Parmesan Crusted Olive Bread

Posted in Breads by thermoaffairs

I came across this recipe on a UK blog called The Thermo Queen. Immediately, I thought this sounds really good! I love parmesan cheese & I love olive bread, so it sounded like a match made in heaven to me. I’ve made a few changes to the method of the original recipe & the result is delicious. This is a great bread to serve when entertaining, as it tastes amazing I bet your guests won’t believe you made it!

Ingredients:
30g parmesan cheese, cubed
1 clove garlic
2 sprigs rosemary leaves
300g water
1 sachet dried yeast (or 2 tsp dried yeast)
500g bakers flour
1 heaped teaspoon salt
20 g olive oil
150-200g whole Kalamata pitted olives

Method:
1) Place parmesan into TM bowl, grate 8 seconds/speed 9. Set aside.
2) Without cleaning TM bowl, add garlic & rosemary, chop 5 seconds/speed 7.
3) Add water & yeast, warm 1 minute/37 degrees/speed 1.
4) In this order, add flour, salt & oil. Mix 6 seconds/speed 6.
5) Knead 2 minutes/closed lid position. Add olives, knead for 1 minute.
6) Remove dough from TM bowl & wrap in thermomat to prove for 30 minutes. The dough is very wet/sticky, so you may need to use your TM spatula to remove all the dough. As the dough is sticky, to help clean the TM bowl, cover the blades with cold water, a squirt of dishwashing detergent & turbo 3-4 times.
7) After proving, place dough on an oven tray lined with baking paper & shape the dough any way you like. Top with grated parmesan cheese. Below is my bread dough, prior to going in the oven.

8) Place into a cold oven, turn oven onto 180 degrees celsius & cook for 1 hour.

Notes:

This bread is put into a cold oven, so the dough has it’s second proving as the oven warms up.

Before cooking, you can shape the dough into any sale you like. I recommend a long, thin shape, as the dough spreads out quite a bit when cooking.

If you love olives, use 200g, however, you can adjust accordingly.

21Jul2014

Pumpkin & Chorizo Soup with Red Kidney Beans

Posted in Soups by thermoaffairs

I made this soup last week & honestly, it is amazing! I’ve adapted the recipe from Donna Hay. The original recipe used black beans, which I couldn’t find at my supermarket, so I used red kidney beans instead. I can imagine any beans or pulses would work in this soup. Of course I love the fact my Thermomix cooks the soup & then purees in the same bowl! The soup was delicious like I’ve made it in this recipe, but if you served this to guests for an entree, you could really impress with a tweak to the presentation. Instead of adding the chorizo & garlic mixture to the soup in step 6, serve the soup & top with the chorizo & garlic, then drizzle with extra olive oil.

Ingredients:
20g olive oil
1 chorizo, cut lengthways & thinly sliced
2 cloves garlic
1 x 400g can diced tomatoes
1 tbsp chicken stock paste
500g water
500g butternut pumpkin, peeled & roughly chopped
1 x 400g can red kidney beans, drained & rinsed
salt & pepper to taste

Method:
1) Place garlic in TM bowl, chop 3 seconds/speed 7. Scrape down sides of bowl.
2) Add chorizo & oil to TM bowl, cook 6 minutes/Varoma temperature/reverse/speed 2. Set aside.
3) Without cleaning TM bowl, add pumpkin, chop 8 seconds/speed 5.
4) Add tomatoes, stock paste, water, salt & pepper. Cook 12 minutes/ 100 degrees/ speed 1.
5) Puree soup 1 minute/speed 9 – gradually increasing the dial to speed 9.
6) Add chorizo mixture & kidney beans. Cook 2 minutes/100 degrees/ reverse/speed 1.

Serves 4.

Notes:

Follow this link to make Chicken Stock Paste. This soup can be made with vegetable stock paste or any store bought stock/powder, if you prefer.

21Jul2014

Chicken Stock Paste

Posted in Everyday Basics by thermoaffairs

I’ve had my Thermomix for 4 years & in that time, I’ve always had vegetable stock concentrate in my fridge. I use it in everything – basically I use 1 tablespoon, instead of using bought stock or stock powder/cubes. Over time, it’s saved me a fortune on my grocery bills, but also adds incredible flavour to my cooking & of course I’m cooking with no additives or preservatives.

I recently bought the Quirky Cooking cookbook & as a Thermomix consultant, have been keen to make some of her recipes to endorse at demo’s & with my customers. A few months ago I made Quirky’s version of Chicken Stock Paste. I’ve found it really great having both vegetable & chicken stock paste in my fridge. Although I love the vegetable stock, sometimes it’s nice to have chicken stock in some soups & dishes. This paste lasts in the fridge for up to 2 months (it’s the salt that preserves it). I usually freeze some of my stock paste for later use. Given the amount of salt in the paste, it doesn’t freeze hard, but will extend the life of your paste.

Ingredients:
300g chicken thigh (skinless), cut into 4cm pieces
200g leek, white part only, cut into quarters
3 garlic cloves
2 carrots, cut into quarters
1 celery stalk, cut into quarters
1 onion, peeled & halved
1 dried bay leaf
1 whole clove or 1 pinch ground cloves
5 coriander seeds or 1/2 tsp ground coriander
50g white wine or 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
150g course sea salt

Method:
1) Place chicken into TM bowl, mince by pressing Turbo button for 1 second, 3-4 times. (Place dial in closed lid position to use Turbo).
2) Add all vegetables & spices, chop 10 seconds/speed 5. Scrape down sides of TM bowl.
3) Add wine or vinegar & salt, mix 10 seconds/speed 5. Cook 25 minutes/Varoma temperature/speed 2 – MC removed – place TM basket on top of lid.

4) Puree 1 minute/speed 9, gradually increasing speed to 9.

Store in the fridge for up to 2 months, or freeze in portions for later use.

To make liquid stock, use 1 – 2 tablespoons stock paste, per litre of water.

Source: Quirky Cooking

8Jul2014

Chorizo & Corn Pasta Bake

Posted in Pasta & Rice by thermoaffairs

People often ask me at demo’s if you can make your own recipes in your Thermomix. The answer is yes, you can! It just takes some experience cooking Thermomix recipes & getting to know the functions of the machine, in particular what speed to turn the blades for various sizes of chopped foods. For example, I always chop onions on speed 5 & garlic on speed 7, regardless of what a Thermomix recipe says. The other tip is to zero the scales & record the weight of ingredients from your recipe, so the next time you make it, you can just weigh your ingredients straight into the machine.

I found this Chorizo & Corn Pasta Bake recipe in a magazine recently & thought it sounded good! As you can see in the photo, I made notes on the recipe as I made it, so I could convert it to Thermomix method. This is an easy family meal that can be made ahead of time. It was really delicious & the whole family loved it. For kids who don’t like to eat anything green, you can even peel your zucchini! For a vegetarian variation to this dish, see notes below.

Ingredients:
150g risoni pasta
2 medium zucchini, roughly chopped
1 red onion
20g olive oil
2 chorizo sausages (mild or spicy)
50g parmesan cheese plus 30g extra (grated)
120g frozen corn
4 eggs
150g light sour cream

Method:
1) Preheat oven to 200 degrees & grease a baking dish.
2) Cook risoni in boiling water till al dente, drain & pour into baking dish.
3) Meanwhile, cut chorizo’s in half lengthways & slice into 1cm thick pieces.
4) Place zucchini in TM bowl, chop 5 seconds/speed 5. Set aside.
5) Without cleaning the bowl, add onion, chop 3 seconds/speed 5. Scrape down the sides of the bowl.
6) Add oil & chorizo, cook 5 minutes/100 degrees/ Reverse/speed 1.
7) Add corn & 50g grated parmesan, mix 10 seconds/Reverse/speed 3. Pour mixture into baking dish over risoni & gently stir to combine.
8) Without cleaning the bowl, add eggs, sour cream, salt & pepper. Mix 10 seconds/speed 4.
9) Pour egg mixture over risoni mixture & gently stir, to ensure the egg is mixed through everything & not just sitting on top of risoni.
10) Sprinkle extra parmesan over the top & bake for 35-40 minutes.
Cool in baking dish for a few minutes & cut into rectangles & serve with rocket or green salad.

Notes:

For a vegetarian option, replace the chorizo with 200g sliced swiss brown mushrooms. Saute the mushrooms with the onions in step 5.

You can also substitute the chorizo with 1 cup of cooked, shredded chicken.

I used light sour cream for this recipe, but you can use any type of cream. The original recipe was for 150ml thickened cream, but I always substitute cream with light sour cream.