A Pair of Pear Recipes in the Varoma

Pears are in season and great eating at present so a couple of recipes that have been modified from books on hand to cook in the Thermomix.

Although many out there in blogosphere don't like food processors, I will press on with trying to convert you. These pear recipes have been done solely in the Thermomix.

Firstly, a take on an old favourite from a Paul Bocuse cookbook for pears in red wine.

I would suggest a light red such as Brown Brothers Cienna and Cabernet or Dolcetto & Syrah. You don't want a strong gutsy cabernet or zinfandel here, a mild peppery shiraz would be interesting.

Pears in Red Wine

Ingredients:
2 pears, peeled, halved and cored and held in acidulated water
(water with juice from half a lemon)
300 gr red wine
300 gr water
200 grams sugar
juice of half an orange
juice of half a lemon
1 Vanilla pod, split and scraped to release the seeds
1 cinnamon stick
2 cloves


Method:

Put all the ingredients except for the pears in the TMX bowl. Cook these for 10 minutes at 100°C on speed 2. Place the pear halves in a bowl that easily fits into the Varoma. Pour the mixture from the TMX bowl in to cover the pears. Add 500ml of water to the Thermomix bowl (there is no need to wash it out !!). Carefully place the varoma on top of the TMX.

Set the Thermomix to cook for 15 - 20 minutes (depending on the size & ripeness of the pears) at Varoma temperature on speed 3. You may need to turn the pears during cooking to ensure that they cook evenly and that the wine permeates them completely.

The pears should still be al dente when removed from the Varoma and allowed to cool covered in their cooking liquor. Again make sure that the pears are moved to allow good penetration of the wine mixture.

For service you can slice the pears if you are feeling creative, or turn them belly up and fill the core with cream whipped up in that wonderful machine we know as the Thermomix and Italians call a Bimby (no not bimbo).

Bon Appétit mes amis. Tomorrow, Pears in Saffron Syrup.

Thermomix Recipes for Kedgeree

This is a dish that usually is trotted out for Easter. While I simply adore smoked fish, many people simply abhor it and perhaps it is related to how it was served to them in their childhood.

Kedgeree is a dish that conjures up pleasant memories and make my mouth water.

Recently it appeared in the Australian Gourmet Traveller as a Classic Dish.

This version has been adapted for the Thermomix and has been changed since I first produced it for others to try. Now I use the Varoma to poach the fish while the rice and eggs are cooking in the basket inside the Thermomix bowl.

Their are numerous variations that have been published and you can certainly add in extra bits or delete bits, but eggs, rice and smoked fish are a constant.


Kedgeree

Ingredients:

200g long grain rice
Pinch of saffron threads
3 eggs
400g smoked haddock or cod
300ml milk
80g butter, chopped into small pieces
Juice of 1 lemon
150ml cream (35%)
Cayenne pepper
Salt & Pepper
Parsley to garnish

Method:

Wash the rice thoroughly with cold water, and preferably soak for an hour or so before cooking, add saffron threads and mix through the rice. Wash the eggs thoroughly. Place 1000ml water in TM bowl, insert basket with rice and eggs on top of rice.

Place haddock in a bowl that fits easily into the Varoma. Place milk in bowl to just cover the fish. Place in Varoma and position it over the Thermomix bowl.

Cook for 14 minutes at Varoma temperature on speed 4. After 10 minutes it may help to open lid of the Thermomix & fluff the rice around the eggs.

Remove bowl with fish from Varoma, drain and leave to cool.

Remove basket from inside the Thermomix bowl with aid of spatula. Remove eggs, cool and shell before setting aside. Place rice in Thermo server or bowl and mix through 50g of the butter.

Remove skin and any bones from fish before flaking.

Cut 1 egg lengthwise into quarters and hold for garnish later. Chop other eggs and mix with rice, fish, cream, lemon juice, cayenne pepper and season to taste with salt and pepper.

Grease an ovenproof dish and gently place kedgeree mixture in, dotting with the extra 30g of butter. Bake in a preheated oven for 10 - 15 minutes at 180°C.

Garnish with remaining egg and parsley and serve immediately.

Crème Caramel in Varoma

More fun in the Varoma last night, lots more ideas, more recipes to follow.
This dish was trialled though a few weeks ago in my old model and produced suprisingly good results from a first attempt. There is more caramel in the photo than was needed - not the fault of the machine. If I were a professional then I should have sucked some up with my handy syringe (that's another use George !) before the photo shoot.
Crème caramel

Ingredients: (4 serves)
Caramel to line 4 ceramic moulds
70g sugar
250 g of milk
2 eggs (60 g eggs)

500 g of water
Method:
Pour the caramel into the ceramic moulds (about 3cm high that can fit into the Varoma upper tray). Allow caramel to set.

Once the caramel has firmed place the sugar in the TMX bowl, blitz for 40 seconds at speed 10.  Add the milk & eggs & mix for 10 seconds on speed 4.

Pour the mixture into the moulds. Cover with a sheet of paper towel (to absorb excess water ) and then a piece of aluminium foil. Place moulds on the tray for the Varoma. Place the tray inside the main section of the Varoma and cover with the lid.

Pour the water into the TMX bowl (you don’t need to clean it out) and position the Varoma on top. Set the Thermomix for 30 minutes at Varoma temperature and speed 1.

Carefully remove the foil and paper to check for firmness. The custard should not be liquid in the centre but should wobble. It will continue to cook a little after removing from the steam so don’t overcook it.

Allow to cool for an hour and then put in the refrigerator for at least another hour.

When ready for service remove from the fridge at least 10 minutes beforehand to allow the custards to warm slightly. Carefully turn on plates, remove the mould and serve.

Varoma Mushrooms for Rick

I picked up my new Varoma attachment on Monday and so have been trying out a few dishes.

One of the benefits is that you can harness the steam produced from cooking other food in the main bowl to produce some magic in the Varoma.




Rick requested more Varoma recipes and so next week I will post an Aussie classic, but until then just another quickie.




Thanks also to Rick, for reviving my memories of going up into the countryside (to Doncaster/Templestowe!! -long time ago) to hunt for mushrooms. Running around in the fields to find the fairy rings of little white fungi. Before my uncle educated us, we thought that the bigger they were the better that they would be. Depends on what you are going to do with them.



I needed to crank up the Thermomix for another dish but decided to make us some of Rick's garlic butter and cook the mushies in the Varoma. It worked a treat - thanks for the idea.





Varoma Mushrooms with garlic Butter.



Ingredients:



8 - 12 large flat mushrooms

Rick's TMX garlic butter



Method:



Carefully remove the stalk from the mushroom trying to preserve as much of the gills as possible. Place a dessertspoon of garlic butter in the centre of the mushroom from where the stalk has been removed. Place the mushrooms in the Varoma.



Place 500ml water in the bowl (if not using the TMX bowl for cooking something else). Set to 20 minutes at Varoma temp on speed 4 (if not cooking somehting else). Check after 20 minutes and cook longer as needed. The ones in the photo took 20 minutes from the time that the machine reached Varoma temperature, but yours may be smaller.



Serve as an entree or part of main meal & enjoy.

Bailey’s Zabaglione in the Thermomix

One of the biggest benefits that both professional chefs and us ordinary users alike have found with the Thermomix is the ability to cook at set temperatures.

If preparing an anglaise or custard, then the egg mixture does not like temperatures over 80°C. The Thermomix can cook a custard without anybody watching – just set & forget.

A dish that I like preparing in my machine is zabaglione. The butterfly allows the mixture to be beaten allowing the egg yolks and sugar become fluffy and then it cooks the mixture to perfection.

The original recipe uses marsala, but I used Bailey's as it has a creaminess that helps keep the zabaglione thick. If you are not into alcohol then you can either cut back or substitute the Baileys. Some people use sparkling wine (Spumante), orange juice or coffee.

In most recipes for zabaglione made in the Thermomix the heat is turned on at the start, so it is even easier. I have found that creaming the egg and sugar before starting to heat the mixture reduces the amount of yolk that may catch on the cooking base.

No more developing my muscles over the bain marie – just push the right buttons and flick the switches and hey presto – la mia zabaglione e pronto.


“BAILEYS” ZABAGLIONE (TM31)

Ingredients:

1 MC castor sugar
2 eggs
4 egg yolks
2 MC Baileys Irish liqueur

(MC = Measuring cup = 100ml)


Method:

Insert the Butterfly over the blades & add the sugar, eggs and egg yolks.

Whip for 4 minutes, Speed 4.

Add the Baileys and cook for 5 minutes at 70 ºC, Speed 4.

Serve immediately.

Is that easy or what?

Quick Beetroot & Yoghurt Dip

Here’s a very quick and easy recipe based on an idea from the Turkish Food Safari program.

I love using my Thermomix for making dips. They are a big hit with family & friends and so quick and easy.

The difference with this recipe is that I decided to chop up the beetroot in the Thermomix before starting the cooking, so greatly reduced the time needed to cook it. I do the same with soups like pumpkin soup after Raymond Capaldi did a demo at Tony Tan’s one night.

Ben Shewry from Attica also demonstrated a beetroot biscuit (you need to ask him for the recipe) at a recent class and the same process of chopping & then cooking would be useful for making those (I think?!!)


Beetroot & Yoghurt Dip

Ingredients:

1 medium onion, peeled and cut into quarters
1 Tbsp olive oil
2 medium beetroot, peeled and roughly cut into eighths
1 tsp ground coriander
½ tsp ground cumin
1 MC (100ml) water
2 – 4 Tbsp natural yoghurt (depending on your palate)
Salt, pepper, sugar to taste
Olive oil to drizzle

Method:

Place onion pieces in TM bowl and chop for 5 seconds at speed 7. Add the olive oil and sauté for 3 minutes at 100°C on speed 1.

Add the beetroot pieces and process for 3 seconds at speed 7, (make certain that the Measuring Cup(MC) is in place before doing this!!), scrape down bowl and process for another 2 - 5 seconds at speed 7, depending on how well minced the beetroot becomes. You want to have pieces smaller than a pea but larger than grains of rice and it will not be homogeneous. Add the coriander & cumin and cook for 3 minutes at 100°C on speed 1, and finally incorporate the water and cook for 15 – 20 minutes at 100°C at speed 1.

Check after 5 minutes to see if the bowl needs to be scraped down and to make certain that it is not drying out too much. You may need to add some more water but it should not be swimming in water – otherwise make borsch from that lot & start again.

When the beetroot is fairly soft you can leave it to cool in the machine. Once cool it is time to blitz the mix. Scrape down the sides, place the MC on top and preferably a clean cloth around it. Blend for 10 seconds by slowly going from speed 1 to speed 9, scrape down the sides and repeat until you have a smooth mixture.

Add the yoghurt and mix for 3 seconds at speed 4. Check and adjust seasonings then plate up and enjoy. Serve with toasted Varoma Bread

See also here

My Pantry

Karen at brazen's culinary adventures challenged readers to share pics of their pantries.

Well, our pantry really was the selling point for me when looking at homes 2 years ago. Although I am not in the culinary profession I do like cooking a LOT !! So, I needed lots of space for my mess.

The pantry is a fairly large affair compared to the overall size of the house, but even so I had to add more in the form of a bookcase on the left, the rack just inside the door on the right and 3 extra half shelves in the main section on the right to house smaller jars without loosing them behind the mess.

I'll add photos of the wall unit too later.