Thermomix Sea Urchin Custards

With soft as the theme for the week I just had to put in a custard. This was inspired by my meal at Ristorante Cracco earlier in the year. Carlo Cracco uses sea urchins (ricci di mare) in many of his dishes, including this beef kidneys with sea urchin roe.



He also made a creamed risotto with sea urchins and coffee in the Thermomix in Heston Blumenthal's episode on risotto.

The chapter "Harbour Picnic" in Stephanie Alexander's "A Shared Table" contains a recipe for a sea urchin custard. You can find a snippet with Janni Kyritsis and Stephanie talking about sea urchins and the sea urchin custard here at ABC downloads.

Many people will be put off by the appearance of the sea urchin and fortunately you can now buy them already cleaned. There are Australian and imported roe for sale from good fishmongers. They have a very delicate flavour and despite their appearance are easy to clean and obtain the roe.

I know this is not going to be a big hit, but we loved it and MrsT was very sceptical when she saw me preparing the dish. However, once she had tried it she was hooked on the flavour and texture.

Sea urchin custards in the Thermomix Varoma

Ingredients:

4 large sea urchins
2 Tbsp chervil leaves
1 golden shallot
600 ml cream
3 eggs
2 egg yolks
Salt and pepper
6 greased small ceramic dishes

Method:

Cut open the sea urchins, pointy nosed pliers inserted into the mouth and then opened is the easiest way. Reserve the orange tongues of roe (there should be 5 per urchin). Place on paper towel and cover with plastic wrap.

Place the shallot into the TM bowl and mince for 10 seconds on speed 5. Add the chervil, 14 of the sea urchin roe and the cream and cook for 10 minutes at 80°C on speed 1. Leave in TM bowl for 1 hour to infuse.

After 1 hour blend for 30 seconds on speed 10. Add the eggs and egg yolks and blend for 20 seconds on speed 6. Add salt and pepper to taste and pass the mixture through a muslin cloth (note that I was too lazy to do this and so there are specks on the custards :) ).

Pour the mixture into the ceramic dishes and arrange in the Varoma tray and dish. Put 700g water into the TM bowl, position the lid and Varoma and cook for 20 minutes at Varoma temperature on speed 1.

Leave the custards to settle for 5 minutes before garnishing with two sea urchin tongues per bowl.

Prawn Oil in the Thermomix

Well, to make the sugar cane prawns, I had to peel a heap of green prawns, and I hate to waste anything that can be used. So just a simple prawn oil.

There are recipes that use onions, carrots, tomato etc. and I have made prawn oil that way. It is great, but this time, it was just as easy to:

Prawn shells into the Thermomix bowl. Chop them for 20 seconds on speed 5 and then add enough rice bran oil to cover them.

Cook for 10 minutes at 100°C on speed soft, then lower the temperature to 90°C and continue for another 20 minutes on speed soft.

Leave the oil mixture to cool for half an hour or so before straining through a fine chinois or muslin.

The resulting oil is delicious and can be used to add extra depth of flavour to fish dishes or mixed through seafood pasta or even just used to cook up some peeled prawns in the wok.

One year of blogging - Sugar Cane Prawns from the Thermomix

Well, thanks to Ed over at Tomato,
I suddenly realised that this blog has been going a year. A little haphazardly, but still, it has helped those poor Thermomix users who have needed some inspiration at times.

Ed's blog is having its fourth birthday and has a request for BBQ recipes, so here is a Vietnamese recipe that is perfect in the Thermomix and can be finished on those little Vietnamese charcoal braziers for a tasty finish.

You can just eat them after they have been steamed, but the charcoal finish helps give them a lift.

Sugar Cane Prawns

Ingredients:

1 stem sugar cane, peeled
3 garlic cloves
2cm piece of fresh ginger
1/2 small bunch coriander, including roots and stalks, washed and roughly chopped
1 red chilli, seeded and roughly chopped
30g palm sugar
60g pork back fat, chilled and chopped into 1cm cubes
1/2 teaspoon salt
500g peeled, deveined green prawns
1 egg white
10g cornflour
2 teaspoons fish sauce
1/2 tsp ground white pepper

Dipping sauce:

1 clove garlic (from above)
1/2 teaspoon chilli, seeded and roughly chopped
1 tablespoon sugar
4 tablespoons fish sauce
2 tablespoons rice vinegar
Juice of 1 lime
pinch salt

Method:

Cut sugar cane into 10 cm lengths, and then cut into sixths lengthways. Place in water to soak while preparing mixture.

Place garlic cloves into TM bowl and then peel the cloves for 5 seconds on Reverse + Speed 4. Remove the papery coating from the bowl and remove one clove and keep aside for the dipping sauce. Add the ginger and chilli and chop for 10 seconds on Speed 7 (remember to take it off Reverse). Next add the palm sugar, pork fat and salt to the TM bowl and process for 15 – 20 seconds on Speed 6, until nearly smooth.

Finally, add the prawns, egg white, cornflour, fish sauce and pepper and mix for 30 seconds on Speed 6. The mixture should be sticky.



Remove sugar cane sticks from the water and dry well. They must be very dry on the outside to hold the mixture. With oiled hands, wrap mix around sugar cane.



For ease of eating outdoors, place the mixture at one end of the stick. If you are going to remove the prawn mixture and wrap in lettuce leaves or roll in rice paper, then place midways along the sticks.

Place some oiled baking paper with holes cut in, to allow better steam penetration, into the Varoma tray. Place the prawn skewers into the tray. Put 600ml water into the TM bowl and position the Varoma tray on top. Set the TM to cook for 10 - 12 minutes at Varoma temperature on Speed 1, until the prawn mixture has changed to be opaque and firm to the touch.



They may be served as they are in rice paper or lettuce leaves (remove from the sugar cane before wrapping!) , or for a more authentic flavour, place between Vietnamese metal grill and grill over charcoal until charred on the outside.







Serve the sugar cane prawns surrounding a small bowl with dipping sauce.


Dipping Sauce
Place garlic clove and chilli into TM bowl with sugar and chop for 10 seconds on Speed 7. Add remaining ingredients and mix all together for 5 seconds on Speed 4.

Thermomix Asparagus and Crab Soup

This is a simple soup with flavours that remind me of Viet Nam. Simple, but so tasty, and it somehow makes me feel good when eating it.



Crab and Asparagus Soup

Ingredients:

2 bunches fresh asparagus
2 cm piece of ginger
1 litre vegetable or chicken stock
1 tsp sugar, preferably palm sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 Tbsp fish sauce
1 Tbsp cornflour mixed with 2 Tbsp water
200g crab meat, shredded
Salt and pepper to taste
2 eggs, lightly beaten

Method:

Peel the asparagus stalks (starting from just below the tip and going towards the base) and break off the hard part from the base of the stalks. Keep the woody sections and chop into 2cm sections. Wash the asparagus in cold water. Chop into pieces to go into the TMX basket. Preferably stand the pieces with the tips up if you wish to use them for garnish.




Place ginger in TMX bowl and chop for 5 seconds on speed 7. Scrape down as needed.
Place the woody stems and stock into the TMX bowl with sugar, salt and fish sauce. Place the basket in the TMX and cook for 20 minutes at 100°C on reverse + speed 1. Remove the basket with the asparagus and take out the pieces. Cool in iced water. Take the asparagus infused stock and strain, using the basket, into a bowl.

Place the asparagus pieces in the Varoma. Return the strained stock mixture to the TMX bowl with the cornflour mix, position Varoma and cook for 4 minutes at 100°C on speed 1. Add the crab and reposition the Varoma on top and cook for 3 minutes at 90°C on reverse and speed soft. Remove the Varoma, season the soup with salt and pepper to taste. Set the TMX to reverse and speed 1 and drizzle in the beaten eggs.

Place asparagus sections in soup bowls or serving dish and pour soup over top. Garnish with coriander leaves or spring onions(shallots).

Thermomix Asparagus and Crab Soup

Cream of cucumber soup with prawns on skewers

Adapted/roughly translated from A Tutto Vapore

Cream of cucumber soup with prawns on skewers

Ingredients:

24 prawn tails, shelled & deveined
40 g olive oil flavored with lemon
½ teaspoon salt, or more as needed
1 onion
2 cloves garlic
2 cucumbers, seeds removed, cut into pieces (about 500 g)
500 g water
1 vegetable stock cube or TM veg concentrate.
1/4 teaspoon pepper
200 g cream
40 grams flour
1 Tbsp lemon juice
2 Tbsp dill, chopped

Preparation:

Marinade prawns for 15 minutes with 1 tablespoon of lemon-infused oil and salt. Thread prawns onto 6 wooden skewers and place them in the container of Varoma.

Place the onion and garlic in the TM bowl, chop for 3 seconds on Speed 5. Add 25 g of lemon-infused oil, cook for 2 minutes at Varoma temperature on Speed 1.

Add pieces of cucumber and chop for 4 seconds on Speed 5. Add water, stock cube (or TM stock concentrate), 1/2 teaspoon salt and pepper. Position the Varoma and cook for 12 minutes at Varoma temperature on Speed 1.
Remove the Varoma and set aside.

Add the cream, flour and lemon juice to the TM bowl and mix for 15 seconds on Speed 9, then cook for 2 minutes at 100°C on Speed 2.

Add the dill to taste, stir for 3 seconds on Speed 3 and season with salt and pepper to taste.

Pour the soup into six dishes, decorate with the skewers of prawns and serve hot.

Suggestion: Alternate the prawns with pieces of lemon. Instead of flour use 2 cooked potatoes to thicken soup. You can replace the lemon-flavoured oil with olive oil and a few drops of lemon. Only for adults, flavour soup with a drop of white wine.


Originally posted here at the Thermomix Forum

Cream of fish with seafood

Roughly translated/adapted from A Tutto Vapore

Cream of fish with seafood


Ingredients:

500 g mussels, well cleaned and debearded
500 g of fish fillets
300 g prawns,(shell, but reserve heads and shells)
saffron
30 g extra virgin olive oil
50 g brandy
200 g water

For the soffritto:
50 g extra virgin olive oil
200 g leeks, cut into pieces
1 clove garlic
100 g onions, cut in half
200 g tomato purée

To complete:
100 g cream
1 tsp salt
pinch pepper
basil leaves, to decorate

Preparation:

Put mussels and fish fillets in the container of Varoma and arrange the shelled prawns sprinkled with saffron in the tray Varoma. Keep aside.

Put oil in the TM bowl, heat for 3 minutes at Varoma temperature on speed 1. Add the heads and shells of prawns and cook for 3 minutes at Varoma temperature on Speed 4. Add the brandy and let it evaporate a few seconds. Add water and cook for 5 minutes at 100°C on Speed 2. Filter with the basket and hold as prawn stock. Clean the TM bowl.

Put into the TM bowl all the ingredients for the "soffritto" and chop for 4 seconds on Speed 4, and cook for 5 minutes at 100°C on Speed 1. Add the prawn broth, position the Varoma and cook for 10 minutes at Varoma temperature on Speed 1.

Once cooked, remove the Varoma and take the prawns and fish fillets out and place in the TM bowl. Remove the mussels from their shells and add to TM bowl. Chop for 30 seconds on Speed 7.

Add the cream, salt & pepper and cook for 2 minutes at 80°C on Speed 5. Add a little water if necessary. Chop for 30 seconds on Speed 7 until the soup is creamy.

Pour the soup into serving plates, decorate with some basil leaves and two or three prawns per serving.


Originally posted here at the Thermomix Forum

Mussels with mint

This is another recipe adapted/translated roughly from "A Tutto Vapore" and again shows the value of the Varoma for gently steamimg the Mussels

Mussels with mint


Ingredients:

1500 g mussels, well cleaned and debearded
300 g of water
1 clove of garlic
20 mint leaves, cut into pieces with a knife
lemon juice, (2 lemons)
40g of extra virgin olive oil
black pepper as needed

Preparation:

Put the mussels in the container of Varoma.

Pour the water into the TM bowl, position the Varoma and cook for 20 minutes at Varoma temperature on speed 1. Set aside.

Filter the cooking liquid at least three times and put it into a bowl. Keep aside.

Put the garlic in the TM bowl, chop for 3 seconds at speed 7. Add the chopped mint, 280 grams of reserved cooking liquid, lemon juice, oil and pepper. Mix for 5 seconds on speed 1.

Remove upper half of the open shells of mussels and place on a large flat plate. Pour the sauce over mussels.

Serve cold. Enjoy mussels with all the liquid.

Originally published here in the Thermomix Forum

Mussels with spicy sauce

Yet another recipe from "A Tutto Vapore" showing the versatility of the Varoma.

Great use of Varoma while the sauce is cooking below.

Mussels with spicy sauce

Ingredients:

120 g onion
1 clove garlic
85 g extra virgin olive oil
1/2 tsp chili, or ground into pieces
1000 g mussels, well cleaned and debearded
200 g puréed tomato, fresh or canned
100 g dry white wine
1 pinch of salt

Preparation:

Place the onion and garlic in the TM bowl, chop for 4 seconds on speed 5. Scrape down sides with spatula.

Add the oil and the chili, cook for 7 minutes at 100°C on speed soft.

Meanwhile remove beards from mussels and arrange them in the container of Varoma. Set aside.

Add to TM bowl the tomato purée, wine and salt, leave the measuring cup tilted in the lid to allow sauce to thicken while cooking for 15 minutes at Varoma temperature on speed 1.

Position the Varoma on the lid and cook for 13 minutes at Varoma temperature on speed 1.

Set aside the Varoma, and reduce the sauce if necessary by cooking for longer at Varoma temperature on speed 1.

Arrange the mussels in a bowl, sprinkle with the sauce and serve hot.

Originally published here in the Thermomix Forum

Thermomix Salad with the Flavours of Sicily

Just another simple salad with prawns prepared in the Varoma (steamer) attachment of the Thermomix. Full Steam Ahead.

Salad with the Flavours of Sicily

Ingredients:

400g Spanish onions, sliced thinly
50g red wine vinegar
1000g large green (raw) prawns
1 lemon sliced
1000g water
pinch salt
400g cherry tomatoes cut in half
20g parsley, leaves only
1 clove garlic
50g extra virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon salt
white pepper

Method:

Place in a bowl the thin slices of onion and drizzle with the vinegar.

Remove the shell from the prawns without removing the head or tail piece and remove the black intestinal tract. If you wish to keep them straight for presentation then you can skewer them as in the photo.

Place the prawns in the Varoma with three slices of lemon.

Pour the water into the TM bowl, add the pinch of salt and a slice of lemon. Position the Varoma and cook for 15 minutes at Varoma temperature on speed 1. Allow to cool slightly before placing the prawns on a plate to remove their heads and then set them aside.

Remove onions from the vinegar and spread in the tray of the Varoma. Place the tray in the Varoma and reposition to steam the onions for 5 minutes at Varoma temperature on speed 1.

Arrange the onion on a flat plate, add the tomatoes and lastly the prawns.

Empty water from the TM bowl then dry it before placing the parsley and garlic into the bowl and chopping for 5 seconds on speed 7. Add the oil, salt and pepper and mix for 5 seconds on speed 3.

Drizzle dressing over the prawns, tomatoes and onions.

Decorate with slices of lemon.

Serve cold or at room temperature.

See also here

Simple Shaddock & Shrimp Salad

Last weekend we caught up with a friend from Sydney and went to yum cha. It was great to meet up, but the food left a bit to be desired, and, because we did the early sitting, we were out on the streets by 1 pm. So, rather than just head straight home, feeling sad about our lack-luster lunch, we decided to make a detour and visit Little Saigon Market in Footscray.

Now, this is not quite like December 19 Market in Hanoi. No snakes being skun on boards with a nail to hold their head, no roasted dogs with teeth bared, no live chickens or ducks wallowing around in cages, but a great variety of fresh produce to stimulate the senses, in a positive fashion. There were lots of familiar and lots of less common (for round-eyes like us) fruit, veggies, meat and fish. Some of the purchases included banana blossoms, lotus roots, bitter melon, beef tendons, tripe and a whole oxtail. The oxtail was boned and stuffed with some of the tendons before cooking in the slow cooker. This is a Janni Kyritsis recipe from “Wild Weed Pie” and I’ll write about it later (even though there was very little TMX involved).

Kathryn Elliott has recently posted about making some new or different for dinner. I had already decided to do just that, but now it was even more relevant. So there have been a few creations in the last few days featuring the treasures from Little Saigon.

First up is a recipe using pomelo. There were mountains of both pink and yellow fleshed pomelos, with slices available for tasting. The yellow fleshed ones seemed a bit dry, so I punted for pink and purchased prawns to produce the following salad.

It is based on a couple of similar recipes, and you can certainly use your imagination to conjure up something that will satisfy your hunger, or search the web.

The first recipe that I consulted was from a Tony Tan cooking class, and he in turn adapted the recipe from Mai Pham’s “Pleasures of the Vietnamese Table”. The other was in a book, by Nguyen Ngoc Tu, which is in Vietnamese, English and French, with the English title “A Guide to Typical Vietnamese Cookery” (The Vietnamese is “So Tay Noi Tro – 70 Mon an thuan tuy Viet Nam”, while the French title is “70 Recettes Types du Vietnam – guide pratique et concret”). The recipe for Gỏi bưởi in this book is translated as Salad of Shaddock. I had never heard of Shaddock before, but it appears that pomelos took on that name after being introduced into the West Indies by Captain Shaddock in the 17th century. This recipe called for Stomach, and since I had just used some, I felt that I would save you from more tripe.

Even though we are in the depths of winter, it was easy to imagine eating this dish beside the pool at a hotel on Phu Quoc, on a beautifully warm day. Hey, I can even smell the fermenting anchovies from the distant fish sauce factory.

Shaddock and Shrimp Salad (Gỏi bưởi)

Ingredients:

20 medium prawns, peeled, de-veined and cut in half lengthwise

Marinade for prawns:
1 shallot
2 tsps fish sauce
2 tsps light soy sauce
1 tsp sugar
freshly crushed pepper
2 Tbsp oil

1 pomelo
1 Tbsp freshly chopped rau ram (Vietnamese mint)
1/2 cup coriander leaves
1/2 cup Thai basil
1 chilli
1/2 cup carrot, julienned
1/2 cup cucumber, julienned
1 Tbsp fish sauce
1 Tbsp light soy sauce
2 tsps sugar
juice of 1 lemon (or lime)
freshly crushed pepper

2 Tbsps fried shallots
2 Tbsps roasted peanuts, chopped

Method:

Place the shallot in TM bowl and chop for 5 seconds on speed 7. Add remaining marinade ingredients and blend for 10 seconds on speed 4. Place prawns in ceramic or glass bowl that will fit into the Varoma, mix through the marinade and place in fridge for 15 minutes.

Peel the pomelo and segment, removing the pith & membranes and then break into small pieces.

Place the dish with prawns & marinade into the Varoma. Put 500 g water into the TM bowl and position Varoma on top. Steam the prawns for 10 minutes, or until they turn pink and are cooked, at Varoma temperature on speed 3. Once cooked, allow prawns to cool slightly in the marinade.

Combine all the salad ingredients, except for the peanuts and fried shallots, in a bowl and toss gently. Add the prawns and marinade to the salad. Toss again and serve garnished with fried shallots and peanuts.

See also here