Thursday, January 26, 2012

Beer Can Chicken

Aussie Aussie Aussie Oi Oi Oi! A chicken roasted on the barbeque with beer- does it get any more Australian than that! After reading a recipe in the latest edition of ABC Delicious I decided to give it my take, with a Steve influence. First I brined a 2.5kg free range chicken overnight in the following solution- 100g salt, 100g sugar and 1 teaspoon of smoked paprika dissolved in 1 cup warm water then topped up to 2 litres of cool water from the tap. Put the chicken in the brine in a deep saucepan then top up with cold water to cover, cover with a lid and refrigerate overnight. The next day I drained the bird in a colander for an hour to dry out and bring closer to room temp. I lit the BBQ and spread a layer of charcoal to light over the grill side, but you can leave that step out in need. It's important your BBQ has a hood if not I'm sure your oven will do. Next the can of beer- I chose a 500ml can due to the large bird. I drained about 1/4 of the beer and stuffed into the can half a sliced lemon, fresh thyme, sage and oregano from the garden. I placed the can on a foil lined tray, and standing the chicken upright slid it onto the beer can filling the cavity. I basted it with half a cup of tomato sauce (see recipe a few days back) and roasted on the bbq under the hood for 2 hrs at approx 180 degrees. We used heat from the charcoal for most of that but had to boost it with the gas burner towards the end. Cover with foil and rest for 30 mins before carving to serve. Happy Australia Day!

Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Sorbet or Slushie?

We had a sorbet failure this week. After hearing my friends with Thermomixes rave about the delicious sorbet they can make we decided to try a lemon sorbet. I followed the recipe from the book- using just over 200g lemon and all we ended up with was sorbet slush! I tried adding a bit more ice but in the end we settled for slush and I chucked the rest in the freezer to sulk. There is a silver lining to my cloud though- today I pulled the now frozen sorbet block out of the freezer, shaved chunks off it with a bread knife and reblitzed for about a minute at speed 10 and managed a passable sorbet after all..... I'd love to hear any ideas on how to make sorbet right the first time, and in the meantime I'll try a refreshing cocktail recipe. Mix a measure of vodka with a cup of lemon sorbet, take a tall champagne flute and pour cava in the bottom, add a generous dollop of vodka/sorbet mix and top with fresh chopped mint and more cava to fill the glass. Perfect for a 38 degree scorching day here in Perth. Cheers!

Saturday, January 21, 2012

Kitsch Bar

We farmed the kids out to their lovely Auntie, and headed to Kitsch Bar in Leederville for a meal. Great atmosphere, it feels like you are in Asia (especially with Perth's sultry climate right now). The swinging chair Cherie and I both had a turn in was fun, and the odd frangipani blossom dropping from gnarled branches overhead added to the experience. The food was delish, and 'small plate' style, but Baz raised the query as to how a few beers can cost more than a well prepared and flavored meal? And I mean 8 beers between 3 of us over a few hours.... Your thoughts? Is beer marked up higher percentage profit than wine?

Friday, January 20, 2012

Saucy Mixer

A $4 box full of tomatoes I bought at the markets this week has inspired a cooking frenzy. So far I have tried fruity tomato (ketchup style) sauce, BBQ sauce and some passata. My lovely neighbor Tilly tasted the ketchup and pronounced it hotdog worthy so here's how I made it. Put 1 brown onion, 1 cored green apple (both quartered), 1cm peeled fresh ginger, 1 clove of garlic and 30g of olive oil in the thermo bowl. First blitz at speed 5 for 3 seconds to chop, then sauté at varoma temp reverse stir for 5 mins. Next add 1 kg ripe tomatoes, flesh from a large ripe mango, 1/2 tsp allspice and 1 mc lid of water. Again blitz for 3 secs at speed 5 to chop then cook for 30 mins at 100 degrees speed 1. I rested the rice basket on the lid to contain splashes. Blitz at speed 9 for 30 seconds then pass through a fine sieve, return to bowl and add 1tsp salt, 75g red wine vinegar and 50g raw sugar. Cook for 30 mins varoma stir speed (again use basket for splashes). Test for seasoning and consistency and cook a little longer in need. It will thicken a little when cooled. Bottle in sterile bottles- I've found swing tops beer bottles work a treat. It's quite orange, for a better colour I might try plums (around 200g) in lieu of mango flesh but the kids happily dipped chips in it tonight regardless. Makes around 500ml

Monday, January 16, 2012

Chicken and Mushroom Risotto

After a disastrous first attempt (grey gluey rice...blech) I managed a nice Risotto last night. I do think a great risotto is a labour of love, and find I really enjoy stirring and nurturing it to the right blend. I am happy though to have a version for midweek dinners and even Jack ate a bowl- albeit without any chicken or mushrooms in his serve! I used 1 brown onion and 2 cloves of garlic and processed at speed 5 for 3 seconds to chop. I then added 400g of chicken diced into 2cm cubes, and 30 g of olive oil and sautéed at 100 degrees for 6 minutes on reverse stir. Next went into 300g of Arborio rice, 140g sliced mushrooms, 900g chicken stock and 100g white wine. I cooked it at 100 degrees reverse speed 1 1/2 for 16 minutes and then poured into the thermo server to sit for 5 minutes before serving with a generous sprinkle of grated Romano cheese. Parmesan or even tasty cheese would have been fine too, and when I ate some as left overs for lunch today I added a splash of hot sriracha chilli sauce. I ended up sitting the rice basket on top during cooking instead of the measuring cup so more steam could escape but not the risotto as it was bubbling through the lid opening.

Sunday, January 15, 2012

Party food or just yummy morning tea

I was scanning the fridge for healthy snacks this morning, and decided I had the fixings for some chicken sausage rolls- a perfect chance to try and adapt an old fave to the Thermo. First defrost 3 sheets of ready rolled puff pastry and pre-heat the oven to 200 degrees celcius (fan forced). Line a baking tray with baking paper. Into the thermo put a peeled and quartered a brown onion, a whole carrot and half a zucchini again quartered. Pulse on turbo 4 or 5 times for a fine dice, then add 15g oil and sauté at Varoma for 4 mins at speed 1 to soften. Next add a slightly defrosted chicken breast dcubed coarsely(5cm pieces or so) and 40-50g of stale bread torn into smaller pieces and blitz at speed 9 for 5 seconds. Season with 1/2 tsp of ground cumin and 1/2 tsp of garlic salt and blitz again for 3 seconds or until the mix is a fine mince. Cut the defrosted pastry sheets in half and create a sausage shaped strip of the mince mix down each of the 6 pastry rectangles lengthwise. Roll them into long sausage shapes with the seam on the underside. Cut them with a sharp knife at 2cm intervals to make bite sized morsels, lay out on the tray, brush each lightly with milk and bake for 20-25 minutes until puffed and golden. This recipe should make around 50 mini sausage rolls. Even our fussiest eater gave me 100 out of 100 score on these! I use low fat pastry but don't feel you have to, and you could certainly make your own rough puff if you have the energy, but these were 45 mins from start to stomach.

Thursday, January 12, 2012

Keeping our Bechamel fan happy

Ok it's simple food but Amy's very favorite thing to eat, pasta with Cheese sauce. This is now a one pot all in together dish thanks to the thermo. Happy days! Take 125g of tasty cheese and blitz for a few seconds at speed 8 to chop up then add in 15g butter, 2tsp plain flour, 200g skim milk, 200g water and 100 of dry pasta ie macaroni or small shells. Cook for 16 mins, 90 degrees reverse speed one and voila- cheesy pasta. I added a drained 185g can of tuna today and was asked for corn next time please. For variation I'll try adding frozen peas and corn at the 12 minute mark, or stirring creamed corn in with the tuna. It is quite saucy so it will cope with a few additions. This was adapted and halved from a recipe posted on Brazen's Gluten Free Thermomix blog- check out my links to find her blog it has lots of recipes and information for Thermomix.

Wednesday, January 11, 2012

Spiced Plum Paste

My fruit drawer in the fridge had a few plums (sugar and blood variety) getting squishy and taking up space, so I decided to try a plum paste. I will serve it with a cheese platter and crackers, and expect it will last a month in the fridge due to the sugar content and preserving process. I removed stones and ended up with 260g plums. I added 200g raw sugar and as I didn't have any lemons a used a quarter of a grapefruit with skin, pith and seeds removed to add some tang. I blitzed them for 3 seconds at speed 8 so there was still some texture but almost puréed. Then I added a cinnamon quill and 1 star anise whole and cooked at varoma heat, reverse and stirring for 1 hour with the measuring lid off. Then I allowed it to cool for 15 mins and spread on a piece of baking paper in a dehydrator and left for 1 hr 45 mins. You could put it in an oven at lowest temp on a baking tray for same result. It was quite sticky and almost firm but not yet leathery. Can't wait to try some with a nice gooey cheese and a glass of bubbles! I also think this could easily be doubled, and I'd like to try a version with fresh red chilli added for bite.

Sunday, January 8, 2012

Fruity Dreams!

I think this machine will earn it's place on fruity dream alone! I've tweaked the recipe somewhat but the kids love it and it's a regular guessing game to pick what fruit I've added. Don't be tempted to double quantities when you have visitors, the load is too great. Just run two batches. 35-40 raw sugar on speed 8 for 30 seconds Add 400g frozen fruit and blitz at speed 9 for 60 seconds, scraping down in need. Insert butterfly and add an egg white then mix at speed 4 for a minute or until soft serve consistency. Eat straight away or can be frozen but it does get a bit icey. So far we've tried the following combo's Strawberry Blueberry, raspberry, cranberry Mango Passionfruit Banana and mixed berries Watermelon, Pineapple, Kiwi and banana I've been freezing any fruit on it's way out in chunks ready to blend, so my wastage is way down too- but our berry consumption up! Thank goodness for bulk frozen packs at our local green grocer. A dollop of Greek yoghurt is also delish added with the fruit.

Wednesday, January 4, 2012

All scream for ice cream!

After another 30 + degree summer day in Perth I decided to give ice cream a try. I used a recipe from one of my favorite cookbooks 'Must Eat' by Russell Blaikie and applied the mixer method. Here's what happened! Into the bowl add 3 egg yolks, 250 ml cream, 250 ml milk (I used skim), 100 sugar, 2 tsp liquid glucose and 1 tsp vanailla bean paste. Mix at 80 degrees and speed 4 for 7 minutes or unil thick enough to coat the back of a spoon. Chill overnight then churn in an ice cream machine then finish in freezer for an hour or two. Results were ok... And the kids had no complaints but I could taste the cream had separated somewhat. Next time I'll apply Russell's method a little more by adding cream after cooking other ingredients then chilling, or by forgoing the ice cream machine and trying the mix method of freezing until firm then re mixing. Wish me luck it's a challenge that we'll all enjoy.

Monday, January 2, 2012

Pizza Sauce

Happy New Year! I decided to test out the new mixer with a Pizza sauce, as follows. We had visitors and kids ranging from age 3 to 15 happily ate the Pizza unknowingly eating plenty of veg! Blitz 1 brown onion, 2 carrots, 1 celery stick, 1/2 zucchini and 2 cloves garlic for a few seconds to dice, then sauté in 1 tbs olive oil for 5 minutes to soften. I added 1 can diced tomatoes, 500g passata and 2 tbs tomato paste and cooked at 100 degrees, for 20 mins slowly stirring. The final step was a blend at speed 9 for about 15 seconds until a really smooth texture. I used a cup between 6 pizza's and froze the rest in small batches for future use. As I get better with the mixer, I would imagine I could just use whole tomatoes and homemade tomato paste to ensure a preservative free blend.

Ninja Pizza's!