Lightly lemony, slightly sweet, this iced tea is perfection. The recipe hails from an old cookbook, and to me it’s the very best there is, the recipe you will turn to when you are entertaining or when you simply need something incredibly quenching on a hot summer day.
A few weeks ago, I stopped by my aunt and uncle’s house in Vermont en route home from a soccer tournament with my daughters. It was a Sunday, late in the afternoon, and we couldn’t stay long, so we made the most of it, sliding into stools around their big farmhouse table, ready to receive all the nourishment time would allow.
Within minutes of arriving, my aunt had toasted us thick slices of peasant bread and slathered them with butter. As we savored our toast, she poured us glasses of homemade iced tea and pushed plates of strawberries and apricots our way. With two dogs lounging at our feet, we wished we could stay forever.
She sent us off each with a sugar cone piled high with scoops of vanilla ice cream, and as we drove home, my youngest, Tig, asked when we could make the iced tea again. I had first made it with her several summers ago, after she returned from my parents’ house raving about it. The recipe comes from the Prouts Neck Cookbook , the source of dozens of recipes many of the women in my family relied on for years.
This past Monday, I made the iced tea with Tig, who, one week into summer break, already seems bored. I enlisted her to squeeze the lemons and sent her out back to cut some mint, the only herb I can’t kill. Twenty minutes later, the tea was done, chilling in the fridge, and about an hour later, we were ladling it into ice-filled glasses and relishing its quenching abilities.
Every time I make this tea, I wonder why I don’t make it more often as it is so very good: lightly lemony, slightly sweet, and incredibly refreshing. If you are expecting company this week for a July Fourth gathering or planning a future summer get-together, I can’t recommend it enough.
Wren snuggling with sweet Leto and Homer (who is recovering from surgery):
The Prouts Neck Cookbook:
My grandmother’s handwritten recipe… isn’t her writing beautiful?
How to Make Iced Tea, Step by Step
First, juice some lemons. You’ll need 2/3 cup.
Enlist the help of anyone lurking around your kitchen.
Then gather some mint:
Place the mint and 5 tea bags in a large vessel (ideally a pitcher large enough to hold roughly 9 cups of liquid):
Add 1 cup sugar (see notes in the recipe if you wish to add less):
Then cover with 4 cups of boiling water and let steep for 10 minutes:
After 10 minutes, remove the mint and tea bags…
… then add 4 cups cold water plus the fresh lemon juice:
Serve over ice and enjoy!
I really need a pitcher!
But a large vessel + a ladle works fine:
So refreshing!
These large ice cube molds are fun, too.
Description
From the Prouts Neck Cookbook, in which it is called Mrs. Bostwick’s Iced Tea.
Notes:
Tea: I have used Lipton black tea bags and other various kinds. My aunt uses Earl Grey. My mother uses Yorkshire Red or Lipton Yellow Label.
Sugar: This is a recipe I have never tinkered with. It might appear to be a lot of sugar, but it does not taste too sweet (in my opinion). If you do the math it’s roughly 1 tablespoon of sugar for every 1/2 cup of tea. If this seems like too much for you, hold back some of the sugar from the start, and add it in to taste at the end.
5 black tea bags, see notes above
a few sprigs of mint
1 cup of sugar, see notes above
4 cups boiling water
2/3 cup fresh lemon juice
4 cups cold water
- Place the tea bags, mint, and sugar in a large pitcher or vessel (able to hold 9 cups). Pour the boiling water over the top and let steep for 10 minutes.
- Remove the mint and tea bags, squeezing the bags to extract the liquid.
- Add the lemon juice and cold water.
- Chill until ready to serve. Serve over ice and garnish with more mint or lemon if you wish.
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Category: Drink
- Cuisine: Amerian
Lightly lemony, slightly sweet, this iced tea is perfection. The recipe hails from an old cookbook, and to me it’s the very best there is, the recipe you will turn to when you are entertaining or when you simply need something incredibly quenching on a hot summer day.
A few weeks ago, I stopped by my aunt and uncle’s house in Vermont en route home from a soccer tournament with my daughters. It was a Sunday, late in the afternoon, and we couldn’t stay long, so we made the most of it, sliding into stools around their big farmhouse table, ready to receive all the nourishment time would allow.
Within minutes of arriving, my aunt had toasted us thick slices of peasant bread and slathered them with butter. As we savored our toast, she poured us glasses of homemade iced tea and pushed plates of strawberries and apricots our way. With two dogs lounging at our feet, we wished we could stay forever.
She sent us off each with a sugar cone piled high with scoops of vanilla ice cream, and as we drove home, my youngest, Tig, asked when we could make the iced tea again. I had first made it with her several summers ago, after she returned from my parents’ house raving about it. The recipe comes from the Prouts Neck Cookbook , the source of dozens of recipes many of the women in my family relied on for years.
This past Monday, I made the iced tea with Tig, who, one week into summer break, already seems bored. I enlisted her to squeeze the lemons and sent her out back to cut some mint, the only herb I can’t kill. Twenty minutes later, the tea was done, chilling in the fridge, and about an hour later, we were ladling it into ice-filled glasses and relishing its quenching abilities.
Every time I make this tea, I wonder why I don’t make it more often as it is so very good: lightly lemony, slightly sweet, and incredibly refreshing. If you are expecting company this week for a July Fourth gathering or planning a future summer get-together, I can’t recommend it enough.
Wren snuggling with sweet Leto and Homer (who is recovering from surgery):
The Prouts Neck Cookbook:
My grandmother’s handwritten recipe… isn’t her writing beautiful?
How to Make Iced Tea, Step by Step
First, juice some lemons. You’ll need 2/3 cup.
Enlist the help of anyone lurking around your kitchen.
Then gather some mint:
Place the mint and 5 tea bags in a large vessel (ideally a pitcher large enough to hold roughly 9 cups of liquid):
Add 1 cup sugar (see notes in the recipe if you wish to add less):
Then cover with 4 cups of boiling water and let steep for 10 minutes:
After 10 minutes, remove the mint and tea bags…
… then add 4 cups cold water plus the fresh lemon juice:
Serve over ice and enjoy!
I really need a pitcher!
But a large vessel + a ladle works fine:
So refreshing!
These large ice cube molds are fun, too.
Description
From the Prouts Neck Cookbook, in which it is called Mrs. Bostwick’s Iced Tea.
Notes:
Tea: I have used Lipton black tea bags and other various kinds. My aunt uses Earl Grey. My mother uses Yorkshire Red or Lipton Yellow Label.
Sugar: This is a recipe I have never tinkered with. It might appear to be a lot of sugar, but it does not taste too sweet (in my opinion). If you do the math it’s roughly 1 tablespoon of sugar for every 1/2 cup of tea. If this seems like too much for you, hold back some of the sugar from the start, and add it in to taste at the end.
5 black tea bags, see notes above
a few sprigs of mint
1 cup of sugar, see notes above
4 cups boiling water
2/3 cup fresh lemon juice
4 cups cold water
- Place the tea bags, mint, and sugar in a large pitcher or vessel (able to hold 9 cups). Pour the boiling water over the top and let steep for 10 minutes.
- Remove the mint and tea bags, squeezing the bags to extract the liquid.
- Add the lemon juice and cold water.
- Chill until ready to serve. Serve over ice and garnish with more mint or lemon if you wish.
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Category: Drink
- Cuisine: Amerian
Description
From the Prouts Neck Cookbook, in which it is called Mrs. Bostwick’s Iced Tea.
Notes:
Tea: I have used Lipton black tea bags and other various kinds. My aunt uses Earl Grey. My mother uses Yorkshire Red or Lipton Yellow Label.
Sugar: This is a recipe I have never tinkered with. It might appear to be a lot of sugar, but it does not taste too sweet (in my opinion). If you do the math it’s roughly 1 tablespoon of sugar for every 1/2 cup of tea. If this seems like too much for you, hold back some of the sugar from the start, and add it in to taste at the end.
5 black tea bags, see notes above
a few sprigs of mint
1 cup of sugar, see notes above
4 cups boiling water
2/3 cup fresh lemon juice
4 cups cold water
- Place the tea bags, mint, and sugar in a large pitcher or vessel (able to hold 9 cups). Pour the boiling water over the top and let steep for 10 minutes.
- Remove the mint and tea bags, squeezing the bags to extract the liquid.
- Add the lemon juice and cold water.
- Chill until ready to serve. Serve over ice and garnish with more mint or lemon if you wish.
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Category: Drink
- Cuisine: Amerian
Find it online : https://alexandracooks.com/2024/07/03/the-very-best-iced-tea/
This simple roasted yellow tomato sauce comes together in no time and tastes sweet and bright, truly like summer in a sauce. Use it in all of your favorite recipes calling for tomato sauce, or freeze it for a future day.
Last October, at the tail end of tomato season, when the sungolds were still arriving in droves at our little co-op, I made this sauce on repeat. It calls for minimal prep, a handful of ingredients, and a quick roast at high heat, but produces a sauce that tastes like so much more: sweet and bright and fresh all at once. Truly, summer in a sauce.
If you’ve made these roasted broccoli steaks , you know this sauce. In that recipe it’s referred to as “tomato butter,” and it calls for cherry tomatoes. I love this sauce so much for its low-effort and high-reward, I included it in Pizza Night , and when I am pressed for time, it’s the one I make most often.
Here, I’ve doubled the amount of tomatoes and, as noted, used yellow tomatoes, which produce a beautifully golden-hued sauce. At the height of sungold season, this sauce is exceptional, but it tastes nearly as delicious with off-peak tomatoes, too, so don’t be afraid to use what you can find.
I love tossing this sauce with pasta (see below) and shaving lots of parmesan over the top, and I love it as a pizza sauce, too. But use it, of course, in any of your favorite recipes calling for tomato sauce .
PS: Fresh Tomato-Basil Sauce
Homemade Yellow Tomato Sauce, Step by Step
First, find some small yellow or orange tomatoes. As noted, I love using sungolds.
You’ll also need 1 onion, olive oil, salt, butter, and water.
Place the tomatoes and onions in a 9×13-inch pan and drizzle with olive oil and salt.
Toss to combine, then transfer to the oven and roast…
… until the tomatoes begin to collapse and blister slightly, about 30 minutes.
Transfer the tomatoes and onions to a food processor or blender along with some water:
Purée until smooth:
Add some butter:
Then purée again. Taste and adjust with salt to taste. Thin with more water if necessary.
Transfer to a storage jar or use immediately…
… on pasta (with some of the reserved pasta-cooking water):
… and pizza , of course:
Store the sauce in the fridge for up to 2 weeks or in the freezer for up to 3 months.
Description
Adapted from the tomato “butter” recipe in this roasted broccoli steak recipe.
Notes:
Tomatoes: You can use red cherry tomatoes in this recipe, and the sauce will taste delicious, but it won’t be yellow 🙂
Salt: I always use Diamond Crystal kosher salt. Use half as much if you are using Morton or fine sea salt
Butter: I always use salted, but unsalted is fine
1.5 pounds sun gold or other small yellow or orange tomato, see notes above
1 yellow or white onion, peeled and chopped to yield about 2 heaping cups ( 12 ounces )
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1.5 teaspoons kosher salt, see notes above
1/2 cup water
3 tablespoons butter, see notes above
flaky sea salt to taste
- Heat the oven to 475ºF.
- In a 9×13-inch pan, toss the tomatoes and onion with the olive oil and salt.
- Transfer the pan to the oven and roast for 25-30 minutes. The tomatoes should be beginning to collapse and starting to lightly blister in spots.
- Remove the pan from the oven and transfer the roasted tomatoes and onions along with the water to a food processor or high-speed blender. (If using a blender be sure to let the mixture cool briefly before puréeing, or be sure to start puréeing on low, with the small opening at the top removed and covered lightly with a tea towel to allow the hot air to escape.) Purée until smooth.
- Add the butter and purée again until smooth. Taste. Adjust with salt to taste. Add water by the tablespoon to thin. The sauce should be pourable.
- Store in the fridge for up to 2 weeks or freeze for up to 3 months.
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 30 minutes
- Category: Sauce
- Method: oven
- Cuisine: American, Italian
