A Nice Cuppa

Hot or cold tea infused oils are easy to conjure. I would like to dedicate this post to new mommy Giada DeLaurentiis! Giada of Everyday Italian of the FoodNetwork. I’m sure most of us love and know her. Her name “Giada” means Jade! I do not believe her meals are quite as easy to conjure! Yet I have observed she loves infusing delicious unusual Italian homemade drinks with beautiful herbs and occaisonally oils!

Fragrant buttery blossoms of gelsamino (jasmine in Italian) laced with toasty Formosa tea leaves. Perhaps an unfolding marigold and green tea pearl swirled in pure camelia sinensis tea oil. Long leaves of Lapsang souchong smoked over pine, freshly infused into extra virgin olive oil with fresh Sicilian bergamot sound good? Perhaps a cardomom chai spicy sesame oil with a bit of peppery hot peppers or pretty pink peppercorns! Dipping bread or drizzles on tangy tapas. I was inspired by a dear friend who is an alchemist of wonderful tapas, whom infuses oils with beets and lemon oils. I will settle for simply dipping delicious bread or dunking a dumpling in some ginger jasmine e.v.tea.oil or lemongrass-jasmine tea oil.

A simple starter appetizer laced with scented oils, fragrant with herbs and beautiful teas. We can all get a little wild and check out this unique book on flavored oils. One which my Dad told me to wear goggles when I make a mad Mongolian pepper oil! I got a slightly less dangerous mission from Chef for creating the famous XO sauce which begins with chili infused oils.

Enjoy meals drizzled with unique oils,hopefully sipped with some beautiful tea. The book “Flavored Oils” with Michael Chiarello of the FoodNetWork book available on amazon has lots of chic recipes and tips.

One recipe for creating a scented oil.
Infusing Fresh Herbs in Oil - Hot Infusion:
Herbs are best picked early in the day, before the sun has a chance to deplete some of those wonderful oils from the leaves. Ensure they are sand and grub free, and then place them somewhere inside on a clean cloth until slightly wilted. This ensures that there is no surface water on the herbs when you infuse them. Place the herbs into a crockpot or saucepan. Pour in enough olive oil to cover the herbs plus approximately 2cm more.

For Crockpot: Turn crockpot to low and leave to infuse for 2-3 hours, checking periodically as you may need to turn it off and then back on again to avoid overheating. If you wish to strengthen the infusion, strain the oil from the herbs, and replace with fresh herbs and pour back the same oil and repeat the heating process to strengthen the infusion.

For Cook Top: Place a Heat Diffuser Matt (to avoid burning the mixture) on the heat source and turn to low. Check periodically to ensure the oil is not overheating and infuse for approximately 2-3 hours. If you wish to strengthen the infusion, strain the oil from the herbs, and replace with fresh herbs and pour back the same oil and repeat the heating process.

I like to strain my infusions through cheesecloth or even pieces of terylene net curtain material. Place strainer over a clean bowl and line this with the cloth. Empty the herbs and oil and let it drain through. Then draw together the edges and twist to squeeze out as much oil as possible.  Pour into a clean jar until ready for use (don’t place the lid on until completely cool).