Coffee Bean Direct Blog

Coffee & Tea Cook Off!

Since many of our employees at CBD are food obsessed we though what better way to celebrate that then a cook off! There was only 1 rule for this contest-the recipe had to have either coffee or tea in it. With $50 up for grabs in two categories, people went to work on creating recipes.

We ended up having 8 entries, 4 in the dessert category and 4 in the entree category.

Instead of having a panel of judges we let everyone in the company judge. Here is what the ballot looked like!

The winner in the Entree Category went to Mike with his Green Earl Grey Spicy Sweet & Sour Chicken!

The winner in the Dessert Category went to Bill with his Coffee Ice Cream using
City Roast Colombian!

The runner up in the Dessert category was Andrew’s Coffee-Infused Rice Pudding using 75% Costa Rican Tarrazu and 25% Six Bean Espresso

The runner up in the Entree category was Marcie’s Coffee Chili using Costa Rican Tarrazu

Anthony’s Blackened Chicken Salad with Pinhead Gunpowder Green Tea Dressing

Meg’s Amy’s Coffee Cupcakes using Italian Roast Espresso

Donna’s Coffee Crusted Loin of Pork using Dark Costa Rican

Niki’s Dragonwell Apple Muffins

Mike’s Green Earl Grey Spicy Sweet & Sour Chicken

Sauce
Green Earl Grey
Orange Blossom Honey
Lemon Juice
Lime Juice
Hot Sauce
Crushed Red Pepper
Salt
Lemon pepper
Corn Starch

Steep Green Earl Grey stronger than normal and transfer to a pot larger than needed, add honey, lemon juice and lime juice to desired level of sweetness and sourness.  Turn heat to medium and add spices (except corn starch).  Once all flavors have a chance to combine, add corn starch to thicken.

Chicken
Red, yellow, and orange peppers (1 each)
Shallot (1)
Garlic (2 cloves)
Celery (1 stalk)
Water Chestnuts (1 can)
Chicken Breast (1 lb boneless/ skinless)
Flour
Corn Starch
Salt
Lemon pepper
Crushed Red pepper

Dice all vegetables to a medium/small dice and sweat till translucent (I used butter, you could use oil or cooking spray), once cooked add to sauce along with the can of water chestnuts.  Cube your Chicken Breast.  In a small bowl add flour corn starch and spices and mix quickly, and then dredge the chicken breast in this mix until coated.  In the same skillet used for vegetable cook the chicken till it is not quite cooked through out.  Add to the sauce and stir.   Use the sauce to completely cook the chicken, and while that is happening all flavors should combine, then it’s ready to serve.  Try over rice, couscous, pasta, or on its own.

Bill’s Old Mr. Boston’s Coffee Ice Cream

1. Bring 1 1/2 cups whole milk , 3/4 cup sugar, 1/8 teaspoon salt to simmer over med/low heat
2. Add 1/4 cup of crushed or coarsely ground city roast Colombian Supremo coffee beans. Remove from heat, cover, and steep for 30 minutes.
3. Strain into clean saucepan and bring milk back to a simmer.
4. Beat 3 large egg yolks together in bowl
5. Slowly stir in 1/2 cup of hot milk mixture into beaten egg yolks, then stir egg mixture into milk. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly until reaching 175?. Refrigerate until cold.
6. Stir in 2 cups heavy cream and 1/3 cup chocolate chips and add to ice-cream maker.

Marcie’s Coffee Chili

2 lbs ground beef
2 large onions diced
5 garlic cloves minced
2 jalepeno seeded and minced (if you like a lot of heat keep the seeds)
1 28 oz can whole tomatoes hand crushed
1 10 oz can Rotel® tomatoes with green chilies
1 14.5 oz can diced tomatoes
3/4 small can tomato paste
1 14.5 oz can rinsed dark red kidney beans
1 14.5 oz can rinsed black beans
(you can use any kind of beans)
1 cup strongly brewed Costa Rican Tarrazu

Spices
chili powder
cumin
cayenne
coco powder
dried cilantro
brown sugar
kosher salt
fresh ground pepper
(if you like spicier chili add more if you don’t like spicy chili add less)

1. In a large heavy bottomed pot brown the beef. (you don’t have to cook it completely through the chili has to simmer so the meat will cook through)
2. Drain most of the fat from the pot you will want to keep some of it to brown the onions.
3. Move the ground beef to one side of the pot cook the onions, garlic and jalepeno until nice and fragrant.
4. Add tomato paste and all spices cook until fragrant.
5. Add all tomatoes (remember to hand crush the whole tomatoes)
6. Add all the beans
7. Add the brewed coffee
8. Bring chili to a boil reduce heat and simmer on low until you get desired consistency
9. Garnish with sharp cheddar and diced onions (I like scallions)

Anthony’s Blackened Chicken Salad with Green Tea Dressing

Cajun Chicken Recipe
Makes 2 – 3 Large Chicken Breasts
Use large chicken breasts – dry rub will blacken nicely while the chicken cooks.  Rub is very hot and spicy, so large pieces of chicken help keep from being too hot to eat.
 
1 tsp – white pepper
1 tsp – black pepper
1 tsp – thyme leaves
1 tsp – oregano
 
2 tsp – salt (I used 1 tsp onion salt and 1 tsp garlic salt)
 
3 tsp – paprika
3 tsp – onion powder
3 tsp – garlic powder
3 tsp – cayenne pepper
 
1 Tbsp – Ceylon Tea (Crushed up)
1 Tbsp – Oolong Tea (Crushed up)
1 Tbsp – Peony White Tea Leaves
 
Optional spices for extra Cajun flavor:
Less than 1 tsp Coriander
Less than 1 tsp Cumin
1 tsp Lemon Pepper
1 tsp Lemon Grass
1 tsp Lemon Verbena
Optional spices for extra “blackening”
Onion, minced
Cilantro leaves (dried)
 
Mix all ingredients in large, flat bowl.  Coat chicken in rub and grill until fully cooked inside.  Watch chicken carefully so it is not over-cooked.  You want a nice dark crust on the outside, but nice juicy chicken on the inside.  An iron skillet can be used instead of grilling chicken.  Chop chicken into stripes and serve over salad (chicken can be served hot or cold).  Wait at least 5 minutes after cooking before slicing chicken, this will lock the juices inside and keep chicken moist.
**Many recipes call for you to coat the chicken in melted butter just before grilling to help the rub blacken.  I skipped this step to make it healthier.  The tea leaves will burn nicely on the grill and help blacken the chicken.**
 
Salad Dressing Recipe

Makes 2 cups of dressing (this is a lot but you will be glad you have some left over!)
 
2 cups Greek Yogurt  (use thick greek yogurt, not regular yogurt)
2 Tbsp Lemon Juice
1 garlic clove, chopped
1 Cucumber, peeled seeded and diced
1 Tbsp finely chopped fresh dill
5 Tbsp Brewed Pinhead Gunpowder green tea (more to taste)
1 Tbsp Dragonwell Lung Ching green tea leaves
Salt and Pepper (to taste)
 
Slice cucumber in half lengthwise and use a spoon to scrape out the seeds in the center (I skipped this step and my salad dressing was a little too watery).  In a food processor or blender combine diced cucumber, lemon juice, chopped garlic, chopped dill and brewed pinhead gunpowder tea.  Process until well blended then stir mixture into the Greek yogurt.  Salt and Pepper to taste (I used lemon pepper too).  Add 1 tbsp of dragonwell green tea leaves and any other spices you want.  Allow to sit in refrigerator a couple hours for all the flavors to come out.  This salad dressing tastes a little better every day that it sits, that’s why the recipe makes 2 cups.
 
**This dressing is essentially a greek tzatziki sauce with green tea.  It would go very well on lamb as well as the blackened chicken.  Maybe coffee encrusted lamb with green tea dressing???**
 
Salad:
Really, you can use any kind of salad you enjoy.
I used iceberg lettuce because I wanted that nice cool, crisp texture to go with the spicy chicken.  I also used arugula because it has a peppery taste that I thought fit very well.  I used red cabbage and cucumber because they work with the dressing very well.
 
My salad consisted of:
45% Iceberg Lettuce
10% Baby Arugula
5% Red Cabbage, shredded
5% Sliced Cucumber
5% Grape Tomatoes
5% Shredded Carrots
Shredded Pecorino Ramono Cheese (Locatelli of course)

Meg’s Amy’s Coffee Cupcakes
 
3 cups flour
2 cups sugar
2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
1 cup olive oil
2 cups cold strongly-brewed coffee
2 tsp. vinegar
2 tsp. vanilla
 
2 cups confectioners’ sugar
¼ cup very soft butter
1 tsp vanilla
3 Tbsp strongly–brewed coffee
 
For the cupcakes

Blend the dry ingredients together in an electric mixer on low speed.  Add the oil, then stir together the water, vinegar, and vanilla and add to mixer.  Blend on low speed; scrape bowl and mix on medium speed for 2 minutes. 
 
Pour into muffin tins lined with cupcake papers
 
Bake at 350 for 30 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.  Cool 10 minutes before removing from pans. 
 
For the icing

Blend the sugar and butter to combine. Add the vanilla then slowly add the coffee to produce a spreadable consistency. Add additional sugar to thicken the icing if needed. Ice cupcakes after they are completely cooled.

Donna’s Coffee Crusted Loin of Pork

1/3 cup Dark Costa Rican Ground to a coarse grind
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/4 t kosher salt
1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper
1/4 tsp. ginger
1 Tbsp ground pepper
2.5 lb pork loin
Olive oil

In a bowl combine first 6 ingredients
Rub pork loin with olive oil then roll in coffee and spice mixture.
Cover and refrigerate overnight.
Bake at 200? for 5 hours or until pork reaches 160?

Niki’s Dragonwell Apple Muffins

1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup butter
1 egg
1 cup milk
2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon allspice
1 1/2 cup peeled, chopped apples
4 tablespoons confectioners sugar
Strongly brewed Dragonwell tea
1/2 walnuts (optional)

Preheat oven 400°. Cream sugar and butter in bowl. Add egg and beat well. Stir in milk thoroughly. In a separate bowl, mix together flour, salt, baking powder, cinnamon and allspice. Add milk mixture to dry ingredients a little at a time. Batter will be bumpy. Stir in chopped apples and walnuts (optional). Spoon in to a well greased muffin pan. Bake 20-30 minutes or until the tops of muffins turn slightly brown. Mix Dragonwell tea into confectioners’ sugar until desired consistency is achieved. Dip each muffin top into Dragonwell/sugar mixture. Sprinkle muffins with cinnamon.