Thermomix Pizzoccheri Soup

Well, the first time that I remember seeing Pizzoccheri soup prepared was by Valerio Nucci, when he was at The Boulevard Restaurant in Studley Park road in Kew, Melbourne.

Nucci had been at Cafe di Stasio from its inception and has been in various restaurants and catering businesses, more recently the Grand Hotel in Richmond.

The buckwheat noodles can easily be sourced and it is a great winter soup.

Pizzoccheri Soup

Ingredients:

200g green cabbage
2 cloves garlic
1 onion, peeled and quartered
1 large potato, peeled and cubed
3 Tbsp olive oil
1000g vegetable or chicken stock
100g buckwheat (pizzoccheri) noodles or wholewheat spaghetti,
broken
300g Fontina, Jarlsberg or
Gruyere cheese, cubed
Salt and pepper, to taste



Method:

Clean, trim and thinly slice the cabbage and place into the Varoma dish and tray.

Place garlic cloves into TM bowl and chop for 5 seconds on Speed 7. Add the onion and chop for 5 seconds on Speed 5. Add the potato cubes and oil and sauté for 7 minutes at 90°C on Reverse + Speed 1.

Place stock into TM bowl, place Varoma on top and cook for 10 minutes at 100°C on Reverse + Speed 1. Add the broken pasta pieces and cook for another 10 minutes at 100°C on Reverse + Speed 1.

Check to see how soft the cabbage is. It depends on how thickly you have cut the cabbage. If necessary, place the soup into a Thermoserver to keep warm while finishing the cabbage. You may need to add some water to the TM bowl and cook the cabbage for a bit longer on Varoma Temperature on Speed 1.

Once the cabbage has cooked, place into a serving bowl, sprinkle cheese over the cabbage and then top with the soup. Check for seasoning and serve.

Thermomix Moroccan Chickpea and Pumpkin Stew

This recipe is from Allan Campion and Michele Curtis' wonderful cookbook "In The Kitchen"

It is a great book with over 1000 recipes and presented in simple easy to follow ways.

I was fortunate enough to first meet Michele and Allan at Howquadale in 1997 at a cooking class featuring Greg Malouf. They have been a constant source of inspiration and have done a great deal to promote good food in Melbourne and Australia. They had a monthly newsletter that took the form of a blog, well before that term existed.

Pumpkin & Chickpea Stew

Ingredients:

100g chickpeas, soaked overnight ( or 400g can chickpeas)
700g water
1 clove garlic
1 cm piece fresh ginger
1 large onion, peeled & quartered
1/2 capsicum (preferably red), diced
2 Tbsp oil
500g butternut pumpkin, peeled and
cut into 1cm cubes
2 tsp ground cumin
2 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp sweet paprika
1 Tbsp tomato paste
300g vegetable or chicken stock
salt & pepper
fresh coriander to garnish

Method:

If using the soaked chickpeas, place into the TM bowl with the water and cook for 45 – 50 minutes at 90°C on Reverse + speed soft. Drain and set aside.

Place garlic and ginger into TM bowl and chop for 10 seconds on speed 7. Scrape down after 5 seconds. Add onion, chop for 5 seconds on Speed 5, add capsicum and oil to the TM bowl and cook for 5 minutes at 80°C on speed 1.

While onion mixture is cooking, peel pumpkin and cut into cubes.

Add pumpkin and spices and cook for another 5 minutes at 80°C on reverse and speed 1. Add the tomato paste and cook another 3 minutes at 80°C on reverse and speed 1.

Add the drained chickpeas, stock, salt and pepper. Cook for 12- 15 minutes at 80°C on reverse and speed 1.

Check to see if the vegetables are tender enough at this point, you may need to add some water and cook it for another 10 minutes, but you do not want them to become mushy. The sauce should be thick.

Sprinkle with coriander leaves and serve with steamed rice.

Thermomix Moroccan Pumpkin and Sweet Potato Stew

This recipe comes from the Murdoch cookbook "A Little Taste of Morocco"

It has been adapted for the Thermomix and is simple.

It would be possible to cook the vegetables in the Varoma so that a larger meal could be made.

Thermomix Moroccan Pumpkin & Sweet Potato Stew

Ingredients:

few threads of saffron
400ml stock, chicken or vegetable
2 cloves garlic, peeled in the Thermomix
1 large onion, peeled and cut into quarters
1 Tbsp vegetable oil
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp ground turmeric
1 cinnamon stick
1/2 tsp harissa, or pinch of cayenne pepper
400g butternut pumpkin, peeled and cut into 1cm cubes
400g orange sweet potato, peeled and cut into 1cm cubes
60g raisins
1 Tbsp honey
Salt and pepper to taste
coriander leaves

Method:

Place saffron threads into some of the stock and keep aside.

Place garlic cloves into TM bowl and chop for 10 seconds on speed 6. Add onions to TM bowl and chop for 10 seconds on speed 5. Add oil and sauté for 5 minutes at 100°C on Speed 1.

Add spices to TM bowl and cook for 3 minutes at 100°C on Speed 1. Add stock, honey and saffron in stock to TM bowl, place pumpkin, sweet potato and raisins into the steamer basket, place into TM bowl and cook for 10 - 15 minutes at 100°C on Reverse and Speed 3 with the MC in place.

Remove the steamer basket and then remove the cinnamon stick from the stock mixture. Place the Butterfly over the blades and tip the pumpkin and sweet potato mix into the TM bowl. Cook for 5 minutes at 80°C on Reverse and Speed Soft.

Transfer to a serving dish and sprinkle coriander leaves over the top.

Thermomix Onion Jam

This recipe is based on Greg Malouf's recipe in Arabesque. It is an accompaniment to a vegetable cous cous.

The jam matures and develops more flavour after a few days covered in the fridge.

The Thermomix does a wonderful job of constantly stirring to prevent the onion sticking.

Sorry to those who have been patiently waiting for this recipe.



Onion Jam

Ingredients:

5 medium red onions, peeled & quartered
1 Tbsp oil
1/2 tsp salt
250g dry sherry
250g tawny port
50g currants, soaked in an extra 50g sherry
freshly gound pepper

Method:

Place onions into TM bowl and chop for 10 seconds on speed 5. Scrape down after 5 seconds. Add oil and salt and cook for 4 minutes at 90°C on speed 1.

Once onion has started to soften, add sherry and port, and cook for 20 minutes at 100°C on Speed 1 with the MC out of the lid and basket over the lid.

At this stage, add the currants and increase the temperature for 30 minutes at Varoma temperature on Speed 1, with the basket over the lid.

Once they are cooked add the pepper and cook for 3 minutes at 90°C on speed 1.

Use to accompany dishes, including cous cous with vegetables.

Thermomix Cabbage Soup

This is a simple, budget buster style dish, but with Antonio Carluccio’s name attached it more likely to attract attention.

The recipe came from a book called Soup Kitchen by Annabel Buckingham & Thomasina Miers.




Zuppa di Cavolo Valtellinense
(Cabbage Soup, Valtellina Style – Antonio Carluccio)

Ingredients:

700g Savoy cabbage
200g Fontina, Jarlsberg or Gruyere cheese
1000g vegetable or chicken stock
Chicken bones, (optional, if you have them)
for extra flavour
Salt and pepper, to taste
6 slices of day old bread, cut into cubes
50g butter


Method:

Clean, trim and slice the cabbage and place into the Varoma dish and tray.

Place stock into TM bowl and, if you have any chicken bones left over from somewhere, place these into the TM basket in the TM bowl.

Place the lid on and position the Varoma. Heat the stock and cook the cabbage for 20 - 30 minutes at Varoma temperature on speed 1. It depends on how thickly you have cut the cabbage.

Once the cabbage has cooked, remove the Varoma and test the stock for seasoning. You can cook the stock for a little longer while preparing the bowl with the other ingredients.

Place some of the cabbage into a large bowl or individual bowls. Then place a layer of bread on top, then some cheese, cabbage, bread, cheese, until it is all finished. Gently press down on the ingredients. Pour the stock over the other ingredients and allow to blend while preparing the butter.

Remove any unused stock to a bowl and roughly clean the TM bowl. Place the butter into the TM bowl and cook for 2 minutes at 90°C on Speed 1. Pour the hot butter over the soup and serve.

Thermomix Watermelon Soup

Well, in the hunt for seasonal produce for the Thermomix in Australia Monthly Mouthful competition, I found watermelons going very cheaply. It seemed a bit early in the year for them, but decided to try a couple of recipes for the competition.

This soup is based on a Charlie Trotter recipe that used both rockmelon and watermelon - so one half yellow and the other half red. But the rockmelons were not in the fridge, so just watermelon for now.

You can make the soup without the seeds, but they look cute. You can just grate chocolate over the top of the soup.



Watermelon Soup with chocolate seeds.


Ingredients:

60g dark chocolate, buttons or chunks
60g sugar
1kg watermelon, seeded and cut into chunks


Method:

Place chocolate into TM bowl and melt for 4 minutes
at 60°C on Speed 1.

Place chocolate into piping bag and make little seeds,
or just place little blobs onto baking paper and mould into
shapes like watermelon seeds.

Place sugar in TM bowl and blitz for 20 seconds
on Speed 9.

Add watermelon chunks and blend for 1 minute on
Speed 6.

Serve chilled. Very simple, but very refreshing.

Thermomix Mascarpone Ice Cream

This recipe came from a cooking program on TV - Chuck's Day Off - it is very basic but it has a really has good texture.

He used frozen bananas but other fruit will work.

Hope you give it a go.



Mascarpone Ice Cream

Ingredients:
30 - 60g sugar - depending on the sweetness of your fruit
4 bananas, cut into chunks and frozen (or 400g seasonal fruit - frozen in chunks)
1 & 1/2 cups (sorry forgot the weight) mascarpone cheese
1 tsp vanilla extract (or seeds scraped from the bean)

TM method:

Place sugar in TM bowl and blitz on Speed 9 for 15-20 seconds
Add remaining ingredients and blitz on Speed 9 for 20 - 40 seconds.

Place into moulds or tray in freezer and leave for at least 6 hours.

Take out of freezer and allow to sit at room temp for 5 mins before serving.