Marinated Mushrooms

Just a quick post to say Ciao from Rome and share a pic of the yummiest marinated mushies I have eaten... EVER!

So much inspiration gleaned on this holiday, I'll be cooking and blogging lots when I get home.

Heavenly Quiche

Bounjour from Strasbourg! We arrived yesterday having come from Paris on the train. I just wanted to share a picture with you of what is possibly the best quiche I have ever tasted- We bought it at a Boulangerie on Rue St Honore near our Paris apartment. I took it along for lunch on the train and ate it cold, and didn't save Baz a crumb it was so yummy....

Au Revoir Mes Amies!

We are setting off on a French adventure on Monday, however thermie will be staying at home. I will try and share some yummy food finds with you and certainly will bring home some inspiration for recipes to try.... 

Cheats Butter Chicken

Cheats Butter Chicken This is adapted from a recipe shared with me by a friend doing the Michelle Bridges 12WBT so thanks Michelle for the inspiration. I wanted to convert it for thermomix use, and it's a great family meal and super easy. Though when served with rice, mango chutney and poppadums it's probably not as low in calories as the original! Chop 1 peeled medium brown onion for 15 seconds speed 4, scraping down sides halfway through. Add 40g oil and cook at varoma speed 1 for 5 minutes. Insert the butterfly, add 450-500g chicken stir fry strips (I did say easy!) and cook again at varoma speed 1 for 5 minutes. Next add 1 400g can crushed tomatoes, 1 400g can of lentils drained and rinsed, 2tbs or 45g tandoori paste, 2tsp stock powder and 30g water. You could use 30g liquid stock or just water if you don't make Tenina's chicken stock powder! Cook for 30 mins at 100 reverse stir speed. Add 120g light cooking cream and cook for a further 2 minutes at 100 stir speed. Serve with all the trimmings and don't feel guilty it's pretty healthy!

Toasted Muesli

I love toasted muesli but prefer not to load my breakfast up with too much fat content. The thermie gets a look in as a mere food processor with this recipe, but it's worth sharing as its delicious and a little bit healthy to boot!

Use the thermomix on speed 4, just 2 or 3 seconds at a time to chop a mix of nuts about 2 cups in all. I used peanuts, cashews, almonds and pepitas for this blend. I warn you it does change each time, so just use what you have in the pantry.

Mix through 2 cups of chopped dried fruit using reverse speed 2, again whatever you like. In this case I used apricots, pears, sultanas and craisons.

Combine the fruit and nuts along with 4 cups of rolled oats in a large bowl, then spread onto an oven tray lined with baking paper. Spray lightly with a low flavor oil- I use rice bran oil spray. Drizzle about 1tbs of maple syrup over before baking at 170 degrees for up to 30 mins or until golden and toasted. Every 5 minutes stir it around and reapply oil and maple so all sides toast, and you can monitor to make sure it doesn't burn.

If you like the flavor add 1/2 cup shredded coconut after 20 mins.

Return to the bowl to cool, and add some other cereal for texture. II used 1 cup of puffed wheat, 1 rice bubbles and 1 of Special K. You can add anything you like here to suit your palate and diet.

Once completely cool store in a sealed container.

4000 Page Views!

Wow I am amazed that today Daily Mixes has logged 4000 page views... I had better get a recipe up pronto to celebrate!

Barbeque Sauce Take 2!

I slow cooked a lamb leg and a chook yesterday, and decided to 'pull' the meat and serve it with coleslaw, baguettes and corn cobs. A yummy, smoky barbeque sauce was needed to round out the offering so I turned to the trusty Thermomix and the result was great! First take 1 quartered pear, 1 quartered brown onion, 1 clove garlic, 1 inch ginger peeled and chop speed 4 for 5 seconds. Add 50ml of oil (I prefer Rice Bran) and sauté 10 mins on varoma temperature speed 2. Next add 1 tsp salt, 1 roughly chopped capsicum, 100g canned sweet pimento's (if you can't find these grilled capsicum would do), 1 400g can diced tomatoes, 35g brown sugar, 30g red wine vinegar, 20g tamarind concentrate, 1/2 tsp each of ground allspice, nutmeg, cinnamon, cloves and 1 dried red chilli. Cook at 100 degrees speed 2 for 30 minutes. Leave the rice basket on top of the lid to stop any splatters but still allow steam to escape. Allow to cool for a few minutes then blitz speed 8 for 60 seconds. This results in a smooth, thick and spoonable sauce. Given it doesn't have too much salt/sugar vinegar I'd say store in the fridge and eat fairly soon- I don't think it will preserve well. It tastes too good to store anyway, my plan is to try it with a bacon sandwich for breakfast next!

Raspberry Souffle

I recently attended a cooking class held by Nico Moretti of the Urban Provider here in Perth. It was a wonderful class and he shared a lot of great Thermomix tips, especially the perfect method for fluffy steamed rice- something I have struggled with to date. I cam away with a copy of his latest cookbook 'Cooking Passions- Delicious Journeys' which I have already tried a number of recipes from. Not only are his recipes delicious and easy, they have both Thermomix and Traditional methods which helps me when I am trying to alter/convert traditional recipes. I won't post the recipe for these Souffles you'll have to buy his book, but I found them easy to make and they rose sky high.

Choc Beetroot Brownie

This recipe makes a super chocolately moist brownie that's even a little bit healthy. Voted fabulicious by my kids, give it a try for an anti-oxidant feel good boost. Put all of the following ingredients straight into your thermomix bowl- a drained 440g can of baby beetroot, 2 eggs, 120 butter cubed, 100g caster sugar (I use raw), 120 self raising flour, 1 heaped tsp baking powder, 50g dark choc cooking bits, or smashed up dark choc if you prefer, 40g of dutch process cocoa, 70g milk and 1 tsp vanilla. Mix for 50 seconds speed 5, scrape sides and then mix another 30 seconds speed 6. Pour into a line 20cm square pan and bake at 45-50 mins at 180 degrees until it springs back to the touch and has shrunk away from the sides slightly. Cool in the pan for half an hour then dust with icing sugar, cut into squares and devour! It should freeze for lunch boxes too, but it's unlikely to last long enough to make it to the freezer....

Bali Chicken

This dish is my thermomix and low fat version of a recipe handed to us by friends who live in Bali. Their lovely housekeeper Made served us this and shared her recipe with me. Sadly Made has passed away but her yummy chicken lives on! Take 1tsp coriander seeds, 1/2 tsp ground cumin, 3 shallots peeled and halved, 3 cloves of garlic, 2 small hot chillies de seeded, 10 candlenuts and 1/4 red capsicum roughly cut. Blitz at speed 6, scrape sides, add 1tbs vege oil and cook at varoma for 5 mins speed 2. Next add 1 375ml can evaporated milk- coconut flavoured, 4 fresh bay leaves, 6 fresh curry leaves, 1 thumb sized piece of galangal bruised and 1 stick of lemongrass also bruised. Cook at speed 2 for 90 degrees until it comes up to temperature, then add 2 skinless chicken breast fillets, cut into thirds. Continue at 90 degrees for 15 mins and reverse speed 1. Take out the chicken fillet pieces and set aside in your thermo server to rest. Bring the rest up to varoma temp and cook at speed 4 for 10 minutes. Add your varoma tray with some chopped veggies ie. Pak Choi, snow peas, bean sprouts and sprinkle with about 1 tsp soy sauce and oyster sauce and continue steaming for a further 5-10 minutes or until wilted but still bright coloured. Set veg aside. Finally pick out bay, galangal and lemongrass and blitz for 1 minute at speed 9 so achieve a smooth creamy sauce. Serve with steamed rice. With a bit of revision you could probably do rice after taking the chicken out and adding some water but I haven't experimented that far yet! Bagus Made!

Zingy BBQ Sauce

Today we were getting ready for a day out with mates, and the food being planned was roasted meat rolls so I decided a BBQ sauce would be a nice addition! I roughly chopped 1 onion, 3 cloves garlic, 1 large carrot and a celery stick and blitzed for 3 seconds at speed 6. I added 50g olive oil and sautéed at varoma temp for 5 minutes speed 2. Next I added 2 green apples, 4 plums with stones removed and 2 tomatoes all roughly chopped and blitzed again at speed 4 for 5 seconds. Then I added 250g cider vinegar, 200g brown sugar, 1 tbs salt, 1/2 tsp whole peppercorns, 1 tsp mustard powder, 2 tsp smoked paprika, 1 tsp ground ginger, 1 tsp ground allspice and 2 whole cloves. This was cooked at 100 degrees for 45 minutes speed 2. I allowed it to cool for 5 mins then blitzed at speed 10 for 1 minute. I think with the vinegar content it should keep for a good while in the fridge, if you bottle in sterilized glass. That's assuming it lasts that long!

Ginger Beer Cordial

A long hot summer in Perth has sent us searching for ultra refreshing drinks. Ginger beer is a favorite by itself or as a mixer. I found a similar recipe reading the blog by Not Quite Nigella and thought I'd give it a go making my own. First I took a 200g hand of fresh ginger, and roughly chopped (unpeeled) before blitzing at speed 6 for 2 seconds. Then I added 1 litre of cold water and cooked at 100 degrees speed 2 for 10 minutes. Finally I added to the mix 150g raw sugar and continued for a further 10 mins at 100 degrees speed 2. Finely strain, cool and mix with equal quantities of soda water, or to taste. If you prefer more fizz dilute with cold water and aerate with a soda street or the like!

Ricotta Hot Cakes

Thanks to Bill Granger for the inspiration here, I've made these so many times I remember method and quantity by heart! First beat 4 egg whites using the butterfly at speed 4 for a minute until firm and fluffy. Set beaten whites aside and remove butterfly. Next add the 4 eggs yolks into the bowl, along with 200g ricotta cheese, 1 cup of plain flour, 2 tsp baking powder, a pinch of salt and 200g milk. Mix at speed 5 for 15 seconds. Scrape the sides down, add the butterfly back in along with the beaten whites and mix at speed 4 for a further 5 seconds. Cook in a heavy based and lightly oiled fry pan at low to medium temp until golden. Our favorite way to serve is with Greek yoghurt, fresh strawberries and a generous drizzle of maple syrup! I've also used up leftover batter by mixing through grated veggies and cheese for a savory kids snack.