laura and her team worked on it and came up with this delicious variation on the classic, where the Guinness is replaced by Amber. The result? We all loved it. In fact, we all said ‘umm’ for several minutes. Interestingly, we weren’t able to appreciate the full flavour of this oolong, but we all agreed that its sumptuous notes created a depth of flavour, a savouriness that made this a comforting, more complex than you’d expect dish.

Ingredients:

• 4 slices sourdough bread
• 350g cheddar
• 60g butter
• 4 egg yolks
• 2tsps English mustard powder
• 6tbsps Lahloo Amber oolong (already infused)
• Worcestershire sauce to taste

Mix the mustard with a teaspoon or two of tea to create a paste, put it in a pan, then add the butter, the rest of the tea and the Worcestershire sauce. Add the cheese and let it melt, without making it boil. Allow to cool down and then add the beaten egg yolks.

Meanwhile, place the sliced bread in the oven for 2-3 minutes until toasted.

Spread the rarebit on top and bake for 8 minutes at 190C.

Our tip: to intensify the flavour, you can add one extra teaspoon of Amber leaves.

Original recipe from World of Mouth blog here.

Happy World Book Day!

There’s nothing like reading a good book while enjoying a great cup of tea. To celebrate World Book Day, here are the Lahloo team favourites!

Kate (founder): “I love Like water for chocolate by Laura Esquivel, it’d be great to read with a pot of chocolatey Amber oolong”.

Neil (finance director): “I’m currently reading The snow man by Jo Nesbo, it’d suit a pot of Shou Vintage Pu-Erh, equally dark and mysterious”.

Tilly (brand ambassador): “I can’t pick one! Well, maybe The tiger who came to tea, that’s a good one. And I’d read it with a pot of Sencha”.

Tidus (office manager): “Can I pick a trilogy? Then it’d be The Night Angel by Brent Weeks. And I’d pick a pot of something mysterious… like Matsumoto Black!”

Maria (social media marketing): “It’d probably be The Hound of the Baskervilles by Conan Doyle, or The strange case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by R.L. Stevenson. With a pot of Genmaicha!”

Holly (store manager): “I love all the Harry Potter books and I’m proud of it! And The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien. I’d read them with a lovely pot of Yunnan Cloud”.

Laura (Lahloo Pantry head chef): “I’ve just read Timbuktu by Paul Auster and it’s very sad but amazing! To be read with a pot of Earl Grey!”.

Hannah (infusionist): “I really love Winnie the Pooh! Hold on, maybe I should pick something a bit more serious, like On the road by Jack Kerouac, and I’d choose a pot of Peppermint to go with it”.

Emily (infusionist): “I really liked Water for elephants. And the film. And I’d have a pot of Sobacha with it!”

What about you? What’s your perfect pairing?

Green Jasmine and matcha chocolate tart

Ever since Laura and Chantal made this amazing Green Jasmine chocolate tart we’ve been slightly obsessed… It’s officially chocolate month at Lahloo, so we have the perfect excuse to indulge. We’ll never stop marvelling at the perfect marriage between chocolate and Green Jasmine, and Chantal’s idea of adding matcha was a stroke of genius!

Ingredients:

• A standard sweet pastry case (cook for 25 minutes while you prepare the filling)
• 500ml double cream
• 5tbsp Lahloo Green Jasmine
• 300g 70% dark chocolate
• 200g white chocolate
• a large pinch of Lahloo Matcha

Bring the 300ml double cream to the boil, with 3tbsps Green Jasmine. Place it in a bowl, cover with cling film and set aside.

Bring the 200ml double cream to the boil, mixed with 2tbsp Green Jasmine and the matcha powder. Place it in a different bowl, cover with cling film and set aside.

Let them infuse for an hour.

In the meantime, chop the two types of chocolate and place them into two different bowls.

Bring both creams to the boil again, keeping them separate. Strain the plain one over the dark chocolate, and the one with matcha over the white chocolate. Stir until the chocolate is melted.

Pour the dark chocolate mixture over the pastry. Pour the white chocolate mixture on top and swirl until it looks pretty.

Allow to set for at least two hours somewhere cool… and enjoy!

Amber mojitos

Do you love mojitos? We do! And we knew there was a way of making them even better: adding our favourite ingredient (that’s tea, in case you were wondering!). The chosen one was Amber, our very chocolatey oolong from Taiwan, the one that coffee lovers adore. Its sumptuosity, light smokiness and those hints of passionfruit simply had to work in this traditional Cuban highball.

Invaluable help was provided by expert cocktail maker Charlie from Amoeba (neighbours of Lahloo Pantry in Clifton!), who incidentally hates tea… we still have to find the tea that will convert him! Crucially, though, at the end of our experiment, Charlie admitted that the combination really worked. And we couldn’t agree more! So here’s our recipe for you to try.

Ingredients

• 50ml rum
• 25ml freshly-squeezed lime juice
• 20ml demerara simple syrup (made with sugar and hot water)
• 12 mint leaves (clapped, not cut. Clapping will release mint oils without adding any bitterness. We, of course, didn’t know this, but it’s the most impressive piece of advice we received from Charlie!)
• 75ml cold infused Amber oolong. (1 teaspoon per 100ml water, cold infused for at least 6 hours).
• Crushed ice to taste.

Charlie’s tip: try freezing Amber once cold infused (extracting the tea leaves first!). Once frozen, smash it and use it as crushed ice to top your mojito!

Charlie is not too sure about adding tea to his mojitos…  

…but it works! Holly is loving it! 

Perfect! 

A Tea Workshop for chocoholics

If you’re crazy about chocolate, you can’t miss our next Tea Workshop on Thursday the 26th of April! The food of the gods has been the inspiring force behind this month’s selection. Discover which tea enhances the flavour of dark chocolate, which has notes of cocoa nibs or which is perfect to use as an ingredient in a chocolate tart.

Founder Kate will guide you during the tea tasting, showing you the story behind our teas, their health benefits and how to pair them with food.

As usual, tickets are £15 but they’re 100% redeemable, so at the end of the workshop you’ll be able to choose your favourites and take them home to recreate the experience!

To book your place, call Lahloo Pantry on 0117 329 2029 or e-mail hello@lahloopantry.co.uk.

Green Jasmine Panna Cotta

It might come as a surprise to begin with, but milky, creamy flavours work really well with our hero of the month, Green Jasmine. So we came up with the idea of using this delicately floral, crisp tea in a well-known Italian classic: Panna Cotta (which literally means “cooked cream” and it’s as easy to make as it sounds!). Pantry chef Laura’s recipe has exactly the right consistency and perfect wobble, and the soothing flavour of Jasmine gives it a delicately floral twist that is simply stunning!

Ingredients

- 500ml full fat milk

- 250ml double cream

- 2 tbsp Lahloo Green Jasmine

- 90g sugar

- 7g leaf gelatine

Place the milk and double cream in a pan. Add the loose tea to it and bring to a simmering boil. Remove from the heat. Cover with cling film and let it cool overnight. Strain in the morning.

Place the gelatine in a different pan, cover with cold water and leave to the side for a few minutes.

Meanwhile, add sugar to the milk and cream and bring to the boil.

Take the gelatine out and squeeze off any excess water. Place it in a separate bowl.

Pour the hot liquid over the gelatine, whisking constantly.

Strain into a jug. Set to one side until cool at room temperature, whisking now and then. Pour it into ramekins or molds.

Leave overnight or at least six hours until set.

To serve, dip the base of the ramekin briefly in boiling water and turn onto a plate. Enjoy!

The perfect culinary herb garden

Some of you might already know the back garden at Lahloo Pantry. It’s especially lovely under the morning sun, secluded and relaxing. As it’s spring,  Team Kitchen (captained by Chef Laura) have had a great idea: using the space at the back to create the perfect culinary herb garden! Laura wants herbs with flowers that will both look beautiful and taste delicious when added to their recipes. We have some vintage crates that we could use to get growing too (as we’ve seen on Pinterest!) and a list of essentials that the perfect herb garden should have!

Watch the space at the back!

1. Lavender: this English classic is close to rosemary and thyme. As well as having beautiful violet flowers and an uplifting fragrance, it’s very versatile and can be used in cakes, biscuits, bread, ice cream, stews or custards.

2. Chives: with their pale purple flowers and their reputation as a French fine herb, chives are another sure hit in any herb garden. They’re perfect in omelets, sandwiches, soup and sauces.

3. Sweet Cicely: this aniseed herb comes from the family of caraway and parsley and produces tiny white flowers. The seeds, roots, leaves, stems and flowers are all edible and they can be used in different ways.

4. Rosemary: the old wives’ tale says that if rosemary grows vigorously in a garden it’s because the woman heads the household… So we’re expecting it to be big and bushy! Well known for its antibacterial properties and delicious with roasted meat, tomatoes, mushrooms and bread.

5. Thyme: native to the Mediterranean, it’s essential for any good stuffing and delicious with meat, fish and white rice.  It has fantastic digestive properties. Its tiny flowers are edible and look lovely sprinkled on dishes.

We’ll follow Laura’s progress in the herb garden here!

 

Amber infused Hot Cross Buns!

One of our favourite things about Easter are hot cross buns! In Medieval times, bakers would place a cross on their loaves to protect them from evil spirits. Some say that the tradition might even be pre-Christian.  Either way, their spicy, fruity flavour makes them the perfect seasonal treat. A cup of tea and a toasted hot cross bun with some melted butter is an Easter classic that we can’t wait to indulge in!

Laura, the chef at Lahloo Pantry, has been experimenting with some of our April Tea Heroes and came up with this gorgeous recipe, a variation on an Andrew Whitley’s essential. Using fruity, chocolatey Amber oolong as an ingredient gives these buns a different dimension of flavour that will surprise you!

“Half for you and half for me, Between us two shall goodwill be“

Ingredients

(for the fruit) 

half a cup of Lahloo Amber oolong

200 g of sultanas and raisins, mixed to taste

Soak the fruit in Amber for at least an hour, but preferably overnight. Make sure that all the fruit is covered.

(for the ferment)

280 g milk

140 g wholemeal flour

20g sugar

10 g fresh yeast

Dissolve the sugar and yeast in the milk and make a paste, adding some of this mixture to the flour. Gradually add the rest of the milk, whisking until creamy. Leave the ferment covered in a warm place for about an hour.

(for the dough)

200g strong white flour

110 g wholemeal flour

50 g butter

35 g sugar

10 g mixed spice

1 tbsp and 1/2 finely ground Lahloo Amber oolong

1 egg

a pinch of salt

Place the dry ingredients in a bowl and mix. Add butter and egg, mixing all the ingredients together and kneading. It shouldn’t be too tight, so some stickiness is fine. Once you’ve been kneading for a while, add the fruit, draining any excess of liquid first. Carefully fold and press until the fruit is evenly distributed.

Cover the mixture and leave it to rise.

Separate the dough into 16 pieces, putting them on a floured surface.

Place the rolls in straight lines about 5 cm apart on a lined baking tray. Cover them and put them in a warm place until they’re almost touching.

(for the crossing mix)

50g plain white flour

50g water

5g sunflower oil

1g baking powder

Place this mix in a piping bag with a fine nozzle and draw the crosses. (Is it just us, or are piping bags fun?)

… Now it’s time to bake! Put your hot cross buns in the oven (preheated to 180 C). It should take around 15 minutes, but keep an eye on them so they acquire the right colour!

Once they’re out, it’s time to glaze them!

(for the glaze) 

10g cornflower

100g tea

sugar

Boil the cornflour in the tea until clear. Brush over the buns as soon as they’re out of the oven. They’ll be super shiny!

Once cooled, you can toast them and slather them in butter, although we must warn you, they’re amazing on their own!

Earl Grey challenge – the winning recipe!

Congratulations to Alice Clough, winner of our Earl Grey Challenge! Here’s a link to her watermelon lemonade recipe, a refreshing cocktail featuring a shot of Earl Grey, perfect for this sunny weather. Alice will receive a box of Earl Grey infused chocolates as a prize for her creative efforts!

If you’re a fan of Earl Grey, you can have a look at our Pinterest board, where we’ve collected some of our favourite recipes. Enjoy!