A Worldwide Thermie Resource...

Its been quite a while since i posted anything as 2012 has bought about alot of change in my life.... Both good and bad but cooking is still a central part of it!

That aside, I just thought i would share a little gem with those of you who havent discovered it yet.  I have had my thermomix for a little over two years now and as much as there are many thermomix books and resources out there by not only the makers of Thermomix but also more and more individuals creating products for use by thermie, there is one resource out there that I was lucky enough to stumble across in the early days of owning my Thermomix.  That resourse is Forum Thermomix.. Where not only are there thermomix recipes with contributions from all over the world but there is such an open community that is willing to help out anyone looking for help or a recipe or just simple guidance.  There are also users of other pieces of equipment that share and ask for help in converting or testing new recipes who are welcomed with open forum arms.

Without this resource of thermomix recipes, I would have found finding inspiration difficult and certainly lost that buzz you get when you discover how many things you can make and make well with your Thermomix.

Definately a must have resource if you have a thermomix or even if you want one but havent got there yet!  .........and the best thing other than the great community and recipes is its all FREE!

There are some very talented cooks out there who have shared some fabulous recipes and I love to cook and I am a far cry off trying anywhere near half of the recipes posted...an endless resource of fabulous Thermomix recipes.

Why not pop over here and have a look.. You wont regret it!

Sundried Tomato and Mushroom Quiche

From the book 'Quiches' by Hachette Petits Pratiques

Ingredients

Pate Brisée Dough/Pastry (or you can buy it if you cant be bothered making it but it is so much better homemade)

250g button mushrooms/champignons de Paris

3 white onions (sml) or a handful of spring oignons or even shallots

2 tbspns olive oil

90g of sundried tomatoes (roughly)

250ml sour cream/creme fraiche

3 eggs

90g grated cheese (could be emmental, gruyere, tasty...i use emmental in general)

salt, pepper to taste

Note - These are two different recipes as thats what I use but if you have your own recipe then use that or buy it if you find it easier..

Pâte Brisée Thermomix Recipe

150g flour (Type 55)

75g butter cubed

1/2 tsp of salt

50g luke warm water

Method

Put all of the ingredients in the bowl and knead for 30 secondes, knead function.

Mix for 10 secondes, reverse, speed 2 to facilitate the removal of the dough from the bowl.

On a clean teatowel turn the bowl upside down and turn the blade element from the underside of the bowl and without touching the pastry dough use the teatowel to form into a ball.  Your pastry is ready to go.  Best to roll out between two pieces of baking paper until you have the size your after, take off the top piece of baking paper but leave the second piece underneath and place the whole thing into your dish.  Just for info, if you dont use hte baking paper you DO NOT NEED to grease the dish prior to putting in the pastry as it will not stick due to the butter etc already in the pastry.

Pâte Brisée Non Thermomix Version

250 g de farine T55
125g butter cubed
1 egg yolk
60ml of water
1 large pinch of salt

Method

Put the flour in a bowl (preferably sift it into the bowl rather than just putting it in)

Add the cubes of butter into the bowl of flour and mix either with your fingers to break it down and create crumbs like you do for a crumble.

Mix together the water, egg yolk and salt.  Pour this mixture into a well made in the centre of the flour and butter mix.  Work the mixture together to create a ball.  Stop mixing as soon as it forms a ball.. 

Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour before rolling it out.

Preparation

Preheat the oven at 180°C (Th 6).  Roll out the puff pastry and put into a quiche or pie dish and pick the bottom of the pastry with a fork.

Prepare and slice the mushrooms (best to brush off any dirt etc rather than rinse).  Peel and chop the oignons.  Heat the oil in a frypan and sauté the oignons for 5 minutes.  Add the mushrooms and cook until all liquid has evaporated.  Add the chopped sundried tomatoes. Season with salt and pepper to taste and leave to the side.

In a bowl, mix together the cream and eggs until well mixed.  Season.

Put the mushroom, sundried tomato mix on the base of the dish, cover with the grated cheese and finally pour the egg/cream mixture over the top.  Trim the edges of the pastry or fold them over if necessary and trim any excess baking paper if used then bake in the oven for 30 to 34 mins until golden.  You can serve it hot or cold.

Note for Thermomix Users - Other than the pastry the only thing I do in the thermomix is chop seperately the onions and sundried tomatoes and mix together the egg and cream mixture.  The cooking of the filling ingredients I always do in the frypan as its quicker...yes one thing that is actually quicker than in good old Thermie !!

Photos to come....

Weekend Away

Had a great weekend at a gite (holiday house/country house) in Bourgogne (large wine region of France for those of you who dont know) to spend some times with good friends we dont see that often..

We were lucky and had great weather all weekend and even got some free cooking lessons from the lovely Gina...mexican food yum yum!! Only problem is that the weekend always goes way too fast but we do enjoy our weekend catchups a couple of times a year!

This was the bbq area with a french style chimney type bbq (not in photo) but we ended up moving the tables and eating in the lovely sunshine.   They also had horses in the fields behind which is what the boys were climbing up to look at!

The grange on the other side of the garden and courtyard, closed off to guests but the kids still tried to get in there haha!



The lovely Gina who I met on the weekend (a friend of a close friend of mine) showed us how to make Chicken Mole, Sopes, Gorditas and explained how to make chillis sauces and salsas...

Here is the chicken mole.....was lovely and tasty...cant wait to get all the recipes and have a mexican night at home!

However due to our last minute weekend away I didnt get around to starting the barley sprouts for the malt as I wouldnt have had the time before leaving so that will be this week and I need to post of few recipes such as the mushroom meatball one and some different quiches which are very yummy.

Hope you all had a lovely weekend wherever you may have been :)

Slowly does it.....

Well after several months of not being active on my blog at all and life just generally taking over I now have more 'me' time and will make an active effort to post regularly...not every day...but at least once or twice a week depending on whats going on around me.

Still crazy about Thermie but have been more just coasting along cooking what others have converted and posted rather than attacking the mile high tower of cookbooks and converting some yummy favs...

This week I did some mushroom meatballs (a hubby fav) in thermie converted from a recipe mum gave me when I left home years ago and still have the little notebook with teddy bears on it full of home style recipes which was my base for my cooking adventures..  anyway there are a few ways to cook them in the thermie and Im still playing as to the best way...will post soon..

Due to health problems I am not totally dairy free but have to cut down mainly 'cow' or bovine dairy products...I can still however use goats and sheeps milk products but mix them up with soy, rice and nut milks...im testing different recipes out with them too...I find its not too much the taste that differs but textures especially in cakes and batters etc.  Thankfully I have a great guide with Quirky Cookings blog who is the queen of anything 'x' free!

Will also be trying out making yoghurt with sheeps milk..see how that goes...dont like goats milk much as even milder brands have that aftertaste I really dont like..

My other test Im trying out next week is to make dry malt and or malt extract with sprouting barley grains...hoping the cooler weather is not going to cause problems with sprouting the grains..

We are now in Autumn here in France and the weather wasnt that great this summer and alot of the 'oldies' keep saying its going to be a hard winter which I am not looking forward to although lots of yummy stuff to bake... however they also said it would be a heat wave summer and I have to tell you it was far from any heat wave!! 

Plan on getting out there more and do more foodie stuff now that I have a few kid free days... life is no longer on hold 24/7...and have to admit I am loving that...like a breath of fresh air (wouldn't be without them though)!

Said I would be back the beginning of September and well not quite the beginning but at least september...  to be continued.....

Conversion Disaster!

Well last night I decided to just wing it with a conversion of an asian chicken recipe..honey ginger type stir fry and well I overdid it on the ginger and chilli...WOW it was hot, even hubby who loves it spicy said it was nice but quite spicy lol!! 

The other thing is that as I put a whole lot of diced chicken in with the ginger and chilli and it pretty much minced.  I have come to the conclusion that reverse or not you really need to either add the meat in last or have a fair amount of liquid to get good results....will post the recipe once redone more to my liking and tweaked a little to balance out the spice factor...saying that the base flavour was nice...we had it with the rice, had planned noodles but didnt realise they were over their use by date so they went to the dogs! 

Needless to say the kids didnt touch it...they took a mouthful and had their tongues hanging out asking for water!!  I had to have a little laugh then got them something else to eat!

Still havent finalised my menu plan..think its going to end up being a half week menu plan and ill also do the one for next week so im ahead!! The TO DO list is getting a little out of control!  Getting there though!

Finally back after a crazy couple of months...

Ok so its a Monday and life is just as crazy as always but decided like for many other things in my life if I dont get it done its just not going to get done so am back blogging and trying out new recipes...also have 6 new Thermomix books recently added to my collection (some still on their way) so lots of inspiring photos and recipes to get me motivated. 

I have decided to do as some others do and only do one conversion a week and one leftovers meal in my menu plans as otherwise with everything going on it just gets too out of control.  As my kids eat at home most of the time for lunch I also have to include lunches in my menu planning.

I have decided to break it down like this, for this week anyway and see how it goes....but knowing me it will change slightly..

1 beef
1 pasta
2 chicken
1 fish
1 lamb
2 leftover
6 vegetarian (for diners as we have our meat element at lunch except for hubby)

So that covers my 7 lunches and 7 diners and I also need to make bread, brioche, make sure there is choc nut spread, certain drinks like cordials etc and breakfasts on the weekends.  When we are home which isnt that often of late, we like to have pancakes or similar for at least one of the days of the weekend or what my family calls a 'big breakfast'.

 

I will post my menu plan a little later on today...after a busy weekend im having a slow day today ...

Sunday Breakfast...

Usually on the weekend we make some form of pancakes or some form of 'big breakfast' as we call it!  This past sunday I decided to make pancakes but wanted some form of change so this is what I ended up with..

Apple and Cinnamon Pancakes

1 basic pancake mixture
2 apples cored and quartered
2 tbspns brown sugar
2 tsp ground cinnamon

You just use your standard pancake mix..mine is as follows..

Pancake mix for 4

320g flour (either self raison or plain with a raising agent..i just added a tsp of bicarb soda)
640g milk
2 eggs
pinch of salt

Normally I put the flour and salt in the thermomix and turbo a couple of times to mix it through, then add the eggs and mix on speed 3 or so for a couple of seconds to mix through and finally i add the milk in two or three lots and mix after each addition until you have a smooth mixture.  Let sit for 30 minutes or so then cook as usual.

For this recipe though I put two apples, cored and quartered but with skin on (i used organic so I leave the skin) into the bowl and chopped on speed 4 to 5 for about 5 seconds or until finely chopped.  If you dont like 'bits' you could mix until a puree.  I then added  the cinnamon and brown sugar followed by the flour, salt and egg and mixed for a few seconds on speed 4 to mix well.  Finally add the milk in 2 or 3 lots until you have a smooth mixture.

Ideally you should let it sit for about 30 minutes but I didnt have any time so cooked it straight away and it was still fine.

You could serve it with whatever you like, either a little butter, maple syrup, cream, icecream, custard..whatever takes your fancy.  It was a nice change to standard pancakes..