THE PETROVSKY POPSICLE
DON’T WE NEED OUR RELATIONSHIPS
WITH A LITTLE BIT OF MILK
I DON’T know if this will completely sack my credentials (AGAIN) as an angry, opinionated love-cynic who just fell asleep when you mentioned the words “my ex-boyfriend’s facebook…”. I’m not even sure if this is a well-adviced public statement for anyone who isn’t fabulously gay. But this is probably as important to know about me as acknowledging the fact that I eat canned sardines in tomato sauce over oatmeals, that I also have a decade-long, still on-going, life-threatening addiction for… Sex And The City.
The key point in what I just said, is on-going. Like, seriously. You’d think that no one can be addicted to something that no longer exists. It’d be like trying to smoke a cigarette butt, found underneath the bookshelf, that’s accidentally dropped in diesel. You just can’t smoke that shit anymore. Oh, but I can. Since its last season ending in 2004, I had been waiting and watching every season that re-runs in turns on HBO on-demand every months, repeatedly, until 2008 when I left New York. Then I had to purchase the complete-seasons DVD to continue watching every single episodes that I’ve continuously watched for however long…
Don’t even get me started on the movies. I mean the second one gave me a bad trip but where the fuck is my third?
Think what you will about me… it’s probably all true… And as if what I just said wasn’t lame and pathetic enough, allow me to kick it up a notch. I’ve made myself…
the Petrovsky popsicle.
It’s an intensely black-tea-flavoured popsicle that’s sweetened with cherry preserve which also give it a slight tang. I was told, by a character from a TV-show that ended 10 years ago, that it’s how the Russians sweeten their teas, and I never doubted it for a second. The idea stayed inside my head for all this time, until a week ago when I purchased my first set of popsicle molds, the Russians invaded. If you’re into tea-flavoured everything, you’ll have the hots for these this summer. I did Petrovsky justice by powdering the tea leaves to embolden the flavour and adding an entire jar of sour cherry preserve with large chunks of cherries. These popsicles are cold, black and caffein-charged with hidden tang and sourness inside their hidden pockets like the character himself. But of course, mellowed out with whole and sweetened condensed milk.
Because don’t we all “need our relationships with a little bit of milk”. Even if it’s an icy one.
Makes: 8 ~ 9 popsicles
The black tea leaves is powdered in spice-grinder to give the popsicle a very intense tea-flavour. It’s a good trick for maximizing tea-flavour in any recipes (such as this cake). If you don’t have a spice grinder, you can sort of “fake” one with this trick. Or, you might have to use more tea leaves to brew a stronger base for this recipe. I used 6 tbsp of sweetened condensed milk for this batch of popsicle and found the sweetness on the mild side, making this a more “refreshing” popsicle than a “creamy” one. You can increase the sweetness and creaminess by adding more if you like.
You can definitely use other types of fruit jams/preserves that you like, or trying to use up for this recipe.
Ingredients:
- 4 tbsp (23 grams) of Assam black tea leaves
- 2 1/2 cups (610 grams) of whole milk + another 1/2 cup (120 grams)
- 3 tbsp of cornstarch
- 1 cup (240 grams) of black cherry, or sour cherry preserves
- 6 tbsp ~ 1/2 cup of sweetened condensed milk
Powder the Assam black tea leaves in a spice grinder until finely ground. Mix the tea-powder into 2 1/2 cups of whole milk in a pot, and set over medium heat. Once the milk has come to a very gentle simmer (careful not to scorch the milk), turn off the heat immediately and let steep for 1 min, then strain the milk-tea through a fine sieve into another pot (to eliminate any large tea leaves). Whisk the cornstarch together with 1/2 cup of milk, then whisk it into the milk-tea until it’s slightly thickened. Then whisk in black cherry (or sour cherry) preserves and 6 tbsp of sweetened condensed milk until even. Add more sweetened condensed milk to adjust the sweetness if needed.
Divide the mixture into popsicle molds and freeze until hard. Enjoy.
cynthia
06.19.2014at11:12 PMThis sounds ridiculously delicious — pretty sure cherry and black tea were made to go together.
Kristin @ Bake Something
06.20.2014at12:07 AMThis was a fantastic idea! I too enjoy watching re-runs of Sex and the City. I actually bought each dvd as they came out back in the day. Petrovsky was probably my least favorite beau. I always thought he was too old for her or maybe just too different. I remember the tea sweetened with cherries and you did it justice. Photos are, as always, amazingly beautiful.
Farah @ The Cooking Jar
06.20.2014at1:22 AMJeeze, that popsicle looks like something else. And the texture looks amazing. I’m really digging the combination of black tea (never tried the assam type before), condensed milk and cherries.
Katrina @ Warm Vanilla Sugar
06.20.2014at1:49 AMThis is such a cool flavour. I love, love, love, the tea and black cherry combo. Yum!
Dixya @ Food, Pleasure, and Health
06.20.2014at1:52 AMim the same way when it comes to Sex and the City…and these popsicles, out of this world. i like Assam tea lot so this will definitely be delicioussss. what could i possibly substitute the cherry preserve with?
mandy@ladyandpups
06.20.2014at2:06 AMDIXYA, I think most fruit jam would work, like raspberry, strawberry, or (although not my favorite) citrus. The cherry jam actually doesn’t carry a lot of cherry flavour. Just a subtle back note.
sharon
06.20.2014at2:01 AMI love this! What a great idea. I wonder — forgive me in advance, bowing and scraping — what it might be like to swap expresso crystals for tea powder. Hm… what you think?
mandy@ladyandpups
06.20.2014at2:09 AMSHARON, yeah why not! It’s yours to tweak and adapt! :)
Slobbering on my Keyboard
06.20.2014at2:05 AMYeah…uhuh, uhuh. I’m trying to read what you’re trying to say, but those irritatingly gorgeous photographs are very very distracting. Assam tea and sour cherries…you’re a genius. You should have ended the post with an evil genius laugh.
Millie l Add A Little
06.20.2014at3:56 AMPhotography is fab-u-Lou’s as usual and black cherries in it just sound amazing Mandy!
http://youtube.com/addalittlefood
Bill @thewoksoflife
06.20.2014at7:27 AMCool idea, we always look forward to your creative recipes and posts!
David
06.20.2014at8:57 AMThis sounds like lovely. Condensed milk is truth.
Pang
06.20.2014at9:09 AMThis could become my favourite popsicle this SUMMER. Tea + condensed milk + cherry preserves is such a great combo. :)
I, too, still like ‘Sex and The City,” and the episode where her shoes were stolen at the baby shower was my favourite one.
Btw, I am married into Russian American family, I am so curious to know whether that fact is true. Would you like me to report back?
mandy@ladyandpups
06.20.2014at4:49 PMPANG: OH yes! Please tell us!!
Pang
07.07.2014at7:25 AMHi Mandy, Sorry for the late reply, but here is the answer from my Russian Mother-in-law.
She told me that Russians drank tea with a slice of lemon and jam, mostly loganberry jam, raspberry jam or any homemade berry jam they had. They would mix tea, a slice of lemon, and jam in a glass (if one prefer the tea a little sweeter, a cube of sugar can be added) and then poured it into a deep saucer; they then drank tea from the saucer!!!! Of course, this was the way Russians drank tea when my in-law was little, which was a long time ago. :)
Anyway, she said she had never heard/seen Russians sweeten the tea with cherry preserve before. Well, maybe, some did :)
mandy@ladyandpups
07.07.2014at1:36 PMPANG: good to know!!! Well, now we know not “everything” from SATC is true…
Amanda @ oven&apron
06.20.2014at10:37 AMOh, this is just brilliant. I’ve been recently re-watching SATC myself, so this is a very timely recipe seeing as how I’ve just watched Mr. Big travel to Paris to rescue Carrie from the steely grip of The Russian.
I’ll be re-watching the first movie soon. These popsicles might be in order for a little viewing party.
Paula pereira
06.20.2014at2:44 PMJust want to tell you that your blog, food pics, recipes, stories, all of it, I dig it :)
Sofia // Papaya Pieces
06.20.2014at5:27 PMThis is a new concept for me – tea leaves in a popsicle – so intriguing. I’m all up for refreshing popsicles, something must be wrong with me lately because for unknown reasons (and I am an ice-cream lover) I have not been able to tolerate creamy chocolate ones lately…
Victoria
06.21.2014at12:07 AMMy fabulously gay au pair and I bonded over long nights of binge-watching Sex and the City, seasons 1 through 6, while my son (his charge) slept peacefully through the night. Petrovsky, meh; Big, oh yeah!
You’ve just opened up a whole new world of possibilities for me…again. I am totally looking forward to trying this and experimenting with some of my own twists. Question: Do you have a source for the ice-pop molds? Those in the photos look metallic, which I would much prefer to plastic (blegh!).
mandy@ladyandpups
06.21.2014at1:13 AMVICTORIA, haha I bought these from a factory in china that makes these molds for ACTUAL factories for Popsicle! So I don’t think you can find it in US… It’s crazy what you can get online in china really…
ale
06.21.2014at3:15 AMDa bambina il mio ghiacciolo preferito era al tamarindo subito dopo, in scala di sapore, l’amarena. Il Petrovsky ha il colore del primo e racchiude l’aroma del secondo. E’ un vero tuffo nel passato che neanche Sex and the City può darti. Grazie Mandy!
Melissa @ Treats With a Twist
06.23.2014at5:57 AMSO dying over these! Just so brilliant. I love how these just makes so much sense in terms of the show and translating them into something more special. Perfection.
Alanna
07.07.2014at8:23 AMI have similar mushy feelings for Sex and the City, which I find far less embarrassing than admitting to the fact that I devoured the Twilight novels like a vampire devours… well, anyway. These popsicles sound like my black-tea-loving idea of heaven. And I’m in love with those popsicle molds!
Nick C
09.17.2014at10:40 AMThis looks absolutely incredible!
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