Caramel Sauce With Ginger And Tea Food

CARAMEL SAUCE WITH GINGER AND TEA

Steps:

• Bring 1 cup water to simmer in small saucepan. Remove from heat. Add tea bag and steep 5 minutes. Remove tea bag and squeeze to release excess liquid. Add all raisins to liquid. Let stand 30 minutes. Pour into strainer; reserve raisins.
• Combine sugar and 5 tablespoons water in heavy medium saucepan. Stir over low heat until sugar dissolves. Increase heat; boil without stirring until deep amber color, brushing down sides of pan with wet pastry brush and swirling pan occasionally, about 10 minutes. Remove from heat. Gradually whisk in cream and butter. Stir over low heat until caramel is smooth. Mix in raisins, nuts and ginger. (Can be made 1 week ahead. Cover and chill. Rewarm over low heat before serving.)

GINGERBREAD WITH VANILLA ICE CREAM AND CARAMEL SAUCE

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 375°F. Lightly butter 13 x 9 x 2-inch baking pan. Sift 2 1/2 cups flour, ground ginger, cinnamon and salt into medium bowl. Mix crystallized ginger with 2 teaspoons flour in small bowl.
• Using electric mixer, beat butter in large bowl until fluffy. Add brown sugar and beat until mixture is light and fluffy. Mix molasses, 1 cup boiling water and baking soda in another medium bowl to blend. Stir into butter mixture. Stir in dry ingredients, then egg and crystallized ginger mixture. Pour batter into prepared pan.
• Bake cake 15 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 350°F and bake cake until tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 12 minutes longer. Transfer pan to rack; cool 30 minutes. Turn cake out onto rack; cool. (Can be made 8 hours ahead. Cover; store at room temperature.)
• Cut gingerbread into pieces. Transfer gingerbread to plates. Top each piece with ice cream. Spoon caramel sauce over and serve.

CARAMELIZED GINGER AND GINGERED CARAMEL

Steps:

• Caramelized Ginger: Cut a ginger root to fit into a plastic bowl with a lid.
• Cover the ginger root pieces in sherry.
• Let this sit until the ginger is fully soaked through with sherry, which can take a month or more.
• The ginger will be dark tan in color and firm and somewhat stringy in texture.
• It will be almost translucent.
• Remove the ginger root from the sherry and set the sherry aside for later.
• Cut the rind off of the ginger root and cut the inner portion into pieces about the size and thickness of 1/2 a dime.
• Put the small ginger pieces into a bowl and cover completely with sugar.
• I had about 1/4 cup of ginger and I put in about 3/4 cup of fine grained white sugar.
• Add back about 2 tablespoons of the sherry.
• The resulting mixture, with the ginger pieces in it, is a thickish but runny syrup.
• Put a mound of sugar (at least a cup) on a plate or in a small bowl and set it aside where you can reach it when you are standing at the stove.
• Cook the ginger/sugar/sherry mixture on the top of the stove until it boils but not until it darkens, (i. e., remove it from the heat before the sugar starts to burn).
• Stir a couple of times while the mixture is heating.
• Use a slotted spoon and remove the ginger pieces from the boiled liquid and plop them onto the sugar mound, keeping them separate from each other as much as possible.
• Spoon more granulated sugar over the top and let this sit for about 1 minute.
• Then stir the whole thing to coat the ginger with sugar.
• Let it sit for 5 minutes, then remove the ginger pieces and set them on a piece of baking paper to air dry.
• Gingered caramel: The boiled sherry/sugar stuff that's still in the pan can be boiled up again for about 30 seconds.
• Just as it starts to brown, remove it from the heat and add two or three tablespoons of butter.
• Let it cool for a few minutes and then pour the now very thick caramel onto more baking paper.
• This is fantastic caramel!
• Notes: This recipe starts with about 2 four inch pieces of ginger root and the yield is about 1/4 cup of caramelized ginger and about 1/3 cup of gingered caramel.
• I happened to have cooking sherry on hand so that is what I used.
• I had purchased two or three small (maybe 4 inches long) pieces of ginger root and I had not used them for anything.
• I had heard that you can soak your ginger in sherry to preserve it so I had cut the roots into 2 inch pieces, give or take, and covered them in sherry in a plastic bowl with a lid.
• I forgot about the ginger and it sat on my kitchen counter for 4 or 5 months.
• Possibly it would have been ready to caramelize a lot sooner than that but it was in perfect condition for this recipe after months of sitting.

GINGERBREAD-CARAMEL SAUCE

Steps:

• Combine molasses, 1/2 cup water, and sugar in a medium saucepan. Heat over medium-high, gently stirring, until sugar has dissolved. Bring to a boil; cook until foaming reduces and bubbles begin to slow, 4 to 5 minutes (about 250 degrees on a thermometer). Remove from heat and carefully whisk in cream, butter, salt, and spices (mixture will splatter), stirring until butter is melted and combined. Let cool completely. Transfer to 6 seven-ounce jars. Sauce can be refrigerated in jars up to 2 weeks; gently reheat before serving.