Mozzarella Cheese

I recently attended a Mad Milie cheese making course and took home some great loot ready to make fresh cheese. After a few manual batches I turned to the Thermomix to see if that might take some of the labour away. I've had a big fail on making Haloumi, but I'm not convinced it wasn't to do with the fact I had frozen and defrosted the milk. I did however get a great batch of mozzarella on the weekend! I won't go over the recipe but I have posted the Mad Millie webpage in links- if you are keen to give it a go you'll need supplies and their Italian kit has all the bits. I did a half recipe to suit the volume of the thermo bowl and got enough at least half a dozen large pizza's. The stretching of the cheese was the most satisfying part- grown up play dough!

Caremelised Figs

Thanks to my friend Amy, I had a large bag of fresh figs to be used so I decided to caramelise them. Into the Thermomix I added 200g of raw sugar, 1 measuring cup of water and the juice of 2 limes and cooked at varoma temp for 20 mins on stir with the measuring cup lid off. I washed, trimmed and quartered the figs ending up with 670g of fruit which I then added into the bowl with a split vanilla pod and 30g orange-cello (orange liqueur) and cooked for 30 mins again at varoma but reverse stir so as to retain some shape in the fruit. Use the rice basket rested on top of the lid to avoid fig splatters in the kitchen. With 5 minutes left to go add a large pinch of salt. Allow to cool then serve with ice cream, or swirl through softened icecream and re freeze. This would also be delicious with Greek yoghurt and muesli for a breakfast treat!

Icing

A quick post today, I have been making Amy's cake for her birthday and wanted to share the Thermomix time saving help. I made a double batch of the basic chocolate cake recipe from the TM cookbook substituting extra flour for cocoa powder and 2 tsp vanilla extract for the double batch. I then found the Thermomix handy for blending food coloring with ready to roll icing- only 30 seconds on knead setting. It was a benefit that it wasn't too warm from handling and then rolled out easily for decorating. Next step is to figure out how to post a photo of my masterpiece!

Green Mango Chutney

Our local green grocer had green mangoes on sale, chutney time! First I peeled then took the flesh off 3 large mangoes. I roughly chopped the flesh ready to go. Then I took 1 peeled and quartered brown onion, a large green chilli, 1 large red chilli, 3 cloves garlic and a peeled 2cm piece of fresh ginger and blitzed them at speed 5 for 5 seconds to chop. Next add in the mango flesh, 100g brown sugar, 140g white vinegar, 2 tsp ground ginger, 1 tsp each of salt, ground fennel, ground cumin and ground turmeric give it 2 or 3 seconds at speed 5 to chop and combine then 5 mins temp 90 degrees at stir to dissolve sugar. Finally cook at varoma heat for 50 minutes and bottle in sterilized jars. Don't forget to rest your basket over the lid opening or you'll have mango chutney everywhere! This made around 3 cups of chutney in all.

Cannelloni- Comfort Food

Any meal involving Bechamel screams comfort food to me. I made a chicken cannelloni this week using some sauces I had made with the Thermomix. Amy loved it, and we even got Jack to try a mouthful so it's definitely family friendly. A few weeks back I made Passata when I was using up my tomatoes from the markets (recipe straight from the cookbook that came with the thermo) so I had around 500ml on hand. Spread half in the base of a lasagne dish suitable for the oven. Next mince 500g of chicken breast- i like to use mostly frozen chicken cut in chunks for a good texture. Then wilt around 150 g baby spinach leaves by zapping in the microwave for 30 secs. Stir in with the chicken mince and 1 cup of ricotta cheese using stir on reverse for 30 secs. Season with salt, pepper and around a teaspoon of ground nutmeg and stir again for 10 secs. Clean the thermo bowl and get a batch of Bechamel with Cheese started again using the basic cookbook recipe. For the next step I had fresh cannelloni sheets I bought in the supermarket, but I think you could buy fresh lasagna sheets and trim into halves/thirds to get a square shape in need. Gently roll each sheet around a couple of dessert spoons of the mince mix and lay seam side down in the lasagne tray on top of the passata. I made 11 plump cannelloni in all from this recipe. Pour your remaining passata evenly over the rolls, and top with the cheesy sauce in a smooth layer. Sprinkle more grated tasty cheese on top and bake at 175 degrees for 30 mins and rest a further 10 mins before serving. For the very energetic you could certainly make and roll your own fresh pasta and to save dishes wilt spinach in the thermo too, but the microwave does wilt well!

Green Curry Paste

Nicola inspired me to give green curry paste a go as she loves the Thermomix red curry paste. I browsed a few favorite cookbooks, my supplies and what I could buy at the local fruit and veg shop and came up with this. It should make enough for about 4 curries, and will need to be frozen in batches of 100g to store. First I dry fried 2tsp coriander seeds and 2 tsp of cumin seeds on varoma temp stir for 5 minutes. Then mill at speed 8 for 30 seconds. Next add 6 cloves garlic, 6 shallots (small purple onions not spring onions), 9 large green chillies (including seeds if they are the mild type) halved, 4 cm ginger root peeled and quartered, 6 small lemongrass stalks mostly white part, and 50g vegetable oil. Blitz at speed 8 for 20 seconds, then scrape sides and repeat until mix is well combined and quite fine texture. At this stage freeze portions for future use. For your curry fry 100g for 5 minutes then make as usual whether it be in your thermo or on the stove. Check for seasoning and add fish sauce, lime juice or brown sugar in need. If you enjoy more spice add finely sliced chillies.

Holidays are over....

The long and lovely summer holidays have ended, kids are back at school and reality sets in again. Now I have more need to look to the Thermomix for easy dinners again rather than lazing around the BBQ. I had a bag of grape tomatoes in the fridge that needed using so I did an old fave of mine but with help from the thermo. I lined a shallow baking tray with baking paper and spread around 700g of grape tomatoes evenly out (only do this when they are seasonal and cheap as they are in Perth right now or it could be expensive). Next I threw in a whole unpeeled bulb of garlic and buried a whole skinless chicken breast in the tomatoes covering where I could. Then I sprinkled a pinch of sea salt, 1 tsp dried chilli flakes, laid 4 anchovy fillets across the top and a generous grind of pepper. Finally I liberally splashed olive oil over- say 2tbs and shook the tray a bit to combine and put in the oven at 175 fan forced for 30 mins. So far no peeling, chopping etc so very easy! While that's baking if you don't have any Parmesan or similar cheese already grated in the fridge use the Thermomix to grate some up and set aside. Cook up enough spaghetti or any ribbon pasta you fancy in the thermo as you normally would and set aside to drain. Once your tomato mix is done check to see if they are starting to split and collapse, if not give them a few more minutes. Set aside the chicken and garlic bulb and tip the rest including all the pan juices into the thermo bowl. Blitz at speed 5 for 5 seconds for a chunky texture and longer if you prefer smoother. Test for seasoning and add salt and pepper to taste. Slice then chop the chicken and add in, then slice the whole bulb of garlic across the top exposing the cloves by cross section and squeeze the soft garlic in too. I like to use about 1 tsp and save the bulb in the fridge for the next few days. Yummy in salad dressing or for bruschetta. Finally chuck in the cooked pasta and stir on reverse just long enough to combine and serve topped with the grated cheese and some shredded fresh basil. This makes enough sauce for 2 adults and 2 young kids ie smaller serves, or two really saucy adult serves, so just adjust pasta portions to suit. Variations to the sauce that I have tried- adding olives and capers to the roasting pan, pesto at the blending stage, leaving the chicken out and stirring a can of tuna in with the roasted sauce and cooked pasta.