If you’re a big tea drinker, you probably go through cups and cups of the cozy hot beverage on a daily basis. It’s a great way to relax and recharge, to soothe the throat or maybe it’s just a habit. But have you ever taken a moment to think about what uses tea may have in cooking? It’s a given that teas are flavorful — black teas are strong, green teas are light and then there are so many more types in between. Take some tea — maybe even your favorite kind — and incorporate it into a recipe. You’re bound to get flavorful results, not to mention a very creative meal.
There are actually many uses for teas in recipes: brining, poaching, braising and even baking are some methods that benefit from its use. And the best part is, these recipes don’t make you go out of your way to use the tea — in most cases it’s just swapping in brewed tea for the liquid that you would normally have used, like the water or stock in a braise, for example. If you’re willing to give cooking with tea a try, here are some of Food Network’s best recipes.
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Forget about getting tipsy – that’s not the point here. Cooking with a little liquor can be a healthy and tasty way to add a splash of depth, flavor and excitement to your recipes.
Flavor Boost
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We don’t need to be the ones to tell you there’s no science to a grilled cheese. For a Classic American Grilled Cheese, simply slather slices of white bread with some butter, pile on the American cheese and get it on the griddle. Things start to get more interesting, however, when your ingredient list broadens beyond just one cheese, bringing on a whole new spectrum of flavor.
Let’s start on the grilled sandwich that focuses on the cheese itself: This Three-Cheese Grilled Cheese recipe by Food Network Magazine stacks cheddar, Swiss and American before heating to melted perfection. Forgoing slices, Rachael Ray’s garlic-buttered Grilled 4-Cheese Sandwiches come laden with four shredded varieties — provolone, mozzarella, Parmesan and Asiago.
More often than not, the supreme grilled cheese is achieved using two simple ingredients: cheese and juicy tomatoes. Food Network Magazine’s Open-Faced Tomato Grilled Cheese renounces that extra dose of bread, and its Triple Grilled Cheese With Tomato Soup pairs the sandwich with its consummate match.
Add meat to the traditional grilled cheese for a well-rounded sandwich. Ina Garten’s Ultimate Grilled Cheese (pictured above) for Food Network Magazine fuses bacon and two kinds of cheese, while its Corned Beef Grilled Cheese comes together with spicy whole grain mustard, grated Jarlsberg and freshly sliced deli meat. Food Network Magazine’s Ham-Taleggio Grilled Cheese counters the salt of the meat with the sweet crunch of green apple.
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Hot Tips for Cooking With Cheese From Food Network Kitchens’ Katherine Alford:
Instead of buying presliced cheese in packages, hit the deli counter to find more interesting cheeses, like havarti, Gruyere or chipotle gouda, then have them freshly sliced. Ultra thin, machine-sliced cheese melts into a nice even layer. Plus, you can buy only as much as you need and specify the thickness.
Relieve your dinnertime stress by making a slow-cooker meal. Toss the ingredients in this easy-to-use countertop appliance, press the button, and enjoy a delicious meal a few hours later. Eating healthier couldn’t be any simpler!
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When I head to the Food Network offices for a meeting, I always pass by the cutest vending machines that dispense a handful of treats for a quarter (or two). Little did I know that the creator of these perfectly-portioned snacks, Matthew Wagner, liv...
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Flavors were the primary talk of Boot Camp on Sunday’s episode of Worst Cooks in America: which tastes work best together, which ingredients should never be paired and what flavors are most successful in sweet treats and savory picks. The recruits tackled these questions and more as they experimented with signature combinations while crafting from-scratch gelato and handmade hamburgers in an attempt to test their palates.
During the Main Dish Challenge in which contestants from both teams battled for burger glory, the mentors demonstrated that even seemingly unusual ingredients can and often do work well together. In true Bobby Flay form, the Blue Team leader added a topping of potato chips to his beefy creation, “crunchifying” the burger from between the buns. Chef Anne Burrell, too, embraced the untraditional by making for the Red Team a Greek-inspired lamb patty finished with a creamy tzatziki spread. Both of the chefs’ creative additions to the everyday burger proved successful, but many of the recruits’ efforts were simply disappointing, including Sue’s mozzarella-stuffed patties that barely held their shape, Carrie Lee’s chicken burgers that were burned and of course Alex’s overwhelming “burg-dog” and Aadip’s grilled cheese sandwich, which was hardly a burger at all.
When it comes to building your ultimate burger, what toppings do you reach for? Are you a traditionalist who craves nothing else on the patty except a slice of cheese, or do you embrace multiple flavors and textures by adding salty bacon, a runny fried egg or cool lettuce? Have you taken to Chef Bobby’s penchant for “crunchified” burgers? Did Chef Anne inspire you to consider Mediterranean flavors?
Vote for your ultimate burger toppings
Can you believe a chicken taco salad, in a crispy tortilla bowl, can have up to 900 calories, 45 grams of fat and 1,870 mg of sodium? Didn’t I say salad? That’s the equivalent of THREE 5-ounce cheeseburgers. Thankfully, it’s super-...
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As tempting as it is to resort to a quick delivery dinner after a hectic day, there are surely far healthier and less costly meal options that can be made in a hurry at home without sacrificing flavor or ease. Asian-style takeout in particular often gets a bad rap for being deep-fried and greasy, but if you make some of your favorite white-box picks at home, you’ll be able to ensure that what you’re eating is wholesome and fresh, plus you can tailor the ingredients to your family’s individual tastes.
Bobby’s Buckwheat Noodle Salad (pictured above) is a lighter take on traditional noodle dishes that are often swimming in pools of oil. Here, he combines protein-packed buckwheat noodles with a sweet and tangy sauce of honey, grated ginger and tamari — Japanese soy sauce — that pairs well with cool vegetables like chopped carrots, bell peppers and cucumbers. Ready to eat in just 25 minutes, this top-rated recipe is an almost no-cook classic and makes a simple all-in-one meal. Watch this video to get Bobby’s secrets to making this family-friendly dish.
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Morning and afternoon snacks (whether at home or at work) not only squelch hunger pangs, they offer additional opportunities to incorporate vitamins, minerals and fiber during the day, important nutrients that you can’t always get in your aver...
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