Recipe: Tea-Basted Roasted Chicken

TEA-BASTED ROASTED CHICKEN

1 quart water
1/2 cup Keemun tea leaves (if unavailable, substitute Darjeeling or English Breakfast)
1 (2-inch) piece gingerroot, peeled and sliced into coins
6 cloves garlic, peeled then crushed to release their aroma
1 cup vegetable stock (homemade or canned)
Olive oil to coat roasting pan and to brush on chicken before roasting
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 (2 to 3 pound) whole roasting chicken, well washed and dried
TO FINISH SAUCE:
1 teaspoon turbinado sugar, or to taste

Bring water to a boil. Add tea leaves and allow to infuse for 3 minutes. Strain liquid through fine-meshed sieve into a bowl and return to saucepan. Add ginger, garlic, and vegetable stock, and return liquid to a boil. Remove from heat, discard the solids through a sieve, and reserve liquid.

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

Salt and pepper chicken inside and out. Place chicken into roasting pan, pour about 1/2 cup of the brewed tea over it and roast until juices run clear, basting with tea mixture every 20 minutes or so.

When done, skim fat from liquid in pan. Remove chicken to a cutting board, carve into 8 pieces, and place on a platter to keep warm.

Reduce basting liquid to coating consistency, adjusting seasoning as desired (this dish tastes great with a generous addition of pepper). Add sugar to taste.

Strain sauce in roasting pan through a fine-meshed sieve and place in a heated sauceboat. Serve immediately.

We suggest such accompaniments as wild rice, sauteed portobello mushrooms and curly (Savoy) cabbage, as desired.

Notes: The charm of this dish is its simplicity. What could be better than a chicken roasted to perfection, golden brown and crisp-skinned, when paired with a dusky, dark tea-based sauce? Serve this dish with wild rice, braised cabbage and mushrooms.

Servings: 8
From Robert Wemischner is the author of The Vivid Flavors Cookbook and co-author, with Diana Rosen, of Cooking with Tea
Source: Delicious!Magazine, March 2000