There are a few Thermomix recipes around for Beef Stroganoff, but this is my favourite.  It’s very tasty & so easy to make.  All you need to do is chop the onion, mushrooms & beef.  Everything else just goes in the TM bowl.  Serve with rice, mashed potatoes, cauliflower rice or fettuccine.  You can cook up to 700g beef for big eaters or a big family.  Just increase the amount of water a little in step 4.

Ingredients:
1 onion, peeled & quartered
2 cloves garlic
50g bacon
20g butter or olive oil
500g beef rump, cut into strips about 2cm thick
240g Swiss Brown mushrooms, sliced
60g tomato paste
100g white wine
30g vege stock concentrate
100g water
40g plain flour
10g dijon mustard
120g sour cream
40g worcestershire sauce
pinch nutmeg
1 tbsp paprika
1 tsp salt
fresh parsley & thyme to garnish

Method:
1) Place onion, garlic & bacon into TM bowl, chop 5 seconds/speed 5.
2) Add butter or oil, cook 2 minutes/100 degrees/speed 1.
3) Add mushrooms, cook 5 minutes/100 degrees/reverse/speed 1.
4) Add all remaining ingredients, except parsley & thyme, cook 25 minutes/100 degrees/reverse/soft speed.
5) Garnish with parsley & thyme. Serve with mashed potatoes, rice or pasta.

A delicious dish that is so easy to make in your Thermomix.  Everything is done in the TM bowl, so that’s all you have to clean!  I used to make this years ago using my food processor, a large mixing bowl & another bowl to whisk my eggs.  Not anymore!   This slice is delicious warm or cold, great for lunch boxes, lunch or dinner & freezes really well.  It’s a great dish to make a day before serving too.  For a vegetarian option, you can replace the bacon with corn kernels,  capsicum, semi dried or cherry tomatoes.

Ingredients:
1 onion, peeled & quartered
200g bacon, chopped
375g zucchini
5 eggs
150g SR Flour
100g grated cheese
60g vegetable oil
Mixed dried herbs
Salt & pepper

Method:
1) Pre heat oven to 170 degrees.

2) Place onion in TM bowl, chop 3 seconds/speed 5.   Add zucchini & bacon, chop 3 seconds/speed 4.   Scrape down sides of the bowl & chop again for another second if required.

3) Add remaining ingredients, season to taste & mix 20 seconds/speed 3.

4) Pour into a greased ceramic dish or baking tray & bake for 40 minutes or until browned.

A few years ago I did a pizza making workshop at The Essential Ingredient.  The teacher was the head chef at the time from Mr Wolf, in St Kilda.  The class was amazing & well worth it.  I learnt so many tips & recipes from the restaurant.  This Prosciutto Pizza was their biggest seller & has fast become one of my husbands favourite meals!  The only thing missing from this pizza (that was in the original Mr Wolf recipe) is some roasted garlic paste under the pizza sauce.  I used to make this paste, but since I started to make this sauce recipe in my Thermomix, it really doesn’t need it.  The secret to this dish is not cooking the prosciutto – it goes on the pizza after it’s been cooked!

Dough Ingredients:
300g warm water
2 tsp dried instant yeast (1 sachet)
20g olive oil
500g bakers flour
2 tsp sea salt

Pizza Sauce Ingredients:
1 onion, peeled & quartered
2 cloves garlic
800g diced tomatoes (2 tins)
30g olive oil
salt to taste
2 tsp mixed dried herbs
50g tomato paste

Dough Method:
Place warm water, then yeast into TM bowl. Add Flour, oil & then salt. Mix 6 seconds/speed 6.
Set dial to closed lid position & knead dough on ‘interval speed’ for 2 minutes.
Transfer dough to a Thermomat, wrap & leave in a warm place to prove for 20 minutes.  Placing boiling water in your Thermoserver (see below) provides enough heat for the dough to prove.

Knock back the dough by pressing out the air & divide into 4 equal balls.
Any pizza dough not being cooked, can be wrapped in glad wrap & frozen.

Sauce Method:
Chop onion & garlic 4 seconds/speed 7.
Scrape down sides of bowl. Add oil, cook 2 minutes/100 degrees/speed 1.
Add remaining ingredients & cook 8 minutes/100 degrees/speed 1. Leave the lid off so sauce thickens & put rice basket over the lid to prevent sauce spitting.
Sauce can be frozen in containers, to be used anytime you want to make pizza.
I usually allow 90g sauce per pizza (allow less or more according to your tastes).

Pizza Assembly:

Roll out dough to fit pizza tray.

To prevent the dough sticking, spray pizza tray with olive oil & sprinkle with Semolina.

Top dough with pizza sauce, fresh herbs (basil & oregano) & cheese.  I’ve used shredded mozzarella & bocconcini, but you can also use parmesan.

Cook pizza’s in 200 degrees oven for about 10 minutes.  Then carefully remove the tray & cook the pizza base on a pizza stone for 5 minutes.  I have a small Breville pizza oven.  If cooking a few pizzas, I’ll cook them in the oven & then give them all 5 minutes each on the stone to give the bases a lovely crisp crust.

Once cooked, top pizzas with prosciutto & rocket dressed with a little olive oil & lemon juice.

Tips:

You can freeze dough in individual balls ahead of time.  When you want to use, remove dough from the freezer, unwrap, place on a plate & re cover with fresh glad wrap (making sure there is no air gaps between the plate & glad wrap.  It will take about 2-3 hours for the dough to come to room temperature & it will prove again as it defrosts.

I usually allow 2 Bocconini balls per pizza.  To avoid wastage & save money, I freeze the balls I haven’t used.  I’d hate to buy a whole tub of cheese for just a few balls!  If you freeze the balls on a tray, making sure they are not touching each other, you can then store them in a zip lock bag.  Because they’re already frozen, they won’t stick together in the freezer.  I just pull out as many balls as I need about 20 minutes before making my pizza, as they don’t take long to defrost.

This dish has been made many times over the years in my house & in my parents house.  It is honestly the easiest meal to make, minimal preparation required & is very tasty.  It’s a perfect mid week meal when you’re time poor. Serve this with rice, mashed potatoes, risoni, cous cous or pasta.   The prunes almost ‘melt’ into the dish, so there aren’t too many ‘bits’ for the young ones but the prunes make it deliciously sweet!

Feel free to add additional vegetables during step 3.  You can also steam vegetables in the Varoma, while the rice is cooking.  If you do this, let the chicken rest in your Thermoserver.  It will stay hot while the rice cooks & the flavours will continue to develop.  One tip – don’t chop up the chicken too small, as the chicken breaks down a little during cooking.  I tend to cut mine into cubes at least 3-4cm.

Ingredients:

1 onion, peeled & halved

1 small chilli or dried chilli flakes

20g olive oil

500-600g chicken breast or thigh, cubed (3-4cm cubes)

150g pitted prunes

100g white wine

1 tbsp. vegetable stock concentrate

130g water

100g slithered or flaked almonds (optional)

Salt & pepper to taste

Method:

1) Place onion & chilli into TM bowl.  Chop 3 seconds/speed 5.  Scape down the sides of the bowl.

2) Add oil, cook 5 minutes/100 degrees/speed 1 (lid off)

3) Add remaining ingredients (except almonds), cook for 30 minutes/100 degrees/reverse/soft speed (MC off with simmering basket on top of lid).

4) Top with slivered almonds & serve.