Sunday, July 28, 2013

Lentil and vegetable soup


Nothing is more comforting than a hot bowl of soup! I'm not one who is much for vegetarian dishes , I'm a huge fan of meat. But this soup really hits the spot and is extremely satisfying. 
It's not true vego as I used my Home made chicken stock , but you could use veggie stock or thermomix veggie stock concentrate mixed with water if you wanted it to be vegetarian. 

To start soak 200g brown lentils in water for about half a hour. 
Mince in thermomix bowl 3 garlic cloves speed 8 for 10 seconds. 
Peel and quarter 1 brown onion & 1 red onion 
Quarter 4 large Roma tomatoes 
Add onions and tomato to the bowl and chop on speed 4 for 5 seconds. 
Measure in 40 g extra virgin olive oil 
Cook for 3 minutes on varoma temperature, reverse speed 1 

chop into bite size pieces , then add to bowl 
2 peeled medium carrots 
1 zucchini 
200 g peeled sweet potato 
150 g celery 
Measure and add in 100 g frozen peas 
Cook for 5 minutes , varoma temperature , reverse speed 1 

Drain and rinse the lentils and add to the vegetables in the bowl along with :
30 g fresh parsley 
1 tablespoon dried basil 
1 tablespoon turmeric 
Pinch of dried chilli flakes 
1 bay leaf 
700g liquid chicken stock ( or any stock of your choice)

Cook for 45 minutes , 90 degrees , reverse speed 2 

Serve with fresh grated Parmesan :) 









Tuesday, July 23, 2013

Chicken & Vegetable Pie with "Cauliflower cream"


on tonight's menu was a simple old time favourite Creamy Chicken and Veggie pie, but with a few tweaks I turned this into a thermomix meal and created a "healthier" cream instead of the usual dairy option. I've got a bit of a thing for cauliflower lately , since discovering I can make mock rice from it. So hence the experiments and the creation of cream. It's was so easy to prepare and tasted great! I've used the cauliflower cream in a carbonara pasta dish before and it worked perfectly. 

 So to start I made some rough puff pastry using the recipe from the EDC cook book and substituting plain flour and used Spelt flour instead. My first attempt and it was delicious but the pastry broke up a bit when I was cutting it up to serve, but either way I guess your going to cut it up anyways to eat it but still nice to have a good looking pie for presentation ;) if anyone has made puff pastry using spelt flour and has any tips please share! 

 While the puff pastry was in the fridge I then started on the filling. 
So firstly roughly chop into small pieces 2 cups of cauliflower heads making sure to remove the stalks. 
Rinse under tap then add to the thermomix bowl and grind up on speed 5 for 30 seconds, or until it is all minced, remove from bowl to the steamer basket. 

Don't bother rinsing the left over crumbs from the cauliflower leave them in the bowl and add 
200 g liquid chicken stock 
170 g water 
Put the steamer basket in place and cook on varoma temperature speed 3 for 25 minutes.

Place the varoma basket ontop and add to the top basket 
200 g diced chicken breast 

to the bottom Varoma tray cut into very small cubes add the following vegetables 
1 carrot peeled 
15g of zucchini 
15g leek 
20g broccoli 
1 stalk of celery
Small handful of frozen peas 


With 10 minutes remaining check the chicken and move it around in the dish , make sure still enough liquid in the bowl. 
Once time is up remove Varoma basket and keep chicken and veggies warm.
Remove the steamer basket with the spartula then carefully scrape out the steamed cauliflower into the thermomix bowl and remaining liquid stock. 
To the bowl add and blend on speed 9 for 50 seconds 
3 garlic cloves peeled 
Small handful of parsley or teaspoon of dried parsley 
1 teaspoon dried thyme 
Salt and pepper to taste

To the cauliflower cream add the chicken and vegetables , and cook on varoma temperature for 2 minutes reverse speed 2. Leaving the mc lid off to let steam evaporate. 

Roll out the puff pastry and fit the bottom layer in a greased pie dish, pour the filling in and i then added a thin layer of parmesan cheese ,
then put the top layer of puff pastry. I poked a few times with a fork and sprinkled with water and olive oil.
Pop into the pre heated oven on 220 degrees for 30 minutes.



There you have it a creamy pie that usually is full of calories and fat , and I bet if you never told anyone no one would even know it was not actual cream! 


Sunday, July 21, 2013

Italian feast alla Thermomix

This weekend has been full of nothing but eating , cooking ,eating and eating some more ! Why is it when you decide it's time to buckle down and start to watch what you are consuming you eat the worst? I blame the weather all I am craving is rich home made pastas and bread , bring on summer!!!!
This wedding body is suffering terribly and with under 7 months to go things are not looking too promising! Haha but I have to say I have thoroughly enjoyed today and preparing tonight's dinner, it had taken me all day but was well worth every second and I find it so relaxing.
On tonight's menu we had a mixture of fresh ravioli served with my own tomato sauce base, I made the dough in the Thermomix and rolled out in the pasta roller. The ravioli was stuffed with garlic and minced beef, then I alternated and stuffed some with pumpkin and ricotta cheese. This was my first attempt at ravioli, it is extremely time consuming so allow plenty of time! 
I cooked some beef meat balls with the sauce in the slow cooker, and baked a plaited herb and garlic bread. 
Also just a simple garden salad on the side. 
I should also mention that I did cook up enough food for a army! There was more than enough to feed 3 adults with leftovers. I'd say this whole Meal would feed 6 People very comfortably. So you could half the ingredients, or do as I do and pop in freezer for those nights you don't have enough time to prepare dinner! Another note is this meal is garlic loaded! This Italian blood loves it! But not sure if you all feel the same or as comfortable with it as I am ;) again you can halve the garlic, and omit the chilli too! The choice is yours! ;) 


So I started with mincing the beef in the Thermomix. I had about 850g of beef chuck steak, it was partly frozen still which is perfect for mincing in the Thermomix, cube the beef into about 2cm cubes and mince in bowl about 200g at a time. I set dial to closed lid position and turbo pulse quickly about 3 times. 

I then minced In the bowl 3 garlic cloves and mixed into the beef mince that i set aside in a seperate plastic container, pop some glad wrap on and pop in the fridge for after. 

Basic tomato sauce 

In the bowl mince 5 garlic cloves speed 9 ,15 seconds 
Peel and roughly chop 2 carrots & grate in bowl with the garlic speed 7 ,15 seconds 
Peel and quarter 2 brown onions add to bowl and chop on speed 4 , 5 seconds 
Measure in 40g extra virgin olive oil and cook all above ingredients on varoma temperature ,reverse speed 2 , 2 minutes 

Wash and quarter then add to bowl once time is up 
9 large fresh tomatoes  chop on speed 4 , 30 seconds 

Add to bowl: 
1 tablespoon vegetable concentrate 
1 tablespoon dried basil 
2 teaspoons dried parsley 
Pinch dried chilli flakes 
Small pinch of brown sugar 
1/2 cup frozen peas 
1/2 cup fresh corn stripped off the cob 
1/2 red capsicum 
1 cup mushrooms roughly sliced 
Cook all the ingredients in the bowl on varoma temperature , reverse speed 2 for 20 minutes.

Quickly slice up about 1 cup of butternut pumpkin into small thin 2 cm pieces , place in the varoma dish and steam ontop of the sauce, by the time I finished cutting up the pumpkin there was 15 minutes left on the cooking time which was perfect for lightly steaming the pumpkin. 

Meatballs
As the Thermomix was already pre occupied cooking the sauce and pumpkin, I made the meatballs by hand, which is really easy to do but you could mix all together in the Thermomix before cooking the sauce but I wanted to get the sauce up and running ASAP. 
Firstly I separated the mince and set aside about a quarter in another bowl and set in the fridge to use in the ravioli later. 

With a fork push the mince to one side of the plastic bowl and crack 1 whole egg onto the other side and quickly whisk with a fork , 
Add
1 teaspoon dried parsley 
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce 
1 tablespoon Parmesan cheese 
Salt / pepper to taste 
Pinch dried chilli flakes 
5 big handfuls bread crumbs ( I used my own bread crumbs that I make from the left over crusts from my mixed grains bread ) 


Using the fork combine all the ingredients.  If the mixture seems really sticky still add more bread crumbs, it should easily bulk up together and mould together when squished in the side of the bowl with the fork. 

Using clean hands , pick up small handfuls of the mince mixture and mould and roll into balls and set on a cutting board. 

By this stage the time should be up on the sauce, remove the varoma dish and set aside the pumpkin to cool.
Pour the sauce into a slow cooker and place the meat balls spaced out on top of the sauce. Pop the lid on the slow cooker and set on high heat for 1 hour. 
( will take longer to cook obviously but start out on high for 1 hour then set to low for 5 hours ) 

Beef , pumpkin & ricotta ravioli 

Making pasta dough in the Thermomix is so easy and quick! Not to mention the taste and texture is beautiful I will never ever ever buy pasta again.
I usually add spinach to my dough it makes it a light green colour which I don't mind at all and is a great way of sneaking some extra veg. If you decided against spinach I would recommend adding a extra egg to the mix. 
I used 2 portions of frozen spinach, I had some " homebrand frozen spinach" in the freezer
Blitz it in the Thermomix bowl,on speed 9 for 20 seconds, beware this is a noisy task so block your ears and turn your head the other way unless you want ringing ears for the rest of the day ;) 

It will blend into a fine powder like texture.
As this was my first time making ravioli I was a bit skeptical using all spelt flour as I was not sure how it would go and as we were having our friend Shay over for dinner I didn't want to risk it. So I only used a quarter of wholemeal spelt and the rest plain white flour. 
Add to the minced spinach in the bowl
100g wholemeal spelt flour
420 g plain white flour
1 tablespoon extra Virgin olive oil 
4 whole eggs
Put the lid on and turn dial slowly to speed 6 till well mixed, then put on closed lid position and knead for 1 minute and 30 seconds 
The dough will look like thick chunky bread crumbs , poke with your finger to see if the dough is soft and bounces back into shape. If the dough is kneaded into a ball it's too wet, so put on knead cycle again and add a teaspoon at a time extra flour till majority of it is looking a bit like this 
See how it looks a bit crumbly? Get a handful of the crumbs and see if it easily moulds in your palm into a ball , if so its the right consistency ,
Carefully pour the crumbs onto thermomat and roll into a ball picking up all the little crumbs. Spray the dough and Matt with a little spray oil and set aside. 

Now I prepare the fillings, mix up some light ricotta cheese in a small bowl with about a teaspoon dried basil , salt and pepper to taste. Set aside
Remove the other bowl of minced beef from the fridge and whisk a egg white and mix into the minced beef set aside . 
Collect the cooling steamed pumpkin and sit all the filling ingredients next to your work space.

Using a pasta roller machine ( mine is a manual machine ) roll out thin sections of the dough. On my pasta machine I rolled it out to the number 3 thickness 


Set a rolled out piece of dough on the thermo Matt and using a scone dough cutter , press into the dough to create the circles. 
Place 1 piece of pumpkin and a small dollop of ricotta cheese into the centre of one of the dough circles, them place another dough circle ontop and gently using your finger tips squish together the edges of the doughs to seal. 


As I was making a mixture of ravioli fillings , once I used up all the pumpkin and ricotta I then began on the beef mince ones, using the same techniques and adding a small dollop of the mince meat egg whites then sealing. 


Place the stuffed raviolis on a lined tray with baking paper , and sprinkle with some extra plain flour. Cover with cling wrap and pop in fridge for later. 

I baked some herb and garlic bread, following the same recipe for my Cheesey Bacon Bread  but omitting the bacon and adding a extra clove of garlic and also added extra herbs.
So using all the same ingredients and measurements and directions but adding 2 teaspoons dried oregano , 2 teaspoons parsley dried , 2 teaspoons dried thyme. 
Plaited and baked in the oven for 30 minutes. 

Once the 6 hours have passed with the slow cooker , gently remove the cooked meatballs from the sauce with a slotted spoon , and place in the thermoserver to keep warm. Turn heat off the slow cooker,give a good stir then replace the lid. 


To cook the ravioli , bring to boil in a big saucepan about 3 litres of salted water, 
Gently peeling off the raviolis from the baking paper , drop in the boiling water about 15 at a time. Let cook for a few minutes, once the raviolis and risen to the waters surface remove with a slotted spoon. I then popped them straight into the slow cooker into the sauce to keep warm. 


Once finished cooking all the batches of ravioli stir in the sauce still completely covered in the sauce.

And that's it! My cooking day was complete all that was left was to stuff our faces full of the goodness!
Serve the ravioli with fresh grated Parmesan , and as I mentioned before a small basic garden salad  to serve too, even though we ate too much of everything else the salad barely got touched!
I popped some left over ravioli into a plastic container in the freezer, to take to my grandmas to brag to her how good I am at making my own ravioli! She will be very proud, if only she knew just how easy it is with the Thermomix ;) 


The boys not too impressed I have my ipad out snapping for my blog ;) 
Left to right: my love Daniel , and his good mate Shay who always appreciates my cooking :) 



























Friday, July 19, 2013

Cheesey bacon spelt bread

We have been invited over to a friends house for a lasagna dinner tonight, and I hate rocking up anywhere empty handed especially this couple who are always so generous and often invite us around and supply a huge yummy feast and drinks ;) 
I finished up in the salon early for a Saturday so I had some time to prepare some bread , not so healthy though but hey you only live once and can have a naughty day every now and then right? Plus you can't have lasagna with out a delicious fresh bread to compliment. 
I was really nervous baking this as I sort of just added everything to the Thermomix bowl measuring as I went along with fingers crossed it would be ok. Baking has never been my forte so I was pleasantly surprised when all came together quite nicely ;) 

First up I had some bacon in the freezer that I'd defrosted and 220g of it did seem like quite a lot but I needed to use it all up, so if wanting you could probably halve the amount if bacon used , but who doesn't love bacon? I quickly diced it up once it had defrosted. 

To the bowl add : 
3 cloves of garlic 
Mince on speed 8 for 10 seconds. Scrape down sides. 
Then add 220g diced bacon rashes 
40 g butter 
Cook on varoma temperature for 2 minutes reverse speed 2 with mc lid off. 
Remove from bowl and set aside to cool 

Grate in bowl 
80 g tasty cheese
20 g Parmesan cheese 
Remove and set aside 

Grate in bowl 
1 cup fresh basil 
Remove and set aside with the cheese 
Make sure you have scraped the bowl as best as possible of any cheese and basil. 

Then measure and add to bowl in this order : 
300 g Luke warm water 
2 teaspoons dried yeast 
1 teaspoon sea salt 
Mix together in bowl on 39 degrees speed 2 for 40 seconds. 

Add to bowl 
320 g white spelt flour 
200 g wholemeal spelt flour 
10 g extra virgin olive oil 
1 teaspoon wallabies bread improver 
About half the diced bacon 
About half cheese and basil mixture 
Mix all ingredients together on speed 6 for 10 seconds 
Set dial to closed lid position and knead for 1 minute. 

Spray oil on thermo mat and remove dough onto the mat and roll into a ball, wrap dough lightly in mat and set aside to rise in a warm spot ( dash board of car always a winner for me )  for about half a hour.

After the dough has doubled. Punch down and quickly and gently separate into 3 even pieces and roll into logs like this , the dough should be very sticky and tacky. 

Careful not to over knead or roll the dough too much. As I've mentioned before spelt flour does not like over kneading and will make the bread more dense. 
Then remove logs onto a oven tray lined with baking paper and gently plait the dough


Sprinkle remaining cheese and bacon mixtures on top 
And set aside to rest for another 10 minutes. 
Then pop into a cold oven for 30 minutes on 200 degrees. 

Check the bread after 30 minutes, I struggle to know when bread is ready and I sometimes seem to over bake then I get the accused " rock bread " thrown around. I put a skewer in the middle and it came out clean so that was my sign it was baked ;) and it turned out perfect. Still lovely and soft and moist. We had lashings of butter and my friend had hers with coconut oil spread onto it. 
Will definitely make this bread again ! 






Wednesday, July 17, 2013

Chicken stock made from scraps

Yes you read right, I pretty much make my chicken stock from any leftovers & peels, skins veggie cuts.
Whenever we have any chicken if it contains bones I collect them and stick them in a zip lock bag and chuck in the freezer. Sounds gross I know but they are going to be re cooked for that long I figure nothing can survive ;) also I have a bag in the freezer that I put all left over onion peels, garlic skins and off cuts of vegetables. If I notice something in the fridge is on its way out and if I cant use it in a recipe in the freezer bag it goes ! I can't bear to throw anything out and always try to make sure I use everything up! I even freeze egg shells , they are full if calcium when cooked in the stock. 
You wouldn't believe that all this makes the best chicken stock! Obviously I strain all the bones and veg cuts so your left with super nutritious rich liquid stock that's perfect for using as a base in recipes or making soup.

Tonight my vegetable freezer bag contained :
Onion peel (both red and brown )
Garlic skin
Broccolini stems
Off cuts from spring onion 
Red capsicum tops / core 
Pumpkin seeds / skin 
Carrot peel 
Sweet potato peel 
Celery leaves 
Zucchini skin / ends 
Tomato leaves 
 
I had some plastic containers in the freezer too with about 4kilos of chicken bones I'd been saving.
I cook the stock up in my slow cooker ! Such a fantastic $22 spent at good ol big w! 
I put all the left over veg and bones in the pot then add a additional brown onion with skin and 4 unpeeled and squashed garlic cloves , 2 celery stalks with leaves roughly chopped , 2 bay leaves , 1 carrot unpeeled roughly chopped. I then pour about 4-5 litres of cold pura tap water till its all covered and water reaches the max level. Measure in 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar. Put the lid on the slow cooker and let sit for about 20 minutes. 
This allows the apple cider vinegar draw all the flavour and nutrients out from the egg shells and chicken bones. 
Give the stock and quick stir and I add a bunch of parsley lightly chopped, flick the power on the slow cooker and set on high. Once it starts bubbling a bit if there is any scummy impurities that have risen to the surface I then scrape off with a slotted spoon. I give the stock one more good stir then turn it down to low heat pop the lid back on and go to bed ;) ( I usually make stock at night ) 
Cook on low for minimum 9 hours , I have left it for 24 hours before and I find the longer it cooks for the more rich the stock and more "jellyish" 
Strain the stock through I fine sieve , making sure to capture all that nutritious liquid in another pot . I'm only now happy to discard the left over bones and veggies! They have done their job. But trust me if I could think of something to use the scraps up in again I would ! Haha. 

I separate the liquid stock into small plastic containers and store in the freezer. 

So so so much better for you than bought packaged stock and not to mention the taste is by far amazing :) 



Thermomix mixed grains bread.


It's taken me a while and countless amounts of research and "dud bread" that I've had to use for breadcrumbs , but I've finally created a mixed grain bread that works and is edible ;) 
It makes about 20 slices of thinly sliced bread and I recommend for it all to be eaten with in 2 days , as the lack if preservatives makes it go stale quickly. Or as I do slice it up and store 2 slices in zip lock bags in the freezer and toast as needed. 
I get all my grains and flours from a great wholesaler that public can purchase from called suntrails foods south of adelaide ,they also sell a huge range of nuts , organic foods and snacks. http://mobile.yellow.com.au/sa/lonsdale/suntralis-foods-12348003-listing.html?ref=onlineRedirect

So first up I mill the buckwheat groats in the thermo bowl on speed 9 for 1 minute, put aside and rinse bowl 
Then add 300g water 
3 teaspoons of instant yeast 
1 tablespoon of honey 
1 teaspoon sea salt 
Heat in bowl on 37 degrees speed 2 for 1 minute 

Then measure and add into bowl 
100 g milled buckwheat 
50 g dark rye flour 
150 g white spelt flour 
200 g wholemeal spelt flour 
20g chia seeds 
1 tablespoon extra Virgin olive oil 

Mix on speed 6 for 10 seconds, then set dial to closed lid position and knead for 1 minute and 30 seconds. Dont over knead as spelt flour does not cope well at all with over kneading and it will make the bread too dense. 
The dough will be very sticky and will feel that it's hard to manage but it is better to be sticky texture as it will make a softer loaf ;) 
Spray a Thermomix mat with spray oil and tip the bowl upside down and twist the blades from underneath to release the dough , pick out any left overs with your fingers and roll into a ball and gently wrap up in mat. 
I then go pop it in the car on the dash board if its a nice warm day to let it rise. Usually about 30 minutes. 

After the dough has risen , unwrap the Mat and the dough will be all sticky and bubbly on the mat , but that's ok just roll around the dough using your hands till all the bits of dough have been picked up off the mat and you have a ball again. 
Shape into a loaf and place into a bread tin

Then using a sharp knife score the top and sprinkle with water and olive oil. 
Pop it In a cold oven then set to 200 degrees for 30 minutes. 

The dough will get its second rise in the cold oven as it heats up. 
Once time Is up and the bread has risen and baked. Remove from tin and place on wire rack to cool.
It's best to leave the bread to cool as much as possible before slicing as I learnt today from quirky cooking! That's if you can resist the warm yummy bread! 

Om nom nom! 








Tuesday, July 16, 2013

Pumpkin,chicken & broccolini Quinoa risotto

I only just recently discovered Quinoa, and I have to say I'm loving it! I can't wait to do some more experimenting with this grain and try it in flour form for use in my breads etc.
The only downfall is I have to plan ahead if I want to use it in a recipe as it really needs to be soaked over night to remove the bitterness. I'm not very good at planning ahead meals I usually decide on the day depending on what my belly is craving. But I knew on Sunday that I wanted some risotto so I jumped out of bed that night and measured in some quinoa with water and popped it in the fridge ready for Monday nights meal ;) impulse decisions hit me a day early for once! 
This risotto Is fairly quick and very easy to make especially in the thermie! And what I love most is you can add just about anything in , so I got to use up veggies in the fridge before they got sad :) 

So you will need to soak overnight : 300 g Quinoa. I literally measure it in the bowl add enough water so it's all covered then with the lid on pop it in the fridge. 
Then the next day before I start cooking I drain it in a fine strainer and rinse under cold water. 


To cook : 
Peel and mince in bowl 3 garlic cloves and 3 dried chillies ( chilli optional) on speed 9 , 15 seconds 
Peel and quarter 1 brown onion add and chop. In bowl speed 4 , 5 seconds 
Measure and add 30 g extra virgin olive oil 
Cook for 2 minutes and 30 seconds ,varoma temperature ,reverse speed 2 
While garlic and onion cooking chop up into fairly big chunks 450 g chicken thighs . 
When timer has gone off remove lid and attach butterfly whisk , then add cut up chicken thighs and cook for 5 minutes , varoma temperature , reverse speed soft. 
Inserting the butterfly whisk is essential!! As I've learnt in the past chicken really gets all shredded from the blades if cooked for a longer period of time. 

After 5 minutes then add to the bowl the rinsed and drained 300g quinoa & 70 g white wine ( I used dry white sherry ) 
Cook for another 1 minute , varoma temperature , reverse speed 2 
Then add to the bowl 400 g liquid chicken stock ( I used my own that I make from left over chicken bones and veggies cooked in the slow cooker. Ill post this recipe here soon! Nothing like your own homemade stock!) 
1 teaspoon vegetable stock concentrate 
250g water 
Close the lid and set timer and cook for 20 minutes , varoma temperature , reverse speed soft 

While the risotto is cooking I then begin to chop the veggies. I used 
50 g pumpkin diced into very small pieces 
50 g halved cherry tomatoes 
100 g broccolini heads 
100 g frozen peas 


After the 20 minutes remove lid and check the risotto is not to dry you can add 50 g of extra water at a time if needed. 
Add all the chopped veg , replace the lid and cook for a further 10 minutes , varoma temperature , reverse speed soft. 

Serve into bowls sprinkled with fresh Parmesan cheese and freshly ground black pepper. DELISH !