Fuchsia Dunlop's Chicken With Tea Leaves

One of my favorite cookery writers is Fuchsia Dunlop. An English woman, she trained as a Chinese chef at the Sichuan Institute of Higher Cuisine. Her recipes are rarely too difficult and are always interesting. Like Junshan Chicken with Silver-Needle Tea (from Revolutionary Chinese Cookbook: Recipes from Hunan Province). She says the dish is a banquet delicacy in Junshan, and it incorporates the area's famous "yellow tea". I'd never seen a recipe with tea leaves in it so I thought I'd give it a try. The resulting dish was flavorful and delicate, which surprised me because, unlike so many Chinese dishes, there was no garlic or green onions. The dish is simply sliced chicken breasts that have been marinaded in a simple solution of salt, Shaoxing wine, potato starch and egg white. The breasts are quickly fried and then boiled in a tea infusion, leaves included. The key, of course, is having really high-grade tea leaves which are infused at a very low temperature beforehand (I didn't have Junshan tea so I used a silver-needle white tea). Even so, I still found it remarkable that you can achieve such wonderful, complex flavors with so little. Chicken and tea leaves — who would have thought?

Kumquats

I've decided kumquats are the S&M specialists of the fruit world. You take a bite and the tiny little devils are so sour you think you're going to scream. And then just as you're about to spit it all out, the incredible, delicious sweetness of the rind kicks in and it's heaven and you immediately want another...

So what exactly are kumquats? They're little, tiny citrus fruits that look like toy oranges. They even come with wee seeds. The inside is SOUR and the rind is so sweet that it almost tastes like the kumquats come naturally sugar coated. There's also that flavor orange rinds have, that complicated perfume which is so concentrated in the peel's oil. You can eat kumquats whole, peel and all, or just eat the peel. Kumquats also come candied.

I'd tried kumquats before, but having bought them at supermarkets, had been very disappointed. This time, I tried some organic ones at the local farmer's market — I just could not believe the difference. Like biting bits of sunshine.

Here's a recipe suggestion: slice some and put them in chicken salads. Or sandwiches. For lunch today, I made a sandwich of leftover chicken, kumquats, celery, and lettuce. I gave it a Middle Eastern twist by making a dressing of yogurt, tahini, garlic, salt, soy sauce (just a drop or two), pickled chili peppers, and chopped parsley. Or course, I wrapped a pita around the entire concoction. Filling and healthy and cheap and oh, so good... I think Julia would have approved!