Garlic Confit

Garlic Confit3

If you love making pizza’s, this is a must have staple in your fridge.  Spread it on pizza dough, then top with sauce & toppings.  You can even just spread a teaspoon of this on the dough & top with grated cheese, for a delicious cheesy garlic pizza.  If you’re just making a garlic pizza or garlic bread, no need to drizzle with oil, as there’s enough oil in the spread already.  This is also wonderful to add to stir fry’s & any other dish you add garlic & oil.

Once the confit cools, the garlic pieces will solidify in the oil, so make sure you give it a good mix before you use.  This will keep in your fridge, in a sealed & sterilised jar for 3-6 months, making sure you always use a clean spoon in the jar.

I first made this last year, after converting the recipe to Thermomix method, from Pete Evan’s Pizza Cookbook (obviously before his Paleo days)!!  ‘Confit’ means cooking in fat or oil, at low temperature, for a long period of time.  Cooking garlic this way, means it’s cooked slowly into a rich, succulent texture & it brings out the sweetness of the garlic.  Even better, you should also avoid bad ‘garlic breath’ too!

Ingredients:
150g garlic cloves (about 3 bulbs)
250g olive oil

Method:
1) Place peeled garlic in TM bowl, chop 3 seconds/speed 5. Scrape down the sides of the bowl.
2) Add oil, cook 45 minutes/95°/reverse/speed 1.
3) Carefully pour into a sterilised jar & keep in the fridge.  One pizza will only need 1-2 teaspoons of mixture, spread over the base with the back of the spoon.

 

Notes:
 Once the confit has cooled, the garlic will solidify in the oil.  Make sure you give this a good mix before using, so you get an even amount of garlic & oil.

Garlic Confit Garlic Confit1

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Cheesy Meatballs (served at least 3 ways)

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As a busy Mum, I’ve always got some home cooked meals in the freezer for my kids.  These frozen meal are especially handy, when 5pm comes around, the girls are getting tired, I’m tired & I think, what’s for dinner?  To know I can prepare a healthy meal for them in minutes, that’s been cooked from scratch, is wonderful.  These balls are full of hidden veggies, that have been cut so small by my amazing Thermomix blades.  They are also cooked in the Varoma, which keeps them lovely & moist.

I’ve always got some of these meatballs in my freezer (in varying shapes & sizes), that I can turn into a family favourite meal.  See the notes below for all the variations.  I cook small balls to turn into spaghetti with meatballs.  I cook small balls to serve on a pizza base with mashed vegies or pizza sauce, to make a meatball pizza.  Another option is to shape the meatball mixture into rissoles, coat in breadcrumbs & shallow fry, so we’ve got hamburgers.   You could also substitute the minced beef with minced turkey or pork for another variation.

Ingredients:
1 small onion, halved
1 carrot, cut into pieces
1 zucchini, cut into pieces
handful of fresh parsley, or 1 tsp dried mixed herbs
500g beef mince, premium
1 tbsp vegetable stock paste
60g cheddar cheese, grated
30g plain flour

Method:
1) Place onion, carrot, zucchini & herbs in TM bowl, chop 3 seconds/speed 7.
2) Add remaining ingredients, mix 10 seconds/speed 7. Use TM spatula through the hole in the lid to assist mixing ingredients if required.
3) Shape mixture into small or medium sized balls & place on Varoma tray, lined with baking paper.
4) Add 1 litre boiling water to TM bowl, set Varoma into position, cook 14-16 minutes/Varoma/speed 3.
Serve or freeze.

 Notes:

I use these old fashioned ice cream scoops to portion control my meatballs or rissoles, which allows for even sizes & more importantly, even cooking.

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These are the meatballs after they’ve been cooked in the Varoma.  You can see how moist & tasty they look!IMG_2388-001 
 This is a meatball pizza that is one of my kids favourite meals.  The pizza sauce is actually pureed vegetables with some tomato paste added for colour.  Follow this link for more on pizza night with lots of veggies.

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This mixture can also be shaped into hamburgers, coated in breadcrumbs, then shallow fried.  Serve as a hamburger or cheeseburger, or even just as rissoles!

6-Homemade-Cheeseburger-Buns

Of course, serve as spaghetti & meatballs.

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Or serve with a dipping sauce as a canapé.

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Canape meatball picture source: Taste.com.au

Pea & Ham Soup

Pea & Ham soup

One of my lovely customers sent me this recipe last year.  She’s a fan of Pea & Ham soup & had tried making a few recipes, but wasn’t 100% happy with the results.  So, she decided to make her own recipe, by blending a number of recipes together to get the result she was after.  I first made this late last year, and was so excited to be able to share it with everyone this winter.  The cooking time is considerable for a soup, so it’s not a soup to make if you’re after a quick & easy meal.  However, if you’re a fan of this classic soup, you’re sure to love this recipe!

Thank you for the recipe Sharon Wilson!

Ingredients:
3 cloves garlic
1 onion, halved
1 leek, white part only
1 carrot
1 stick celery
1 potato, peeled
900g water
1 tbsp vegetable stock paste
100g split green peas
1 large ham hock or 2 small ham hocks (approx. 1kg)
pepper to taste

Method:
1) Place onion, garlic & leek into TM bowl, chop 5 seconds/speed 5.  Scrape down sides of the bowl.
2) Add oil, cook 5 minutes/Varoma or 120 degrees/speed 1 (MC lid off).
3) Add roughly chopped carrot, celery & potato. Chop 5 seconds/speed 5.  Scrape down sides of the bowl.
4) Add water, stock paste, split peas & pepper to TM bowl. Place ham hocks into the Varoma dish & place into position.
5) Cook 60 minutes/Varoma/speed 1.
6) Remove Varoma dish & set aside.  Replace MC into bowl lid.  Puree soup for 1 minute/speed 9 – Gradually increasing speed from speed 5 to 9.
7) Using a knife & fork, remove cooked ham from the bones & discard bones, skin & fat.
8) Chop/shred ham into small pieces & add to soup.  Mix 20 seconds/reverse/speed 2.
Serve & enjoy!  Suitable to freeze too.

Ham hock

Cranzac’s (Cranberry ANZAC biscuits)

Cranzacs

I made these biscuits recently & my kids devoured them. These are Anzac biscuits, with cranberries, pumpkin seeds & sunflower seeds added to them.  You could really add any dried fruit or seeds, but this combination is really lovely.    Lunchbox friendly & I’m sure the whole family will love them!

Ingredients:
125g butter
90g golden syrup
35g water
1 tsp bi carb soda
140g plain flour
120g rolled oats
80g desiccated coconut
140g brown sugar
90g pumpkin seeds (pepita’s)
40g sunflower seeds
80g cranberries

Method:
1) Preheat oven to 170 degrees celcius.
2) Place butter, syrup & water in TM bowl, melt 3 minutes/70 degrees/speed 2.
3) Add bi carb soda, mix 5 seconds/speed 3.
4) Add remaining ingredients, mix 10 seconds speed 3.
5) Scrape down the sides of the bowl, knead mixture on dough setting/45 seconds.
6) Place small balls of mixture on tray lined with baking paper & lightly press down each ball with a fork or spoon.
7) Bake for 12 minutes, until golden.

Makes about 50 biscuits