Meat Balls

In the last post I prepared the Bolognese Sauce in the Thermomix and the Spaghetti in a saucepan.with the Meatball Recipe I decided to cook the Meatballs in the oven and cook the Spaghetti in the Thermomix.
I did use the Thermomix for making Breadcrumbs. I placed 3 pieces of Bread,1 teaspoon of Dried Basil , 1 teaspoon of Dried Oregano and a small cube of Cheddar Cheese in the Thermomix Bowl - Turbo/ 2 seconds/ 3-5 times.

I then added these to the Mince with  1 Tablespoon Soy Sauce, 1 Tablespoon Worcester Sauce and 1 Tablespoon of Tomato Puree.
I rolled the mince to make the Meatballs and placed them in a greased dish in the oven to bake at 180c for 20 minutes. I then added the sauce and cooked them for another 20 minutes.
This time I used Ragu Sauce, which is more expensive than making your own, as I had run out of ingredients for Home Made Sauce.

This is what they looked like.

The instructions for cooking the Spaghetti in the Basic Cook Book were interesting in that the Spaghetti is added through the hole in the Mixing Bowl Lid.
You bring the water to the boil in the Mixing Bowl - 10 minutes/ 100c/ speed 1.
Then you add the Spaghetti and 1 tsp salt through the Mixing Bowl Lid and cook for 10 minutes/ 100c/ speed 1.
Below is the cooked Spaghetti before I drained it using the Simmering Basket held in place with the Spatula.

Spaghetti Bolognese the Thermie Way

It was great to adapt one of my regular meals to the Thermomix and save myself some money by making my own Ragu Sauce.
I thought that I would start by showing you the finished result.

First you put one Onion, quartered, 2 Cloves of Garlic,peeled, a teaspoon of Oregano and a teaspoon of  Basil into the TM Bowl and chop for 4 seconds on speed 7.

Then you add 20g Olive Oil 400g Minced Beef, Salt and Pepper to taste and cook for 10 minutes/ Varoma Temperature/ on reverse blade spoon speed (40 revolutions per minute.) ( Turbo speed is 10,700 revolutions per minute!)
Then you drain off the fat by holding the Simmering Basket in place over the mixture with the Spatula.
Below is The fat I drained off. This is one reason why Thermomix Cooking is healthy!

Add 700g Tomato Passata and 2 heaped tablespoons of Tomato Puree and cook for 20 minutes/ 100c/ reverse,spoon speed. I used 500g Passata and a Tin of Chopped Tomatoes. See Below.
I think that next time I will just use Passata as stated in the Recipe so that the sauce is a bit thicker.

Cook for 20 minutes/ Varoma Temperature/ Spoon Speed, Reverse.
Below is the result. All the family liked it.
To make Chilli Con Carne just add 1 - 2 teaspoons of Chilli Powder and a drained Can of Kidney Beans for the final 20 minutes cooking.

Malteser Mousse

Two of the features I love about the Thermomix are that it is easy to use and fast.
Malteser Mousse can be whipped up in a flash.
Turbo 150g Maltesers for 2 seconds and set them aside.

Insert the Butterfly Whisk,whip up 600ml Double Cream, half the Malteser Mixture, 2 tablespoons of Sugar, 2 tablespoons of Cocoa. Whip for 20seconds/ speed 4.
Add remaining Maltesers 10 seconds/ speed 4.
If the mixture has not thickened enough then beat for another 5 seconds/ speed 4.
Place in the fridge to set.
You can then decorate it with extra Maltesers and some Double Cream.
We ate ours with a chopped Strawberry on top.

Chocolate Mousse

I decided to use the Basic Cooking Chip today for guided cooking to make some Chocolate Mousse.
This is what the Touch screen looks like for Guided Cooking. It shows you each step. At any time you can quit and continue with Manual Cooking.
I love the way that you do everything in one bowl. Even weighing so there is less washing up.

Here we are grinding the sugar on speed 10 for a few seconds.

Next up is melting the Dark Chocolate and Cream after you have weighed it into the Mixing Bowl. You can choose Metric or Imperial Measurements much to my husband's delight.

This is the yummy mixure that materialised from the machine! It is set aside in a bowl while you clean out the Mixing Bowl and dry it meticulously ready for whipping the Egg Whites.

There is a very good Butterfly Whisk for whipping Egg Whites, Cream, Fruit Sorbet etc. This is attached on top of the Metal Blades and must not be used above Speed 4.
The Whisked Egg Whites are folded into the Chocolate Mixture.

Here is the completed Chocolate Mousse ready to set in the fridge for pudding later on.

Red Pepper and Tomato Soup

One of the four Demo Recipes that we do, as Advisors, is Red Pepper and Tomato Soup so I decided to prepare some for lunch today.
First you weigh the Onion, Red Pepper, Garlic and Oil into the Mixing Bowl. Then you chop it 2 seconds/ speed 5. Scrape down the sides of the Mixing Bowl with the spatula then saute 5 minutes/ 100c/ speed 1.
Add 400g Tomatoes,Stock Cube and Water, Ground Lentils, 1 tsp Salt,1/2 tsp Pepper and 1/4 tsp Cayenne Pepper if using.
Cook 14 minutes/ Varoma/ speed 2.5.

 Below is a photo taken before you puree it 1 minute/ speed 10.
When you have been cooking at high temperatures in the Thermomix it slowly increases the temperature when you puree the ingredients as a safety precaution. NB this is only if the food is heated in the Thermomix it does not apply if hot food is added and then blended.

Notice the creamy consistency of the finished soup. It is very similar to Heinz Cream of Tomato Soup but without all of the additives and preservatives. We all had second helpings so that there were no left overs.

Latte Coffee

Tim made some brownies  yesterday using our own recipe that we have adapted for the Thermomix.
I decided to eat one last night with a Cafe Latte. Sam decided to have one too so I poured 2 mugfuls of milk into the Mixing Bowl and heated it for 5 minutes/ 70c/ speed 3.
I then added 2 teaspoons of instant coffee, (the recipe said 2 tablespoons), and 1 teaspoon of sugar and whizzed it up for 30 seconds /50c/ speed 7. I then poured out these frothy mugs of coffee.

The finishing touch was the cocoa on the top. I think that drinking chocolate would have been better but we did not have any in stock.

Home Made Scones

Home Made Scones today for tea. First you weigh the butter and flour into the Thermomix bowl and Turbo for 2 seconds. Next add the egg, milk, salt and sugar. Knead for 20seconds on dough setting.Scrape the sides of the bowl and knead again for 10 seconds on dough. You then tip the bowl upside down and release the blade on to a floured surface which you can see in the first photo.
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The second photo shows the scones before going into the oven. /they have been glazed with egg yolk.

Above are the scones after 12 minutes in the oven at 210c.
Below is a scone cut in half with butter and mixed berry jam - also made in the Thermomix in case you were wondering.

Mango Chutney

One of the many things that I am discovering about the Thermomix is that it is a good way of using up excess food products. I had 2 Mangoes which needed to be eaten so I decided to have a go at Mango Chutney. I googled Thermomix Mango Chutney and found a recipe on the Thermomix Forum. I could not believe how easy it was to complete. I could trust my Thermomix settings to do all of the hard work for me and I could just leave it cooking while I completed another task.
Within a short space of time I had four jars of Chutney.
It tasted delicious even though there was quite a pungent smell while it was cooking

Chicken with Creamy Vegetable Sauce

Two nights ago I decided to try the Chicken with Creamy Vegetable Sauce Recipe from the Basic Cookery Chip that comes with the Thermomix. First I placed slices of Chicken Breast on the Varoma Tray and seasoned them with salt and pepper.

I then placed water, carrots, and a Chicken Stock Cube into the Mixing Bowl. The recipe included celeriac and celery leaves but I did not have these to hand. I placed the Varoma Tray on the Mixing Bowl and put the lid on. I then cooked it for 20 minutes/Varoma/speed 1.

While that was cooking I weighed out (on top of the Varoma lid!) 40g plain flour,100g cream,1 tsp of Worcester Sauce and 1 tsp of lemon juice into separate bowls. I then had time to do other things while the Thermomix did the cooking.

There are many safety features of the Thermomix. One of which is that it automatically has an 8 second cooling down period after cooking food.
Below is a photo of the meal plated up after I had added the extra ingredients above cooked for 1 minute/100c/speed 6 and I then added 60g butter 1 min/80c/speed 2.
There was too much sauce for 4 people and it tasted a bit bland. That was my fault for not adding the celeriac,celery leaves and mushrooms. The texture of the sauce was smooth and creamy.
I would like to do this recipe again but I will get all of the ingredients and reduce the amount of sauce.

Peanut Butter and Chocolate Hazlenut Spread.

I decided to have a go at Peanut Butter today so I googled it and discovered that all you have to do is to whizz up salted peanuts fast enough and long enough to the desired consistency/ All was done and dusted within minutes.

Above is the finished result. No nasty additives or quirky oils just salted peanuts.

Next up was Chocolate Hazlenut Spread from the Basic Cook Book.
First you roast the Hazlenuts in the oven at 160c for 10 minutes and then cool them down a bit.
Then you grind the sugar 20seconds/speed 10.
Add the reserved Hazlenuts and Cocoa Powder and grind 20 seconds/speed 10.
Add milk and heat 4 minutes/100c/speed 4 then blend 2 minutes/speed 10.
Scrape down sides of bowl and add Milk Chocolate and Sunflower Oil,Melt for 3 minutes/50c/speed 3.
Then you just pour it into 2 medium jars and seal them tight.

What a lovely gooey mess. I made a milk shake with the left overs - a good way to start cleaning out the bowl.

I went to visit some friends later. We caught their youngest daughter helping herself to some with a cheeky grin on her face!

Salmon,Asparagus,Green Beans and New Potatoes with Hollandaise Sauce

I decided tonight that I would jazz up the usual Salmon Recipe by making a Hollandaise Sauce.
First I weighed out the New Potatoes on the Thermie Scales and placed them in the Simmering Basket.I then measured out 500g of water into the bowl with a teaspoon of salt.

Next, I placed the salmon fillets on the Varoma Tray,sprinkled them with some lemon juice and added some salt and pepper.

I then set the time to 20 minutes, Temperature Varoma and the speed to 1.

I had already put the Asparagus and Green Beans in the Varoma Dish making sure that I had left some vents free.

This is what 4 layer cooking looks like. Instead of using 3 rings and the oven I am using the power of only one Halogen ring.

Once the salmon and veg had cooked I set it aside while I made the Hollandaise Sauce in a flash!
I adapted a Mary Berry Recipe as she had only used 125g of butter and the Thermomix Basic Cook Book Recipe used 250g which would have added a bit to our waist lines.
First you melt the butter and put it in a separate container. Then you attach the Butterfly Whisk and whisk 3 egg yolks with 2 tsps lemon juice and 2 tsps white wine vinegar 2 mins/70c/speed 4.
Now is the clever bit.The fancy term is Emulsifying.You pour the melted butter slowly on to the lid of the Thermomix while it is running(4-5 mins/70c/speed 4) It drizzles down on to the egg mixture in a thin stream on to the rotating blades to create an emulsion.
Serve immediately or as Alan Murchison recommends keep it warm by setting the time to 60 minutes/60c/speed 2-3.

And voila,the result perfectly smooth Hollandaise Sauce with little effort applied!