Chicken Salad Popovers

Three posts in two weeks?  This must be a new record for me on this blog.

So I read the Tea Shop Mysteries by Laura Childs and sometimes the things that Haley serves for their tea times sound so good!  In the latest book, Scones and Bones, the first tea menu hit me right off the bat.  Haley said they were serving chicken salad in popovers and I was like, what?  That's genius!  Why didn't I ever think of that?  There may be a recipe in the book, but I didn't see it and so I made up my own.

First, I made our favorite chicken salad recipe, which I have already given you on this site here.
Then I made a really simple popover recipe I found online awhile ago and adapted it a smidge.

Easy Blender Popovers

4 tbs. melted butter (divided)

3 eggs

1 cup milk

1/2 tsp. salt

1 cup flour

Use 2 tbs. of melted butter to grease the bottom and sides of a muffin pan.  I use a stoneware muffin pan.  Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Put remaining 2 tbs of butter, milk, eggs and salt in blender and mix.  Add flour and blend for 10-15 seconds, just until the flour is incorporated.  Keep a slim spatula near by in case any of the flour sticks to the sides.  Do not over blend or your popovers won't pop much. Then pour batter into muffin pan until each section is 1/3 to 1/2 full.  This should make 12 popovers.

Bake in 400 degree oven for 35-40 minutes.  DO NOT CHECK POPOVERS FOR AT LEAST 30 MINUTES!  They need time to rise and this may cause them to fall.  Once the popovers are brown and popped, removed them from the oven and poke a hole in the top of each one to let the steam out (I use a sharp knife.

Once they are slightly cool, fill the hollow insides with chicken salad and serve.  Yum!

Here is a close-up.  And they turned out really, really good!  The inside of the popover is full of chicken salad.  This may be a new tea favorite!

 
For a tea recommendation, I never discussed it here, but there was a bagged tea advertised on one of the tea sites where I get my Yorkshire Gold and the site said it was a new favorite in the tea spots in London, so I ordered a box.  If a tea is good, we don't mind it being a bagged tea, especially when we just want one cup.  It was actually pretty good.  Not quite as good as the Yorkshire Gold, but good!  It's called The London Cuppa - a blend of Kenya and Assam.  Two of my favorite black teas!

 I hope you give these Chicken Salad Popovers a try!  They really are delicious!

Cream Scones and Lady Londonderry Tea

I really like this scone recipe. It is easy to keep the items on hand so that they can be made quickly. I like to drink these with a nice, cuppa tea! One of my new favorites is called Lady Londonderry. More on that below. Otherwise, try Assam or Ceylon tea.

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Cream Scones
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1 1/4 cup Flour
1 1/2 tsp. Baking powder
1/4 tsp. Salt
1/4 cup Cold unsalted butter
3 tbs. Sugar
1/3 cup Whipping cream, or milk
Choose one: 1/2 c. Mini chocolate chips
1/2 c. Currants (raisins)
1/2 c. Dried blueberries or cranberries
1/2 c. Walnuts or pecans
1.2 c. Dried fruit (chopped)

Combine flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl. Cut cold butter into pieces. Using a pastry blender, work the butter into the dry ingredients until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Add sugar and choice of additions. Toss to blend. Add cream and stir just until mixture holds together. Gather into a ball. Knead ten times. Pat dough into a six-inch circle. Cut into 6-8 wedges. Bake at 425 degrees for 12-15 minutes until light golden. Remove scones and place on a towel on a cooling rack. I like to drizzle these with a glaze. Water and some confectioners sugar mixed to a runny glaze.

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Lady Londonderry Tea (Traditional)
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"It is commonly known that, if one had a grand enough standing in society, one could, for a price, taste and design one's own tea blend, which forever after would carry one's name, thus ensuring a legacy of taste with connoisseurs and commoners alike. When Lady Londonderry first aspired to greatness, her attention turned first to the teaching of fashion and etiquette (of which she considered herself an expert) and then to the creation of the perfect tea. It is said she spent weeks in the tea houses, tasting this and that tea, mixing and matching teas to come up with the elusive delicate perfection which she sought. And finally, after two months of intensive research, it was finished. The result was a mixture of Ceylon, India, and Formosa teas, more delicate than English Breakfast and Earl Gray, but with, in her estimation, an essence that would inspire the mind toward things of higher and more noble substance. Lady Londonderry's personal blend. " ---from St. James Tea Room, Albuquerque, NM

"Was Princess Diana's favorite. A very interesting and flavorful tea (hints of strawberry and lemon). Have a cup and see yourself lounging on a divan at the end of the day."

http://www.culinarycafe.com/Store/Traditional_Teas/SAM-109.html

Raspberry White Chocolate Petit-fours

This is a fun, simple petit-four recipe and a tea tasting recommendation. Just so you know, I don't make any money from any of the websites that I list or recommend. I am just passing on some information for you to consider. Usually I list a website because that is one I have used, which is the case today. I ordered some tea samples from Culinary Teas and have greatly enjoyed tasting many of the different teas and comparing them. I am looking forward to trying many more of their exotic teas. When I come across one that I think might be of interest to you, I want to share it and then give you some information regarding it

I saw a variation of this recipe on a free recipe card that I got in the mail years ago. I added a few things to really make them special, like the jam and white chocolate.

(photo courtesy of lisa.edwards45)

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Heart-Shaped White Chocolate Raspberry Petit-fours
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Ingredients:
1 frozen Sara Lee Pound Cake
Seedless raspberry jam
white dipping chocolate
1" or 2" heart-shaped cookie cutter
wax paper
cake decorations or colored chocolate (optional)

Thaw the pound cake. Slice into 1/2 slices. Put raspberry jam on one slice and top with another, making a sandwich. Continue with all slices. You can freeze quickly before cutting if you would like. Using the cookie cutter, cut "sandwiches" into hearts. Melt chocolate in a double boiler. Place one heart on a plastic fork (with center tines cut out) or a dipping tool, and spoon chocolate over the top, making sure it covers the sides. When cake is completely covered and excess has come off, set heart cake on the waxed paper to cool and harden. Before the chocolate cools, you may sprinkle it with cake decorations, or decorate with colored chocolate later.

NOTE: Use the left over pieces to mix with a litte whipped topping and white chocolate pudding for a mini-trifle for two. Be sure to shave white chocolate over the top and even throw in a few fresh or frozen raspberries. This recipes affords you two desserts in one!

**Variation: You could cut the slices into fours and frost rather than cut out as hearts and dip in chocolate, shaving some white chocolate on the jam in the center and on top of the frosting.

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Tea Recommendation
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Consider serving these with a very light, delicate, and rare white tea. I got a sample of this tea from Culinary Teas It is a little pricey as teas go because of the rarity, but I think it is worth trying at least once. http://www.culinarycafe.com/Store/

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Adam's Peak Rare White Tea
by Candie Yoder
Editor/Owner Culinary Cafe
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Country of Origin: Sri Lanka
Region: Nuwara Eliya
Shipping Port: Colombo
Grade: Silver Tip White Tea
Altitude: 7800 - 8200 feet above sea level
Manufacture Type: Hand rolled Orthodox
Cup Characteristics: Delicate, very light liquoring with notes of pine & honey.
Infusion: Golden coppery

Information:
White teas are very rare and good quality specimens such as this are seldom found outside of China. The little buds that form on the plant are covered with silver hairs that give the young leaves a white appearance. They are carefully picked by hand, sun dried (some white teas are gently steamed in a pan to evaporate the water content) and then packed in air-tight containers. When brewed, white teas give hardly any color and infuse a very delicate flavor into the water.

Near Adam's Peak, the cloud kissed and mist blown slopes are blessed with some of the finest teas on Earth. This white tea is especially rare as only 30 kilos are made on a weekly basis. The reason for limited production is that only the best fresh shoots are selected and then withered and sun dried. The tips are silvery and have a fresh fuzz similar to that on a peach. The heady aroma is unlike that of any other tea and is somewhat piney. The subtle taste may only be appreciated with an experienced palate, and we encourage tea lovers to initiate themselves to a rare gem.

Adam's Peak is one the most sacred mountains in the world. Buddhists believe the footprint on the summit is that of Buddha; Hindus hold it to be the mark of Shiva; Muslims are convinced it is that of Adam, who wept after the loss of Eden (whereby the mountain got its name); and some Christians believe the indentations were caused when St. Thomas, Christ's Apostle who came East, prayed at the peak.

Hot tea brewing method:
When preparing by the cup, this tea can be used repeatedly - about 3 times. The secret is to use water that is about 180'F or 80'C. Place about 1-1 1/2 teaspoons in your cup, let the tea steep for about 3 minutes and then begin enjoying a cup of enchantment - do not remove the leaves from the cup. Once the water level is low - add more water, and so on and so on - until the flavor of the tea is exhausted. Look at the pattern of the leaves in the brew - they foretell life.

Alternatively as with all top quality teas, scoop 2-4 teaspoons of tea into the teapot, pour in boiling water that has been freshly drawn (previously boiled water has lost most of its oxygen and therefore tends to be flat tasting), steep for 2-4 minutes (to taste), stir (virtually all the leaves will sink), pour into your cup but do not add milk or sugar since green tea is enjoyed `straight-up'.


An exotic white tea from Sri Lanka. Exceptionally long leaf painstakingly hand selected and rolled. Exquisitely light and delicate.
To order a 0.5 oz sample for $5.89 (makes two pots of tea)
http://www.culinarycafe.com/Store/Green_Teas/SAM-002.html