a stick of celery and 4 tomatoes...

what does one do with 4 tomatoes and a stick of celery?

this is what i did...and it was yum.

1 stick celery, cut into chunks
4 small/medium tomatoes
1 litre water
2 tablespoons vegetable stock concentrate
300 grams ditali pasta

place the celery and tomatoes into the tm bowl and blend for 5 seconds on speed 7. add the water and concentrate. cook for 8 minutes on speed 2 at 100 degrees.

add the pasta and cook on reverse, speed 1 1/2 at 100 degrees until the pasta is al dente, usually about 10 minutes - this depends on your pasta. the pasta thickens the liquid as it cooks, making it quite hearty.

there's a lot of hype about cooking with just a few ingredients these days, and so often those ingredients are preprepared, processed or both. the only thing preprepared about this dish was the stock concentrate, and that was homemade from scratch. it was delicious, and you should have been there to smell it.

strawberry mousse...thermomixed!

need i say that this is so easy? the most fiddly thing about this is sprinkling the gelatine over the water...

1 1/2 teaspoons gelatine
1/3 cup water
100 grams sugar
250 grams strawberries
300 ml cream

place the water in a bowl and sprinkle the gelatine over the water. place the bowl over hot water to allow the gelatine to swell. stir to dissolve the gelatine and set aside.

place the sugar, strawberries and cream into the thermomix bowl and blend together on speed 8 for 15 seconds. add the gelatine mixture and mix for 5 seconds at speed 5.

pour the mixture into your favourite glasses, ramekins or bowls and refrigerate until set.

tomato and red lentil soup

i have always waxed lyrical about how quick and easy making soup in the thermomix is to all and sundry...and finally came the day i had to whip something up at someone's place. i've started putting a bag of pantry items in the boot of my car now, where ever i go so i can just whip up something to eat on arrival. so i arrive at this person's place and all the fresh vegetable she has is 2 tomatoes...

my bag to the rescue. i had a can of chickpeas, so it could have been tomato and chickpea soup, but i also found the red lentils, so it was tomato and red lentil soup. endless possiblities.

the soup appears quite thin prior to blending, but thickens up beautifully once blended.


2 tomatoes
100 grams red lentils
1 litre stock (or water with stock concentrate to taste)

core the tomatoes and put them in the thermomix bowl with the lentils and blitz on speed 7 for 4 seconds.
add the stock or water and concentrate.
cook at 100 degrees celcius for 10 minutes on speed 2 with the MC on.
blend for one minute on speed 9.
cook a further minute on 100 degrees on speed 4.
check for seasoning and serve.

banana fritters

i couldn't resist buying a box of bananas, but i knew i couldn't make another banana cake or five, so i needed a way to use them up deliciously. banana fritters. my fritter batter of preference is self raising flour mixed with cornflour and soda water - it's crisp and light. i use about equal parts of each flour and enough soda to make a batter similar to cream in consistency. i don't bother flouring the bananas and just dunk them in the batter and gently lower them into hot rice bran oil to deep fry. i have my oil not too hot, but hot enough to make sure the bananas bubble away - about 180 degrees celcius. i like cooking my bananas slowly for a longer length of time so they are nice and soft; you do yours the way you like to have them. if you want a sugar hit, sprinkle with castor or icing sugar!

sorrell from the garden and bread from the oven

just lately, i've been eating a fair bit of sorrell, which i have growing in a trough on the balcony. it's been going for about a year now and it's nice to have something salady at hand.

the sandwich of the moment for me is prawns, mayonnaise, sorrel and continental parsley with my homemade bread rolls. i buy just a few big prawns (easier to peel) which are already cooked, spread on the mayo, shred the sorrell and parsley roughly and grind on some pepper. very easy and fresh, and a lovely gourmet treat. i never find a bought prawn sandwich as satisying because there tends to be a lack of prawn flavour.

szechuan noodles

this is a favourite from ina garten, the barefoot contessa. i started making this way back in 2000 and found the sauce very versatile. it makes a generous quantity which i keep in the fridge for cold cuts and as a salad and vegetable dressing.

converted for the thermomix from the barefoot contessa cookbook

6 garlic cloves,
60 grams fresh ginger, peeled
70 grams extra virgin olive oil
100 grams sesame paste (from asian grocery stores)
100 grams smooth peanut butter
100 soy sauce
60 grams dry sherry
60 grams sherry vinegar
60 grams honey
1/2 teaspoon hot chili oil
2 tablespoons dark sesame oil
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/8 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper
500 grams spaghetti
1 red capsicum, julienned
1 yellow capsicum, julienned
4 spring onions, sliced diagonally

place the garlic and ginger in the thermomix bowl and chop on speed 9 for 10 seconds. add the vegetable oil, sesame paste, peanut butter, soy sauce, sherry, sherry vinegar, honey, chili oil, sesame oil, and ground peppers. mix for 20 seconds on speed 4.

cook the spaghetti al dente in boiling salted water. drain the pasta and place in a large bowl. whilst still warm, toss with some of the sauce. add the red and yellow capsicums and spring onions; toss well. serve warm or at room temperature. the remaining sauce may be added, as needed, to moisten the pasta.

keep any leftover sauce in the fridge for later use.

cauliflower au gratin

this is one of my favourite versions of cauliflower cheese. i think it's the addition of horseradish, shallot and garlic - it makes it just that little bit exciting.

this is all perfectly do-able without a thermomix, but when i was converting it to a thermomix friendly recipe, i decided i didn't want to make this without a thermomix anymore - the thermomix makes it all too easy...such is my dependence...oh, woe is me (not really)...i'm a junkie...

1 cauliflower
2 tablespoons butter
1 shallot, peeled
1 clove garlic, peeled
250 grams water
1 teaspoon stock concentrate
250 grams cream
1 to 2 tablespoons horseradish, to taste
salt and freshly ground black pepper (optional)
60 grams gruyere cheese

preheat the oven to 220°C. cut the cauliflower into small florets. reserve the stems. place the florets in varoma and set aside.

place the reserved cauliflower stems, shallot, and garlic into the thermomix bowl and chop for 3 seconds on speed 5. add the butter and saute for 3 minutes at 100°C on speed 1. pour in the water and stock concentrate. set the cauliflower filled varoma on the thermomix bowl. cook on varoma temperature for 10 minutes on speed 4. most of the liquid will have evaporated.

remove the varoma and set aside.

add the cream, horseradish, salt, and pepper to the thermomix bowl, and puree the contents on speed 8 for 15 seconds.

gently coat the cauliflower florets with the cream mixture in an ovenproof terrine or casserole.

place the cheese into the cleaned thermomix bowl and grate on speed 8 for 10 seconds.

top the cauliflower with the cheese and bake in the preheated oven for 20 minutes, or until golden brown.

pink lemonade...naturally...

a few weeks ago, tenina came to sydney to promote the thermomix in sydney with cyndi o'meara. we were treated to a lovely pink lemonade as part of the healthy repertoire. essentially, it is the lemonade recipe from the thermomix everyday cookbook with a tamarillo in it.

i made mine this morning a bit differently.

100g sugar
1 lemon (i plucked mine off the tree just moments before making)
1 tamarillo
1 tray ice cubes
1000g still or sparkling water

place the sugar and quartered fruit into the thermomix bowl and blitz for 10 seconds on speed 10.

add the ice cubes and blitz for 5 seconds on speed 10.

pour into serving jug and dilute with water.

if you don't like the bits in your lemonade, pour the water into the thermomix bowl and strain before pouring the lemonade into the jug, but think of the fibre you're missing out on.

one pot rice cooker meal

tonight, when miss c called, i suggested another easy meal option. this is something easy to make if you have a rice cooker.

measure the rice and water into the rice pot as usual. season some chicken or pork (or your preferred meat...or no meat at all) with salt and pepper (and whatever other seasonings you fancy - herbs...or you can use asian seasonings - sesame oil, xiao xing wine, ginger...) and place this on top of the rice. top this with some vegetables (broccoli, mushrooms, carrots, peas, asian greens) and set the rice cooker to cook the rice.

there you go - an easy pot pot rice cooker meal. if you have leftovers, make a soup with the leftovers by adding some stock or water to the pot the next day. the rice will thicken the liquid, and if you want the soup to be more substantial, add an egg (or some eggs) to poach in the soup.

what to do with care package 1: southern fried chicken

southern fried chicken is easy with seasoned flour.

dredge chicken with the flour and shallow fry the chicken until done. try and have the pan over a medium low heat so the coating becomes golden evenly. this will also ensure the chicken cooks through.

if you have time, soak the chicken in buttermilk for an hour before dredging to tenderise the meat.

after frying the chicken, the flour at the bottom of the pan can be used to make gravy. drain off any excess oil and add stock or milk to the pan stirring the whole time until the consistency of the gravy is to your liking. this has no nutritional value whatsoever, but my brother in law, the golden one, loves it.

by the way, if chicken fried steak takes your fancy, replace the chicken with beef schitzel steaks....

care package 1: seasoned flour

miss c, having finished school, has left home and is now living in canberra. and while i miss her, i know she has to leave home at some stage. miss c never learnt how to cook before she went on her merry way, but now, a few months down the track, is bulding up a respectable repertoire, and quite a healthy one at that. to junky things up, on one trip back to canberra, i gave her a bag of my homemade seasoned flour so she could have southern fried chicken or chicken fried steak (shock horror)! i figured if she felt like something junky, it would be better homemade.

1 cup plain flour
1 cup maize cornflour
2 teaspoons seasoned salt (yes...seasoned salt)

mix this throughly and store in an airtight jar until needed.

i'll give instructions on what to do with this in my next post.

thermomix focaccia

last night i made the focaccia from the thermomix everyday cookbook, and it ain't half bad. the dough has a higher proportion of water compared to the basic bread recipe, so the dough is stickier, but it makes for a lighter bread. the outside is crisp, and the inside is light and fluffy. the next day, it's chewier, but still good (i quite like some of my breads chewy).

my tip when making this dough would be to make sure the thermomix bread mat is floured before tipping the dough onto it, and a little more flour sprinkled over the dough so as to prevent it from sticking. after proving, just tip the dough onto a baking sheet lined with baking paper. you'll find the dough very easy to press out to cover the baking sheet. once that's done, scatter the salt and herbs over the top and drizzle with olive oil. if you chose to bake the focaccia immediately, the bread will be denser, and to my taste, more traditional italian in texture. left for a longer prove, lighter and fluffier!

i can see this dough would make lovely, light grissini and bacon and cheese rolls not unlike those from bakers' delight.

inspiration from masterchef

this season's masterchef seems to be using the sous vide technique a bit more than the last season.....george's meatloaf burger, peter gilmore's poached chicken and truffles...while the thermomix hasn't got the capacity of a commercial immersion water bath (it is a domestic machine after all), one can enjoy restaurant quality sous vide with a bit of imagination. i figured that i'm going to try george's meatloaf burger, but mine will be more like scotch eggs, and i'll make peter's chicken much the same way - they'll be chicken balls. there's a definite plus there - the chicken skin won't have to be so big because my parcels will be smaller.
i remember when i got my thermomix, i really wanted it because it could cook and stir. little did i know i was going to get so many bonus appliances.....and that i would use it so many times a day....much better to get bonuses rather than be dissappointed.

vegetable medley

one of my favourite ways of cooking vegetables is to "steam" them in the pot. rather then boil them in a large pot of water, i prepare the vegetables, place them in a saucepan, add half a cup of salted water and a knob of butter. let the vegetables half poach and half steam on full boil.

to serve, add some freshly chopped herbs. use any combination of vegetables you like - i like carrots, zuchinni, squash, asparagus, beans, brocolli, cauliflower.....and a knob of butter, if you like!

morrocan carrot salad....my way....revisited....

bb invited me over for dinner a few nights ago and asked me to make a few things; one was salad. after some thought, i decided to refine it - i'm not mad about the one i posted earlier. to me, it was a bit boring and i wanted something with more ooomph. so this is my new version.

the leaves of half a bunch of parsley
3 carrots, peeled and cut into chunks
1 spanish onion, peeled and quartered
1 red apple, quartered and cored
1 green apple, quartered and cored
1 rib celery, cut into 5cm lengths
1 teaspoon ground corriander
1 teaspoon toasted cumin seeds
a few drops orange flower water
a good few sploshes of extra virgin olive oil
the juice of a lemon
3 tablespoons hommus (optional)
salt and pepper to taste
3 tablespoons currants
toasted slivered almonds

place everything except the currants into the thermomix bowl and chop for 4 seconds on speed 5. add the currants and almonds and reverse stir the salad on speed 3 for 10 seconds.

thank you for anzacs

i'd like to say thank you for the anzacs; without them, where would we be today?

a big, heartfelt thank you.

we will remeber them today with our favourite anzac biscuits.

almond chews

miss k was needing something to take to school for her tutor group's morning tea, and i decided that i wanted to try a new recipe. if it worked, well and good, and if it didn't, it was going to be cut into little pieces and i doubt any of the girls would knock it back, so it would at least get eaten. miss k oroginally wanted to do the mini cupcake thing but got lazy, hence my opportunity to make this, if you must know....i seize opportunities as they present themselves.

2 eggs
1 1/4 cups (310g) sugar
1/4 cup (45g) brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
160g butter, softened
250g self raising flour
150g white chocolate bits
200g flaked almonds

preheat the oven to 180 degrees celcius.

line a 20cm x 30cm shallow baking tin with baking paper, leaving the papr hanging over the sides to assist in lifting the cooked slice out of the tin.

whisk the eggs, sugars and vanilla until thick. add the butter and beat until well combined. fold in the flour, white chocolate and 75g the almonds.

sprinkle 35g of the almonds over the base of the tin and spoon the mixture into the tin. sprinkle the remaining almonds over the top of the batter and press gently to spread the batter out evenly.

bake for 30 minutes or until golden. the slice, whilst cooked, will be soft and chewy in the centre.

allow the slice to cool in the tin. lift out of the tin and cut as desired.

hokey pokey

the first time i ever had hokey pokey icecream was when i went to new zealand....north island....pokono....i think that's how it's spelt. this was quite a long time ago. a tiny little place, but famous (well, it was back when i was there) for their icecream. their icecream was the same as everyone elses', but it was the way they scooped it. they were big scoops of icecream which supported other big scoops of icecream. from memory, the double cone had 2 scoops of icecream, one in each cavity, then another scoop on top.

today, i sit here chomping on my cornetto hokey poke cone. typical cornetto size and should be greatful it doesn't contain the calories a pokono icecream cone has, but still reminiscing about the pokono icecream.......

minty things

let me tell you how anal i was when i was in primary school (that was in the seventies)...remember perkin's paste (you really have to be my vintage to appreciate this)? in the magenta coloured container? the paste was all nice and smooth on top, and when i used it, i never disturbed the nice smoothness, and would just carefully use the paste next to the paddle thing so as not to mess it up.....i'm the only person i know who kept their paste like that....it was so traumatic when someone borrowed it and messed it up, and you know what? it still is. i lent my copy of bridget jones' diary to someone once and it came back so battered (it was like new - the spine didn't even have a crease....)....sad...i know....i really have to lighten up...i am much better these days.

morrocan carrot salad....my way

this is the thermomix morrocan carrot salad (a taste of vegetarian, page 56), but done my way. instead of three process steps in the themomix, i've chosen to condense it to two, partly because i'm a lazy sorta girl, and partly because i like how it looks - the herbs are less pastey looking, and look like they're more part of the salad when it's done my way. naturally, if anyone is allergic to almonds or pistachios, omit them, but they add such a nice crunch to the salad.

mint
italian parsley
3 large carrots, cut into chunks
1 teaspoon ground corriander
1 teaspoon ground cumin
a few drops orange flower water
30 grams extra virgin olive oil
the juice of one lemon
salt, pepper, sugar to taste
2 tablespoons currants
2 tablespoons toasted slivered almonds or pistachios

place the herbs, carrots, spices, orange flower water, oil, juice and seasonings into the thermomix bowl and chop for 4 seconds on speed 5. add the currants and nuts and combine on reverse speed 3 for 5 seconds.