Porcini Polenta

Perfect for winter, I served this warm with steak and veggies. You could also set it by chilling overnight and grill wedges as a side dish. First pour in 500g freshly boiled water from the kettle (faster than waiting for the Thermomix to boil it!) then add 100g polenta and crumble in 3 or 4 dried porcini mushrooms. You can add more or less according to your tatse. Then add 2 tsp Tenina's delicious chicken stock powder, or 1/2 stock cube and set to cook for 30 minutes, 100 degrees speed 2. After about 10 minutes add 1/4 cup milk and continue cooking. Pour into your thermo server until needed, or chill in a lined container overnight then cut into slices and fry/grill before serving.

Sponge cake in 8 minutes!

I saw a recent episode of Masterchef Australia where they made a sponge cake in the microwave after aerating the mix with a whipped cream gun.... curious.... I thought I'd try a version in the thermomix. This quantity makes enough for large size (around 300ml) coffee cup. Choose a paper cup, and slash the bottom a few times to allow steam to vent. Into the thermomix add 1 egg and 35g caster sugar. Mix for 1 minutes speed 6, then add the butterfly and give it 5 minutes on speed 4. Sift into the bowl 15g corn flour, 15g of plain flour and 15g self raising flour. Add a pinch of salt and 1/4 tsp vanilla essence then stir for 1 minute. Finally pour into the paper coffee cup (it should fill it about 1/3) and microwave for 60 seconds. My microwave is 750 watt power at the max setting.

For a choc version I substituted cocoa powder for the plain flour

It was a bouncy sort of texture, so I'll tinker with the cooking time but the kids pronounced it most delish! If you want something quick to have with a bit of fruit and custard for dessert, it's perfect. I think you could play with it in recipes too- ie base layer for individual bombe alaska's or in a trifle?

Sundried Tomato Pesto

I recently splurged at the Simon Johnson sale (love a sale!) and arrived home with loads of goodies, including 2kg of beautiful sundried tomatoes. They were a bargain.... Here's a recipe I tried today. First toast 100g of pine nuts in a dry pan over low heat on the stove until golden and fragrant. Then in the Thermomix blitz 100 Parmesan cheese at speed 10 for 10 seconds and set aside. Into your Thermomix bowl measure in 360g of sundried tomatoes, the toasted pine nuts and 4 cloves of garlic and blitz at speed 6 for 10 seconds. Scrape the sides down, add 20g of fresh basil leaves and mix again at speed 6 for 10 seconds. Pour 1/2 cup of good olive oil onto the lid with the measuring cup in place and run machine on speed 4 until all the oil is combined. Scrape again, add the Parmesan and 1/2 tsp sea salt and mix at speed 4 for a further 20 seconds. This made 2 cups of pesto for the fridge plus two big dessert spoon dollops we mixed with cooked penne pasta, cream, white wine, chicken, mushrooms and baby spinach for dinner tonight.

Quick Apple Pie

Tam shared this recipe with me recently and it was super easy and yum so I have converted it for the Thermomix. Take 125g chopped butter and melt at 90 degrees 3 mins speed 2. Into the bowl add 280g self raising flour, 35g custard powder, 160g sugar and 1 egg and mix at speed 7 for 30 seconds. Scrape sides and give it another 30 seconds until you get a dough. Take about 2/3 of the mix and using your fingers press it into a lined pie tin, or as I did with these ones into a large greased muffin tin. Fill with pie apples then a sprinkle each of caster sugar and cinnamon. For the lid roll out the remaining dough between two layers of baking paper and then remove one side of paper, invert onto the pie and peel the rest of the paper away. If you are doing smaller pies then you can just roll out and cut to shape. Slit the tops a few times, then brush with milk and bake at 175 degrees for 35-40 mins or golden brown. We included a few sultanas on top of the apples, and you could also add berries, or rhubarb. For the 6 muffin tin sized pies I needed about 2/3 of a 800g tin of pie apples or for one large pie I used a whole 800g can. If you have the time you could of course stew the filling yourself. I am going to try a savory version of that crust next, it's a nice texture and I think it would be good with quiche/savory tarts.