creamy salmon soup

whilst this isn't really soup weather, i wanted to try this soup out. it's delicious and almost a meal in itself. quick and easy, i made this in the thermomix, and as such, it would be really good for those times when i really didn't feel like cooking.

500 grams milk
200 grams cream
150 grams water (or part wine, part water)
20 grams tomato paste
1 large potato, cubed
1 tablespoon vegetable stock concentrate
200 grams fresh salmon, cut in 1 centimetre cubes
finely diced tomatoes and dill, to garnish

place the milk, cream, water, wine (if using), tomato paste, potato and stock concentrate in the thermomix bowl.
blend on speed 9 for 15 seconds.
cook for 10 minutes at 100 degrees celcius on speed 3.
add the salmon and combine for 30 seconds on reverse speed 1. there is sufficient retained heat to cook the salmon through and not over cook it.

chocolate sorbet

i though i should post this since lulu asked for it especially.

100 grams sugar
50 grams glucose syrup
50 grams cocoa
80 grams water
1 small tin coconut cream
2x350 grams ice cubes
1 egg white (optional)

place the sugar, syrup, cocoa and water into the thermomix bowl and combine for 3 minutes at 50 degrees celcius on speed 3.
add coconut cream and the first lot of ice and blend for 10 seconds on speed 10.
add the remaining ice and egg white and blend for 1 minute on speed 9, using the spatula to assist the ice cubes combine with the mixture.
serve immediately.

pistachio and craisin shortbread

i had this a week ago and it was delicious. this recipe comes from the thermomix festive season 2008 cookbook.

40 grams white rice
60 grams sugar
300 grams plain flour
250 grams butter
100 grams pistachio kernels
100 grams craisins (dried cranberries)
150 grams white chocolate melts

line a baking tray with baking paper.
preheat oven to 150° celcius.
place the rice and sugar into the bowl and pulverise 1 minute on speed 10. don’t be tempted to shortcut this, you need 1 minute for the texture of the shortbread.
add the flour and the butter (chopped) into the bowl, mix for 5 seconds on Speed 5.
knead the mixture for 40 seconds on interval setting.
add nuts and cranberries and with lid in closed position, pulse with the turbo button 4-5 times. this will chop the fruit and nuts a little, but that is fine.
if the mixture is crumbly, bring the dough together using reverse on speed 1 for about 30 seconds.
roll the mix into a log shape with baking paper. slice into oval shapes and lay on lined tray. place into a preheated oven and bake for approximately 20-30 minutes.
once baked allow the shortbread to sit for 10 minutes before moving.
melt white chocolate in TM bowl at 50˚ celcius for 5 minutes on speed 1.
dip one end of each cooled shortbread into the melted chocolate and place on baking paper to set.

my gluten free yummy thing

originally, my intention was to make a salad, along the lines of a waldorf salad....

juice of one orange
rind of one orange
30 mls rice bran oil

blitz together on speed 10 until emulsified.

throw the following into the thermomix bowl

1 apple, cored and quartered
200 grams red seedles grapes
1 tablespoon sunflower seeds
1/3 cup pistachio nuts

and i blitzed on speed 7.....for just a bit too long (like 3 seconds) and i ended up with something that looked somewhat like bircher muesli, but gluten free.... i wondered what i was going to do...use it as a dressing for a still to be made salad? no...i ate it instead as it was, and it was very nice.......

champagne cocktails

last night, salli and i went out, and the evening started with a champagne cocktail....and it was good.....

using the thermomix, pulverise 60 grams of sugar on speed 9 until the sound changes, about 7 seconds. add 500 grams of berries (strawberries or raspberries would be perfect for the upcoming christmas). place a little in each champagne flute and top up with very well chilled champagne. you can use frozen fruit if you like, this will keep the cocktail nice and cold.

so easy to drink and get drunk on.....

vanilla icecream

after making 3 sorbets yesterday, i was faced with 3 egg yolks....what to do? make icecream, what else? i guess i could have made custard, but that's better when the weather is a bit cooler - it's hot now, isn't it boys and girls?? (not you guys not in sydney....i'm not talking to you....)

3 egg yolks
600 mls full cream milk
120 grams sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
a tablespoon or 2 or vanilla

pop everything into your trusty thermomix bowl and let it do its thing for 8 minutes at 80 degrees on speed 4.

pour this custard into a container which will fit into your freezer (i don't know what your freezer is like, but that's how i have to do it because mine is chockers) and freeze. you can stir it around a bit to break up the crystals. when it's frozen (i just leave mine overnight), scrape it all into the thermomix bowl and blitz on speed 10 until smooth. scrape this all out of the bowl to serve or put back in the freezer. this is seriously good.....if you like sara lee/connossieur icecream, you will like this.

pretend truffles

these are pretend truffles, and purists will scoff and say worse, but i think they aren't half bad considering they have pretty healthy ingredients. again, i made these with the thermomix...it was there, and when it's there, it's easy to use.

250 grams almonds, brazil nuts, sunflower seeds.....whatever nut/seed you have on hand
75 grams sesame seeds
100 grams honey
40 grams cocoa

place everything in the thermomix bowl and blitz on speed 10 for 5-10 seconds, depending on the texture you like. form the mixture into balls, roll in coconut and refrigerate to firm up before serving.

on a hot day, all i think of is sorbet.

it's quite hot in sydney today and miss c's friend hik asked if i could help with the food for her birthday party. after some thought, that sorbet might be fun thing to bring to the party. people don't usually bring iced confections along, so this can be the novelty. since i only have 2 thermoserves, that would be the limiting factor; i would be able to bring close to 5 litres of sorbet and that would have to be enough.

i decided that i would make the sorbet with what i had to save myself a trip to the supermarket unnecessarily, so i went with 3 flavours - lemon, orange and apple. i made them separately so the flavours could remain pure or mixed if desired.

i used my thermomix to make them, and it didn't take much time at all.

150 grams raw sugar
2 lemons/oranges/apples (peeled and cored)
1 egg white
700 grams ice

pulverise the citrus rinds (if using) with the sugar on speed 9 until you hear a change in the sound of the thermomix (this takes several seconds).

add the fruit, egg white and half the ice and slowly turn the speed dial up to 10 and process until there is another change in sound. use the spatula to help any ice cubes into the mixture to grind up. add the remaining cubes gradually and again use the the spatula to help any ice cubes into the mixture so they can be ground. continueon speed 10 until all the ice cubes have been ground. serve immediately or place into the thermoserve for later.

tomato and cashew dip

this is a really easy dip which takes next to no time in the thermomix. this is one of a medley of dips i have been making; they make a really good snack without too much effort.

1 onion, peeled and quartered
1 clove garlic
a good slurp of olive oil (or the oil from the sundried tomatoes
1 cup roasted, unsalted cashews
50 grams sundried tomatoes
2 medium tomatoes, quartered
pepper to taste

place the onion and garlic into the thermomix bowl and chop for 4 seconds on speed 6.
add the oil and cook for 3 minutes at varoma temperature on speed 1.
add the nuts, tomatoes and pepper and blitz for 20 seconds on speed 6.
cook for 5 minute at 80 degrees celcius on speed 4.

this thickens as it cools and spreads nicely on a nice sturdy slice of bread. this recipe makes enough to fill 2 dip bowls, so i usually pop one in the fridge or pass it onto my neighbour or the next person who comes over.

what's in a name?

just recently, a friend from highschool found me on facebook. jj is a psychologist and as far as i know, i know four psychologists. of those four, three of them have sons named jack, or variations of jack. the other psychologist i know who hasn't got a son called jack hasn't got any children.

jj reckons it's a coincidence. i know four psychologists....how many psychologists do you know, and do they have sons called jack?

whisks' housekeeping tip #89365

with christmas fast approaching, take advantage of all the help you can get - be like snow white and let your little friends help you. if spiders decide to leave their signature webs on your window sills, use them to decorate your windows for christmas and sprinkle with a little white pretend snow - it will stick, and when you finally decide to clean your windows, the stuff will wipe off effortlessly.

you probably wonder how i come upon my little nuggets of wisdom, well, you only have to thank my very gorgeous friend, lulu, who hails from down near geelong. last night, i sent her an urgent message to go and quickly watch something on telly, which was important to her, and she missed my message...why??? because she was cleaning her windows because guests were coming for dinner. next time, she should tell them she is getting ready for christmas.

for those of you in the northern hemisphere who don't know what i'm yabbering about, i live in sydney, as if you need reminding, and as such, we don't have snow, and our christmas is usually swelteringly hot or unpredictable, but never snow....

he's so smart

i mentioned in an earlier post that salli's son harry is developmentally delayed. i don't know what his mental age is, but he never ceases to amaze me with how clever he really is. several weeks ago, when i went over to visit, sal was carrying on about how harry came home from care with someone else's cardigan - i don't know whose daggy cardigan he's come home with, but it isn't his. he must've been cold, so he just found something to put on. after a split second of thought, i simply told sal that he's a lot smarter than a lot of other people who are supposedly not mentally challenged. i can think of lots of people who may feel the cold yet refuse to put something on. so who's smater? i know miss k refuses to carry more clothes than what she might think she needs and come home with chills.
yesterday when salli and i were on out way to woollahra, her phone rang. it was the man who sold trampolines. salli has a trampoline for harry - one of those old fashioned rectangle ones which doesn't have a barrier around them to stop anyone from falling off the trampoline; she trying to find a replacement something or other for harry's trampoline and do you think she can find one? not on your life because these days, there are no rectangular trampolines to be found. this sent salli off on a tirade of how sick she was of how children these days are so wrapped in cotton wool because they are so protected, which is very true. harry, who is developmentally delayed...did i tell you that?..... has had a trampoline since he's been 5 (he's 22 now, i think) and has only ever fallen off it once; he fell off once and was smart enough to know not to fall off it again. it's really uplifting knowing harry and knowing he's so smart....but worrying that there are some others out there who aren't.

prudence

just lately, i've had a few blasts from the past, and after reading through my post on singing at the top of my lungs with anonymity, i suddenly remembered a girl i went to school with....prudence. a couple of years ago, i was minding my own business, doing my grocery shop at woollies, when i heard someone singing....opera style; it wasn't exactly opera, but that la la la style associated with opera. when i walk over to the deli section, isaw who it was...it was someone i knew.... i realised that it was prudence. not straight away, it had been some 20 years since i last saw her. now you have to give prudence credit - she was singing, in public, and in a recognisable mode. i couldn't do that....i'm too self conscience...besides, i wouldn't want everyone to think i was some mad woman....

moral support

james bond gives me moral support...well, his theme does. having only discovered the joys of snowploughing late in life, i have utilised little devices to help me along. one is singing the james bond theme as i slide down a slope. it distracts me enough to not think about going downhill and lets me relax a bit so i go with the flow; if things get a bit hairy, i sing a bit louder. the beauty of going to the snow and singing at the top of my lungs in a public place is that with all the gear on, no one recognises me or knows who i am. the snow's good like that - i can look as dishevelled as i like and not have to worry about it - it is so liberating. i can look like a slob and sing at the top of my lungs; where else can anyone do something like that?

snowploughing

i had to fill in a form the other day which required me to list my interests/activities. i listed the usual, and added skiing. since i only came to skiing realtively late in life, i claim no proficiency in it and thought it perhaps presumptuous on my part to say skiing was one of my interests, since i couldn't really ski. then i realised i should say that i snowploughed - far more accurate.

something worthwhile

last night while we were watching television, i noticed miss k's zit situation had improved and i told her so.
it's because i'm using your soap.
really?
yes.
i suggested that miss k tried my soap on her face because i was using it and noticed my face wasn't tight after using it like with regular soap. i never liked using soap on my face because of this tight feeling, but i do use the soap i make myself because i like how it feels. while making soap involves dangerous procedures, is messy and requires patience, i think it has been worthwhile; anything which helps one's child to clear up a teenage hiccup has to be worthwhile.

a new beginning

miss c had her valedictory dinner on wednesday night and it was lovely to see all the girls in her year looking all grown up and beautiful. parents and teachers caught up with each other and i even gave miss c's biology teacher a chemistry lesson. i explained soap making for him. as a scientist, it's interesting that he knew the theory, but not the practical. i guess there's so much in the science course they have to absorb when studying that not all experiments can be given justice.
there were the usual speeches and the head girl from 2004 came along to give her speech. her speech, for me, was memorable. there were 10 points she went through with the girls. i will mention a few.
never wear uncomfortable shoes; if they are uncomfortable at the shop, be assured that they will hurt even more when you wear them where you are going. i would have added that you can't take them off if they hurt - once they come off, your feet will hurt even more and you will never get the shoes back on. keeping the shoes on just keeps the feet numb; once the blood rushes back to them is when you will regret it. i speak from experience.
travel. i never understood fully the importance of travelling when i was younger, but really appreciate it now. travel give you an opportunity to broaden your mind. it doesn't matter where you go - it can be within your own city, state or country - you will see something different and get a new perspective on things. our lives, for the most part are comfortable and it's good to see how other people live.
listen to what your mother says. that goes without saying. i have to say i'm lucky in that miss c and i can discuss things, but mostly because i very rarely advise miss c, it counts for something when i do...i hope....
don't fear a broken heart. don't stay with someone who doesn't appeciate how wonderful you are. as a parent, that to me was such a wise thing to say to teenage girls who are just starting out into adulthood.

ulterior motives

miss k asked me about new year's eve tonight. she/we like to plan early. she had ulterior motives. she wanted to know if we would do new year's eve this year in lavender bay...and who we would have join us. i figured i'd let miss c and miss k decide on who they wanted to join us. no doubt, their core group of friends would be there - ohno, beanstalk, tomi......can osh kosh come?....aha - ulterior motive uncovered within seconds. yes, yes...you can ask him, but will he be in sydney then? yes, he's not going away. okay. i suspect miss k has probably already mentioned this to osh kosh.....and she's probably already asked him....
i actually thought i might let their friends stay a couple of nights this time. the last time, they just stayed overnight, but i think they'd have lots to do if they stayed a few days. they'd be able to go on walks around the harbour, and if beanstalk brought a boat, he could use the jetty, and that would be fun for them. another thing i just realised - they're going to be able to toast in the new year with champagne this year - how about that?
so...you already know miss k's motives...what about mine? i have a whole pile of things i want to cook...what else? what could be better than a group of teenagers to do some serious eating?

mint

at last i have a mint plant, and it's growing really well. my mint in the past never seemed to do that well. i put it down to planting it in the wrong place. i remember being told to plant it under a leaky tap, but that didn't work. i have it under a tap again this time, but in a bucket, and the soil is saturated. it's sitting in an artificial bog, of sorts. it's right next to the house against a hot wall (my backyard is north facing) and gets full sun. i guess it's still a bit premature yet, but i'm going to have to have a look around and see if i can find myself some great recipes which use mint.....

now that i have the mint going, i'm going to have to work on getting some waterdress going - after all, i have a pretend bog going.

internet chicken

this is one of the first dishes i cooked from the internet. it was a novelty for me. i wasn't a can of this and that cook....i cooked things from scratch....i made cake from distinguishable ingredients....this was a first for me. mind you, i have never been able to leave well enough alone with recipes and like to add my own touch, so this is now a bit different to the original which had chipped beef in it. no quantities - i just roll with what i have at the time. simple as.

chicken
bacon
mushrooms
1 carton sour cream
1 can cream of mushroom soup

lay the chicken in casserole dish and strew the sliced mushrooms and bacon over the chicken. combine the sour cream and soup together and pour over everything in the dish. bake at 180 degrees celcius for 45 minutes to an hour. serve with noodles or rice.