Horchata

Drinkies anyone??? This drink is rumored to be a cure for a hangover and is frequently served at breakfast time. Even though the drink has a milky appearance it is completely dairy-free. It is Mexican in origin and is supposed to be sweet, but if you wish to have it with less sugar, you can add sugar to taste after you have blended it. Served in market places throughout Mexico, it is the perfect answer to a milkshake but of course, being dairy free, has a longer shelf life in the sun! Use lots of ice…and lots of cinnamon…and apparently you can add lime zest to be more traditional as well….us? We LOVED it.

NEED:

350g rice (any variety)

200g raw cashews

700g water for soaking plus some more

100g rapadura sugar

1 cinnamon stick

Ice for serving

DO:

Soak rice and nuts in 700g water overnight or 8 hours.

Place rice mixture, sugar, cinnamon and 1-2 cups extra water into Thermo bowl and blend 2 min/speed 9. Scrape down sides of bowl and lid and repeat for a further 30 sec/speed 9.

Serve over ice sprinkled with ground cinnamon. Add more or less water, sugar, ice to taste. This is meant to be sweet, but refreshing. I actually added it to some brewed Crio Bru instead of milk…it was amazing…if you are really precious about the grainy bits, you can strain it through a fine sieve or piece of muslin….but I personally had no problem. The longer you blend, the smoother the result….now to try is frozen and churned into ice cream. There’s a thought!

Chorizo and Cabbage Soup

We finally had a cool day! And some rain…lots of it actually…so of course my culinary thoughts turned to soup! I had chorizo in my fridge (a stock standard staple at mine…love redundant alliteration as well) and so this was a natural progression. The marriage with steamed cabbage was also fuelled by what was already in my fridge, and so YUMMOLA, we had dinner. In minutes. Can’t be unhappy with that….no matter how rainy it is outside!

NEED:

2 Spanish chorizo sausages (as opposed to Mexican!!)

1 red onion, peeled and halved

2 cloves garlic

1 red paprika, deseeded (or red capsicum)

700g water

2 tbs Chicken Stock Powder (For Foods Sake recipe)

1 tbsp Umami paste

1 tbsp ground paprika

500g potatoes, peeled and cubed into bite sized pieces

1 small cabbage, cut into thin wedges (enough for your family, don’t go overboard!)

400g tin chick peas, or soaked and cooked equivalent

DO:

Place chorizo, onion, garlic and paprika into Thermo bowl and chop 3 sec/speed 6. Saute 5 min/Varoma/speed 1.

Add all remaining ingredients other than cabbage and chick peas.

Place cabbage into Varoma dish and set into position. Cook 15 min/Varoma/Reverse/speed 1. Set Varoma aside.

Add chick peas to Thermo bowl and cook 2 min/100ºC/Reverse/speed 1.

Place wedges of cabbage into large soup bowls and ladle soup over. Sprinkle with chopped coriander, parsley or both.

Serve. Don’t burn yourself…in your haste to get it down you….really…yummmmm!

Pretty in Pink Cupcakes

Pretty in Pink….and white…I have an issue with cupcakes….well, not with eating them of course, but rather with taking pics of them. And so it was that I put a shout out on Facebook for suggestions…shooting suggestions if you will, on cupcakery!! What do you know?? There are experts out there, most of whom will give you their honest opinion for a cupcake….and one who came and actually took pics and gave me a very quick lesson on the finer points of my own camera, for the princely sum of two cupcakes! Fantastic….(thanks Mark) so now…who took which pic??? That is the question. I took pics as well, so if you can tell whose is whose, I will send you a cupcake. (Actually, I will not, but you can have this perfectly good cupcake recipe and make a whole dozen for yourself!)

Getting stuffed….with homemade raspberry jam…recipe coming

Cupcakery….

Cakes;

NEED:

100g butter

150g brown sugar

1 tsp Heilala vanilla bean paste

45g maple syrup

2 eggs

Pinch Murray River pink salt flakes

170g flour

1/2 tsp each baking powder and baking soda

DO:

Preheat oven to 180ºC and line 12 hole muffin tin with silicone cupcake liners.

Place butter into saucepan and cook until it becomes buerre noisette on Induction 10, stirring constantly. Pour into Thermo bowl and add sugar, vanilla and maple syrup. Blend 5 sec/speed 5. Scrape down and allow to cool slightly.

Add eggs and blend 10 sec/speed 6. Add remaining ingredients and fold 12 sec/Interval. Scrape down sides of bowl to incorporate last little bits of flour. Divide equally in prepared tin. Bake 20-25 minutes or until springing back when touched with a finger. Cool completely.

Optionally, cut out the centre piece of each cake and fill with 1 tsp raspberry jam and place the piece of cake you removed back into place before continuing with frosting.

Raspberry Puree;

NEED:

150g raspberries

Juice 1 lime

DO:

Place berries and juice into Thermo bowl and cook 6 min/100ºC/speed 2. Strain through fine sieve and cool completely before using.

Frosting;

NEED:

400g fine icing sugar

50g butter

As much Raspberry Puree as needed to reach colour you are happy with!

DO:

Place sugar and butter into Thermo bowl and blend 6 sec/speed 6.

Whip 30 sec/speed 4/butterfly.

Remove butterfly and add raspberry puree a little at a time blending 3-4 sec/speed 6 between additions until you have the desired colour.

Remove frosting from bowl and place in fridge for an hour or so before piping onto cupcakes.

Happy Mothers (and might I add Grandmother’s) Day….to you all!

Pink Lime-Ade

Well I am to be a grandmother in just a few weeks…not surprisingly this is both amazing and wonderful! I have decided however to be called ‘Grandy’ not Nanna, not Nan, not Grandma, not Granny. I have been told that this is not up to me, but I figure, a slap or two and the kid will get it down no problems!

(Just in case you don’t know me by now, I jest!!)

For the baby shower (it is a little girl, yay, we are even-ing the score a little in the Holder family!!) I created a few little pink treats and this is one of them. Others may or may not follow depending on their success! But this was certainly on the ‘successful and shall be done again’ list! You need a couple of days up your sleeve for this one remember…to get the fizz happening…so if you are after something for Mother’s Day (or should that be called Grandmother’s Day??) then get squeezing!!

NEED:

300g sugar

40g raspberries

Zest 10 limes, finely grated

Water to 2L mark in Thermo bowl

Juice of 10 limes

2 tsp dried yeast

Sterilised glass bottles as required

DO:

Place sugar, zest and raspberries into Thermo bowl and cook 10 min/100ºC/speed 2. Cool.

Add juice and yeast and stir 5 sec/speed 8. Strain through fine sieve into sterilised bottles and leave out of the fridge for 2 days until bubbles start to accumulate. Refrigerate and serve with more raspberries and lime slices to taste. It can also be diluted with sparkling water if needed.

The layering process begins!

Smorgastarta Up Close and Personal!

Okey, so if you are on board with me here….this is what you are waiting for to finish off this creation. It really is impressive and a lot of fun to serve. There are a lot of ideas for decorating, I went with Swedish (sort of) but for lots of other ideas head on over to this The Kitchn post. There were mixed reactions at the most expected Grand child in history’s baby shower, some people were disappointed it wasn’t sweet, others were so taken by the idea that is was savoury, they couldn’t wait to dig in. Slicing it is the trick, so be brave, but use a serrated edge to get through all the layers and serve in thin wedges if possible. We loved the left overs more the day after the Baby Shower, and I think it was because all the flavours had melded together. Therefore, this is a perfect party food to do ahead…way ahead.

Hope you post pics over on Facebook if you do this…go on…you know you want to!

Fillings;

NEED:

4 hard boiled egg yolks

100g mayonnaise (For Foods Sake has some amazing Mayo options, and I did use a home made garlic, spring onion and lime option)

100g pickled gherkins

60g red onion

250g cream cheese

100g smoked salmon

Juice 1 lime

Murray River pink salt flakes to taste

DO:

Place egg yolks, and mayonnaise into Thermo bowl and blend 4 sec/speed 6. Add gherkins and onion and chop 3 sec/speed 4. Add remaining filling ingredients and blend 6 sec/speed 6. Remove from bowl and set aside. Clean bowl if you want a white ‘frosting’.

Frosting;

NEED:

500g sour cream

500g cream cheese

DO:

Place sour cream and cream cheese into Thermo bowl and blend 10 sec/speed 7. Insert butterfly and whip for 30 sec/speed 4. It should be fluffy and aerated. Remove from bowl and set aside in the fridge until ready to use.

Sliced cucumber

Sliced chicken breast fillet, ham or other cold meats of choice

Caviar

Sliced hardboiled eggs

Butter

Sliced onions

Beetroot

Stuffed olives, black olives

Parsley leaves to garnish

Cherry tomatoes to garnish

Other garnishes of choice

You must have sparkling mineral water to brush the bread layers with.

ASSEMBLY:

Remove the crusts from all the loaf, including the top, leaving only the bottom crust.

Slice the bread loaf into 3 or 4 layers horizontally.

Spread a little of the frosting onto the serving plate you will use. Stick the bottom layer of loaf onto this plate.

Brush this layer with a generous amount of mineral water. Butter it and then spread with some of the filling. Top with other meats, cheeses, vegetables of choice. Top with next layer and repeat, until all layers of bread are used. Do not overfill the layers between the sandwich as it will make it difficult to cut.

Completely brush the whole sandwich cake with mineral water. Frost it using all the frosting you have and pipe rosettes on the top like you would a cake around the outside circumference. Decorate the top with as many garnishes as you would like.

Arrange individual parsley leaves on the outside of the cake. Garnish the base with cherry tomatoes, and add any other garnishes of choice. Cover and refrigerate for at least 24 hours.

The mineral water helps the consistency become easier to cut and more cake like.

I am missing a few accents in the title, this Swedish sandwich cake is actually spelt, Smörgåstårta and is of course a salute to all things sandwich…and so pretty! Which is why it appealed to me in the first place. I have (as some of you know) reached the ripe old and mature age of Grandy hood…and so there has been a baby shower and as we are expecting a little girl to be welcomed into the Holder family, the baby shower had to be appropriately pretty and this fit the bill exactly! Rather than fiddle around with patching loaves together to fit the round cake that I was after, I decided to make my own bread, so this is part one of Smörgåstårta, (cue the drum roll….) The Loaf!

NEED:

60g fresh yeast

200g brewed Crio Bru liquid

200g water

3 tbsp malt powder  as found in For Foods Sake

2 tbsp honey

400g wholemeal flour

400g bakers flour

3 tbsp Crio Bru dry granules (As opposed to reserved wet granules from your morning cuppa)

Pinch salt

DO:

Place yeast, Crio Bru liquid, water, malt powder and honey into Thermo bowl and warm 2 min/37ºC/speed 1.

Add half each of the flours and all the Crio Bru granules. Blend 15 sec/speed 6.

Add remaining flour a little at a time, kneading 1 min/Interval after each addition, to a total of 4 minutes. If your machine is struggling, remove half the dough, knead 2 min/Interval. Remove from bowl, repeat with remaining dough and knead the two amounts together by hand on a Silpat mat. Wrap tightly and allow to prove.

Line the base of a 23cm spring form tin with baking paper and grease the sides.  Shape dough into a large round and place into tin to rise. Preheat oven to 220ºC. Bake 20-25 minutes or until well risen, golden and sounding hollow when tapped. Cool completely before cutting into 3-4 layers. (This will depend on how much rise you managed to achieve!!)

I actually made this loaf the day before and then filled it and frosted it on the day of serving. I would definitely do it that way again and recommend you do the same if possible. OH, and the bread would be perfectly fine as just plain old bread…I confess I ate the crusts (which are removed for  Smörgåstårta and I smothered them in fresh butter, as I hi-hoed into making the sandwich!!) 

Part two, which consists of basic method of construction, fillings, and frosting is coming soon…stay tuned.

Dried Chia Seed Cereal

Dried Chia Seed Cereal

As previous posts have mentioned, I am all for convenience and as school starts again (can you believe we are Term 2 with winter looming already??) and as the mornings down under are getting cooler, and as my daughter has developed a gluten intolerance, this was a yummy solution that takes no time  on a busy morning. Filling, nutritious, gluten free, and you can add fresh fruit, berries, honey, dairy free milk, milk, cream, mascarpone to dress it up or down as much as you want. The flavours improve over a few days as the vanilla and cinnamon do their thing, so try and resist at least that long. The beauties of Chia seeds are well discussed here at our friends Honest to Goodness. And the best thing of all? So filling, there has been documented weight loss in this household…not mine of course, but amongst other family  members who care….I either need to eat it more frequently, or stop eating other stuff all together….hmmmn, what to do?

NEED:

70g rapadura or coconut sugar

1/2 stick cinnamon

1 roasted vanilla bean (see the best selling cookbook, For Foods Sake for all the benefits of this little trick!)

100g buckwheat

100g almonds

250g chia seed (any colour)

100g Inca berries (we have discussed these before!)

60g Crio Bru granules of choice

DO:

Place sugar, cinnamon stick and roasted vanilla bean into Thermo bowl and mill 10 sec/speed 10. Tip into jar you will use to store cereal mix.

Place buckwheat into Thermo bowl and mill 3 sec/speed 6. Add to jar.

Place almonds into Thermo bowl and chop 3 sec/speed 5. Add to jar.

Add chia seed, Inca berries and Crio Bru to jar and give it all a good stir.

To prepare mix 3 tbsp mixture with approx 1/4 or 65-70g boiling water, stir and let stand for a few minutes. Stir and add toppings and milk of choice!

YUM…

Chicken Pot Pie

This recipe is a conversion request…and I must say, well received in this household. The pastry is my recipe and the idea of puff on the top as well…love it! Easy and delicious, watch this space, pretty sure this will show up on Spin A Dinner  the thermomix app of all apps it would seem…At the moment sporting over 30 recipes and fast on it’s way to another 30 at the rate I’m going!! Did you get yours yet? Both iPad and iPhone versions are going M.A.D. We are so wrapped that you are so wrapped! AND…hold onto your hats, the Android version is close…how close? Not close enough I hear you cry…but coming, so stay tuned, and go and let me know on Facebook, how much you want this to happen. (Need to feel the love right now kids!!)

Anyhoo, thanks for the email Douglas…here you go. Chicken Pot Pie at your service…

NEED:

Parmesan Shortcrust;

60g parmesan, cubed

A few peppercorns

1 tsp paprika, ground

60g butter

220g plain flour

1 egg yolk

1 pinch Murray River pink salt flakes

30-50g ice cold water

Filling;

75g butter

100g onion, halved

40g flour

Generous pinch Murray River pink salt flakes

2 tsp powdered greens (optional)

100g carrots, sliced thinly

1-2 stalks celery, sliced

300g water

2 tbsp Chicken Stock Powder (recipe in For Foods Sake)

500g chicken fillet, cubed

Freshly ground black pepper to taste

100g frozen peas

50g milk (optional)

To finish pie; 2 sheets commercial puff pastry

DO:

Place parmesan, peppercorns and paprika into Thermo bowl and mill 10 sec/speed 10. Add butter and flour and blend 6 sec/speed 6.

Add yolk and salt and a little water and blend 5 sec/speed 5. If dough is coming together there will be no need to add more water. If still crumbly, just add a little more water and blend further 5 sec/speed 5 until dough forms a mass.

Remove from bowl and form into a disc on floured Silpat mat. Wrap and place into fridge whilst you make filling.

To make filling place butter, onion, flour and salt into Thermo bowl and chop 4 sec/speed 5. Saute 5 min/Varoma/speed 2.

Add powdered greens, carrots, celery, water and Chicken Stock Powder to Thermo bowl and cook 10 min/100ºC/Reverse/speed 2.

Add chicken and pepper and cook 5 min/100ºC/Reverse/speed 2.

Add peas and milk and stir through 3 sec/Reverse/speed 2.

Preheat oven to 200ºC.

Line a deep pie or casserole dish with the Parmesan shortcrust. Fill gently with the chicken filling. Top with puff pastry being sure to tuck and seal the edges. Cut a cross in the centre of the pie for steam to escape. Bake 35-40 minutes until top is puffed and golden.

Leave to cool for around 10 minutes before serving.

Lemon, Ricotta Filled Baked Pancakes

A quickie and a goodie…it started as a dessert idea, but turned into breakfast one morning at my house when my son who is ALWAYS hungry, complained about the lack of breakfast foods that jumped out of the cupboard and into his mouth.

So, to protect myself from further breakfast wrath, I did a quick pancake batter, looked at what was available in the fridge, and this beauty was the result…hope you will find these on your table soon…perhaps you can organise someone other than the mother in the house, to make them for Mothers Day? Easily prepared the night before, and then simply assembled in the morning…perfect way to avoid that burnt toast, cold Crio Bru morning that may be headed your way!!

NEED:

Pancake Batter;

300g buttermilk

150g plain flour

1 tbsp sugar

Pinch Murray River pink salt flakes

2 eggs

Filling;

300g ricotta cheese drained through a muslin cloth for a few hours (overnight)

Zest 1 lemon, finely grated plus some more

50g sugar

Juice 1 lemon, fresh

1 tsp Heilala vanilla bean paste

A little raw sugar as needed

DO:

To make pancake batter, place all ingredients into Thermo Bowl and blend 20 sec/speed 7. Scrape down sides of bowl and repeat. Allow to rest for 10 minutes if possible.

Heat large frying pan on Induction 8. Butter pan between each pancake. Cook them all before filling and baking.

Preheat oven to 160ºC and line a large baking tray with paper.

Meanwhile, to make filling place zest and sugar into Thermo Bowl and blend 10 sec/speed 10.

Add drained ricotta, juice and vanilla and blend further 4 sec/speed 6.

Place a small amount of the filling into the centre of each pancake. Fold in all four sides to form a package. Sprinkle each with a pinch of raw sugar. Place onto prepared tray and bake 10 minutes or until golden. They will have a little syrup coming out of them when they are hot.

Serve immediately with additional finely grated lemon zest to garnish.

Frying Roti

Rolled Roti with honey

You know I need to knead…and as I am developing a ‘Thai Thai Again’ advanced cooking class, I have been playing around with breads and flatbreads that may or may not be eaten in Thailand. I have to say, in traditional Thai cuisine, you will not find a lot of bread. SO: Disclaimer is thus….I have seen these served on the street with condensed milk AND sugar AND banana, and they are delicious. Full of carbs, and fat, so not for the diet conscious…but when has that ever been my mantra anyway?? Perfect for a hungry crowd with the sweet stuff or as an accompaniment to a great curry. The trick is in the pulling and folding, so go and watch a few videos with the technique. Once you get it, it is quite easy though I confess I must stick to square roti…I get the thinnest result that way. (And as mentioned…I am all about thin!!)

NEED:

500g bakers flour

200g water

35g milk

Good pinch Murray River pink salt flakes

2 tbsp sugar

1 egg

Oil and butter as needed

DO:

Place all ingredients except oil and butter into Thermo bowl and mix 15 sec/speed 6. Knead 2 min/Interval.

Leave in bowl for 20 minutes. Knead again 2 min/Interval.

Place onto oiled Silpat mat and divide into 16 pieces using your trusty SuperKitchenMachine spatula. (Don’t have one yet? Head on over to the store and order immediately!!) Roll into balls and drizzle generously with oil. Cover and rest again.

Heat a large flat pan on Induction 6 for at least 10 minutes.

Roll one ball at a time into a circle with a rolling pin. Slap the flat bread onto the mat and pull, turn, slap and pull again. It should catch on the mat and so pull the dough thinner and thinner without breaking. If it doesn’t stick, just use a very little oil on the mat and it should work. Pull it into a circle or square and then oil your hot pan. Fry each side, adding some butter once the bread has puffed up.

Remove, drizzle with honey, condensed milk, sprinkle with sugar, whatever takes your fancy…or serve with an amazing curry to mop up all those juices…