Foodie Friend Friday #5: Brandon’s Green Tea Extravaganza

This is the fifth and final installment of my March experiment, Foodie Friend Friday, and I can tell you that we are going out with a bang! If you would like to see what my other friends have been cooking this March, check out the following recipes:

• Introduction and Annie’s Risotto
• Garrett’s Shrimp and Couscous Salad
• Becca’s Liver-Friendly Salad
• Annemarie’s Beef Chili

This week, I am featuring my friend Brandon’s cuisine. Brandon is one of the best friends I’ve made during my undergraduate degree. We met three years ago, when we both got hired as orientation coordinators for our university’s orientation week, and we’ve been friends ever since!

One of the defining aspects of our friendship is our deep and undying love for good food. Before Brandon selfishly abandoned me to move back to Toronto, we would get together, cook something delicious (like this yummy chicken), and watch mildly offensive television together. When we weren’t busy being weirdos at home, we would go out to restaurants where we would both get carried away with our meals and rant and rave about them like two food-crazed loonies. Essentially, we were made for one another.

All this is to say that Brandon was a natural choice for me to ask to write up a tasty recipe for my blog. But of course, in true Brandon fashion, I opened my inbox today to not one, but three recipes from the guy. Brandon is not the type to do something halfway, and clearly this was no exception. The great news is that he has put together an amazing themed feast that is sure to wow the lucky people you make this for!

Without further ado, I am turning things over to Brandon. Happy cooking and happy weekend!

Brandon’s Four Course Green Tea Extravaganza

Hi everyone!

Below is the first of what has ended up being a three-part contribution on cooking with green tea!

Being a bit of a tea connoisseur (but by no means as obsessed as Lara!), I love to find ways to incorporate tea into my every day cooking. Although green tea is a gentle tea, I highly recommend allowing your tea to steep longer than you normally would to ensure that its flavour comes through in the sauce and the chicken. The stronger the tea, the better for these recipes!

For these recipes, I used a combination of sencha, jasmine, and/or matcha green teas but almost any green tea will do!

You can find the other recipes for this meal here:

• Green Tea Rice
• Green Tea Rosemary Lemonade

But first, the recipe for the main course:

Green Tea Teriyaki Chicken

3-4 bags sencha green tea
1 tsp matcha powder (optional)
2 cups water
2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
2 tbsp ponzu or soy sauce
4 tbsp honey, agave nectar, maple syrup, birch syrup, etc.
1 tsp sesame or olive oil
1 lemon, juiced
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp ginger, minced
3 green onions, chopped
2 boneless chicken breasts

Your ingredients.

1. Bring 1 cup of water to a boil and steep 1 to 2 bags of green tea for at least ten minutes.

2. In a bowl, combine 1 tbsp honey (or chosen sweetener), the juice of one lemon, and the brewed green tea.

3. Place the chicken breasts and green tea mixture in a sealed plastic bag (like a ziplock bag) and let the meat marinate for 1 to 24 hours. The longer it marinates, the more tea it will absorb!

4. When you are ready to begin cooking, heat a saucepan over medium heat. Combine the remaining tea, honey, sesame oil, ponzu sauce, ginger, garlic, and green onions. Bring it all to a boil and then lower the heat to bring the sauce to a simmer. Allow it to reduce uncovered until there is less than one cup of teriyaki sauce remaining.

The sauce during the simmering process.

5. Add the chicken to the sauce and cook each side of the breast for 4-8 minutes, depending on the thickness of the chicken, until it is fully cooked. Serve over Green Tea Rice.

Unfortunately this picture is a bit dark, but here is the final product! Enjoy!