Creamy Asparagus Soup with extras!

Shhhh, don’t tell anyone…but I am working on a little project on the side…only in my spare time of course! With wintery mornings being the go down under, (particularly in Perth it would appear) I thought a heart warming soup would therefore go a long way just now. And it won’t hurt to add it to the file on my work desktop labelled ‘Souper Bowl’. But you didn’t hear it from me folks.

With apologies for the ‘dismal-night time-old camera-not lit-yes I took the pic’ photo…the recipe will make up for it! Promise!

NEED:

50g EVOO

150-200g cauliflower

Juice 1 lemon

Salt and pepper to taste

1 leek chopped and cleaned extremely well

2 bunches asparagus topped and tailed (reserve tops)

700g stock (I used chicken)

150g cream

EVOO to drizzle

Stracchino cheese to taste, sliced

DO:

Place EVOO, cauliflower, lemon juice and seasoning into Thermomix bowl and blend for 2 minutes on speed 8, stopping to scrape down sides of bowl periodically. Set aside.

Without cleaning bowl, add leek and chop for 3-4 seconds on speed 7. Saute for 2 minutes at Varoma temperature on speed 1.

Add asparagus and stock to Thermomix bowl. Meanwhile, place asparagus tops into Varoma dish. Set Varoma into position and with dial set to closed lid position, cook for 15 minutes at Varoma temperature on speed 1.5.

Add cream to Thermomix bowl and puree for 15 seconds on speed 8-9. Adjust seasoning to taste.

Serve with Cauliflower cream, asparagus tips, Stracchino  slices and additional EVOO.

It goes without saying that a loaf of crusty bread is the perfect partner…so hit the Bread section on here and choose away.

Almond Rosemary Crackers

A boring title methinks…but I have been studying good blogging habits and to my horror found I have comitted the cardinal recipe blogging sin; not naming my post correctly…being silly, in other words! This means all you search engine recipe junkies cannot find my recipes because, ‘Going Crackers’ does not come up in google when ‘Crackers’ is the search term!

So in an effort to help more readers find my recipes, I have taken the Oath of Truthful Titles, (yes that would be OTT)…no more crazy lady rants…well in the title at least.

I am sitting at present in Alice Springs airport waiting for my flight home to Perth after a whirlwind trip to cook with Cyndi O’Meara. What a beautiful place this is and I must say, unexpectedly so from my perspective. I think I thought I was flying into a flat desert, but quite the contrary. Stunning scenery and iconic Australian landscape that needs further investigation with the family…but I digress.

This recipe is one I whipped up last weekend in a cooking frenzy to feed my family in my absence (do they appreciate it?? NO!)

It is adapted from a recipe on Elana’s Pantry, a fantastic Gluten Free site that I frequent, though there are ingredients used that are unavailable in Australia. As usual, I knew there was an easier Thermomix version and so this; fantastic Almond and Rosemary crackers. I must say I have gone down this path before, but always added flour to make more of a shortbread. I now have a whole gamut of other ideas based on this method, so hold on to your Thermomixes…here we go!

Almond and Rosemary Crackers

NEED:

2 sprigs fresh rosemary, foliage only

270g blanched almonds

Celtic Sea salt to taste

1tbsp EVOO

1 egg

DO:

Preheat oven to 150°C.

Place rosemary, almonds and salt into Thermomix bowl and mill for 5 seconds on speed 8.

Add EVOO and egg and mix for 10 seconds on speed 6 to form a dough.

Roll out between 2 sheets of baking paper as thinly as possible and score with a pizza cutter into desired shapes. Sprinkle with additional salt grains if desired and press into the dough with a piece of baking paper.

Bake for 15 minutes until crisp. To complete ‘crisping’ process, break crackers apart and turn over and return to turned off oven to dry out.

Serve with cheese platter.

TASTE:

Add different herbs of choice according to what you have growing in your garden. Other good matches would be basil, oregano, paprika, or add garlic and 40g of good Parmesan to the nut mix before milling together.

So there you have it kids, not as boring as one may think…and all as I sit in an airport, gotta love it…

Baked Lemon Rice Custard

It’s not that I’m in doubt exactly, but crazy busy, heading down south tonight (Albany & Kojonup in Western Australia) for cooking classes and some training, so no leisurely cooking for me this weekend. I made this recipe mid week and the plate was practically licked clean. Lemons never fail me…rice puddings I can live without, but between the lemon custard for me, the bulk of the rice to fill the hollow legs of my 6ft 5 (and still growing) 16 year old and his brother (who is desperately trying to catch him), and the speed of the whole dessert, you really can’t go wrong this winter as the nights get longer and darker…

Lemon Rice Custard

NEED:
140g rice

150g sugar

zest and juice 2 lemons

5 large eggs

2 yolks

200g cream

pinch salt

DO:
Cook rice in Thermomix by placing into basket, covering with water and cooking for 15 minutes at 100C on speed 3.Set rice aside. Drain water from bowl and dry.

Preheat oven to 160C and butter a large shallow baking or pie dish. Set aside. (This would be fabulous baked as individual serves in small ceramic ramekins. Reduce cooking time to suit. And for food styling purposes is what I should have done, but of course, I have only just had a thought about that this morning!)

Place sugar and zest into Thermomix bowl and mill together for 10 seconds on speed 10.

Add juice, eggs, yolks, cream and salt and insert Butterfly.

Cook for 4 minutes at 80C on speed 4. Remove Butterfly.

Add cooked rice to custard and incorporate for 5-6 seconds on Reverse + speed 3.

Pour into prepared dish (es) making sure rice is distributed evenly throughout the dish, and bake for 25-30 minutes until golden on top and just set in centre. Serve dusted with icing sugar and fresh berries if available…and as you would know by now, a dollop of fresh cream never goes astray in my life!

Dark Chocolate Cardamom Kiss

You know me, LOVE ice cream, particularly home made…and when there are about 4 ingredients…even better! (Well that’s if you don’t include the dipping ingredients.)

A little fiddly. I’ll be honest…but soooo cute! Impressive, if that’s what you’re after, and really, with a little patience, NOT that hard…just like I said, fiddly!

So a few tips;

• Make the ice cream well in advance of dipping and make sure you have made the small balls and frozen them separately for at least 24 hours.
• Use food handling gloves for easy rolling of the ice cream into balls.
• Place each ball into a mini muffin tin…its amazing how much easier that makes it!
• Do each colour separately and replace the un-dipped balls into the freezer between preparations!

The recipe…

NEED:

400g coconut milk

500g whipping cream

75-80g honey

4-5 cardamom pods

DO:

Place all ingredients into Thermomix bowl and scald for 15 minutes at 80oC on speed 3. Allow mix to cool completely before removing cardamom pods and placing into ice cream churner. Follow manufacturer’s instructions. Serve immediately or freeze until solid and form balls as required. Dip as desired and serve as finger food dessert.

Of course if you have no ice cream churner…not a problem. Freeze mix in ice cube trays and then simply place cubes into your Thermomix and whiz up for around 30 seconds or so until thick and rich and creamy! Return to freezer and then continue with rolling and dipping if desired as directed.

To dip, use around 50g chocolate, or white chocolate and melt with 1 tsp of coconut oil until liquid…add flavours/colours as desired, toss ice cream balls through each batch individually (work fast) and return to freezer immediately. If you are rolling kisses into anything after coating, be doubly quick. (coconut, coloured sprinkles, crushed pistachios, etc etc)

Each 50g chocolate will coat approximately 4 walnut sized ice cream balls. The total recipe will yield around 30-40 balls…I confess I only did half the mix, we ate the rest drizzled with passionfruit pulp…it is everything ice cream should be; the whitest, creamiest, fluffiest mouth taste ever.

Pictured are dark chocolate rolled in coconut, lime zest in white chocolate, frozen raspberry in white chocolate, plain dark chocolate. As you can see, to roll on top of dipping adds dimension. I would recommend only 1-2 per serving, but of course…everyone WILL want to try them all! Sorry, that’s just how it is!

Well it IS Easter after all. Slightly healthier than some of the other chocolate options around at the moment, and based on the use of very good ingredients, this should not scare you too much! Risotto is one of the most amazing canvases to which you can add flavour after flavour…and chocolate of course is just a flavour…I have added orange as well as the combination is always fantastic!

If you want to use Cointreau or another dessert wine, simply substitute for other liquid…a spoonful of powdered espresso adds depth of flavour as well. So Hoppy Easter to all, and please, make sure you all eat too much chocolate…cos the next excuse to do so is a looong way away.

NEED:

180g dark chocolate in pieces

zest 1 orange

40g butter

350g Arborio rice

100g Amaretto

1 tsp vanilla essence

1L  milk

1 chopped segmented orange

150g sugar

cream to taste

DO:

Place chocolate and orange zest into Thermomix bowl and mill together for 10 seconds on speed 10. Set aside.

Place butter, rice and Amaretto into Thermomix bowl and saute for 3 minutes at 100oC on Reverse + speed 1.5. (Don’t ask, just find a spot between speed 1 and 2 and relax!)

Add remaining ingredients except chocolate and orange zest, and cream to Thermomix bowl and cook for between 17-19 minutes at 100oC on Reverse + speed 1.5.

Pour in insulated bowl removing any fibrous pieces from the orange, and stir chocolate and cream through. Garnish with white chocolate curls and serve whilst still hot.

OK OK, a little late for that famously Chocolated out day for lovers, but this is just a rework of an oldie on here, and it was for the Steam Oven a long time ago and in another galaxy! Named lust for obvious reasons, (which will become apparent once you have made and eaten this sinful confection!) you will NOT, I repeat NOT ever think of chocolate in quite the same light ever again. Try some of the variations, but (sigh) I just keep going back to the Jaffa Pots.

I need to revisit a lot of content on here, and in light of the fact I am off to Sydney on Sunday (stay tuned in on Twitter) to work with chef Mark Best, as well as tripping off to Singapore the week after that, I felt that a redo was a great option to keep you all coming back!! So here you have it. You can double the mixture quite easily and make sure you tweak a change or two each time you do it!

NEED:

140g dark chocolate in chunks

300g cream

20g caster sugar

1tsp vanilla extract (or other flavorings of choice, see Options)

2 whole eggs

1 egg yolk

10-12 small dishes or ramekins

DO:

Place chocolate, cream, sugar and vanilla into Thermomix bowl and heat together for 3 minutes at 50ºC on speed 1.

Insert Butterfly and with lid closed, drop eggs and yolk into hole in lid as you mix for 1 minute on speed 2. Place MC on top and increase to speed 4 after you have added the eggs and yolk.

Divide between small dishes (Dariole moulds work well) and place them into the Varoma dish and tray.

Lightly rinse Thermomix bowl and fill with 1 litre of water. Set Varoma into position and cook for 20 minutes at Varoma temperature on speed 2.

Place choc pots into fridge until cooled before serving warm or cold dusted with cocoa and with berry/mint leaf garnish and additional whipped cream if desired.

OPTIONS:

Jaffa Choc Pots: Add zest 1 orange and a dash of optional Cointreau

Coconut Crème Pots: Replace dark chocolate with white chocolate and cream with coconut cream. Add a dash of almond essence.

Baileys Crème Pots: Replace dark chocolate with milk chocolate, omit sugar and add a dash of Bailey’s liqueur.

Espresso Pots: Add a shot of espresso to chocolate whilst melting. Or add 1tsp espresso powder at the same time as vanilla extract.

Maple Banana Coconut Fritters

Well it would seem that you are all on holiday, while I remain slaving away in the kitchen…come on kids, comments make me zing! We are half way through January, almost the week of my birthday…(yes I have been counting backwards from 40 which will see me reach my very early 30′s!) It has been an exciting week for me professionally with job offers flying left right and centre, plus the goal for my fiftieth year (woops did I really admit that??) is to produce my own cookbook and I have been assessing what is needed to begin that process. (Clearly not the least of which is a professional behind the camera! The point and shoot school of photography will hardly satisfy!) It will be on sale this time next year as I turn the actual FIVE OH…no!

SO to the task at hand. I have my family joining me for Sunday dinner as usual and I also have some bananas that need eating, as well as some to die for homemade Vanilla bean ice cream churning happily away. (Does anyone else recycle their vanilla beans??) What better to accompany Vanilla bean Ice cream than a light banana and coconut tempura fritter? Nothing I can think of!

Tempura is best made with sparkling spring water, of which I am fresh out, so I used icy cold still water, but nonetheless, excellent results. Tempura is a batter with a ratio of 1:1 and best left lumpy as opposed to having a smooth consistency. The right temperature oil when frying is also important as this will eliminate a greasy end result. Approximately 180oC or 350oF is perfect.

TEMPURA  Batter; the Thermomix way!

NEED:
150g white rice
2 egg whites
1 tbsp icing sugar
200g ice cold sparkling water

DO:
Place rice into Thermomix bowl and mill for 60 seconds on speed 10.
Add remaining ingredients and gently combine by setting dial to closed lid position. Mix together for approximately 10 seconds on Interval speed. If there are still lumps that is fine.
Set aside as you prepare the rest of the dish.

To make Coconut Banana Fritters;
Heat enough Extra Virgin Coconut oil in deep pan to temperature. If you drop a little of the batter into the pan, it should brown up in around 40 seconds. Any hotter or faster and you will get a burnt taste.

Slice bananas diagonally, about 1/2 banana per serving, roll in shredded coconut and then dip quickly in the prepared batter. Put straight into the hot oil and allow to cook until golden. Remove with slotted spoon and drain on a double layer of paper towels.
To serve, place 2 or 3 fritters onto large plate, dust with icing sugar, dollop ice cream in centre, drizzle with real Maple Syrup, add a few shreds of coconut if desired and devour immediately.

Pumpkin Avo Salad with Honey Mustard Dressing

Christmas Day and the kids have just left…feeling cruisy, the food was stunning and even though the kitchen is still in need of some cleaning, it is pretty OK. Thought I would quickly write this one down and put it up…nothing like obsession when it strikes at the least likely times! Hope you all had a great Christmas and like me, are looking forward to a fantastic 2010! (Of course this had to wait till New Year’s Eve, until I could organise a card reader to upload pics to my iMac, which despite the frustrations, is absolutely FANTASTIC! So now I owe you all a Happy 2010 as well as long overdue Merry Christmas.)

Pumpkin and Avo Salad

NEED:

700g peeled and seeded pumpkin
salt and cracked black pepper

Oil spray
100g mixed salad leaves
100g almond slivers
1-2 avocados, cut into wedges
1 small Spanish onion, thinly sliced
Handful basil leaves
Dressing:
80g raw honey
2tbsp seeded mustard
80g white wine vinegar
sea salt and pepper to taste
240g EVOO

DO:

Preheat oven to 200C. Slice the pumpkin into thin wedges and place on a baking tray lined with baking paper. Spray with oil spray and sprinkle with salt and pepper.
Roast for 20-25 minutes or until tender and caramelised. Remove from the oven and set aside to cool slightly.
Arrange the pumpkin on a serving plate with salad leaves, almonds, avocado, Spanish onion and basil.
Drizzle with dressing and serve.

To make dressing place honey, mustard and vinegar into TM bowl and cook for 3-4 minutes at 100C on speed 2-3 with MC off. Add seasoning to taste, EVOO and mix for a few seconds on speed 5-6 until blended. Refrigerate until ready for use.

Honey Pecan Ice Cream

Well you may have noticed a few changes around here…not least of which is the stunning new site which is still getting altered bit by bit by my very helpful nephew Luke! (Thank you) Of course, being the almost complete computer illiterate that I am, there may be more errors than not, but I believe it has all been brought over from the other site and should look better, feel better and of course, therefore BE better than ever before! So…please enjoy. I have also changed (finally), the name of my site, which was a little dated according to my very helpful fellow foodie Matt and hopefully this will find its mark! Same recipes, same chit chat, but much prettier and easier to navigate. I actually have a new home kitchen to show off on here as well, but that will wait for another day when I have had the professional photo shoot!

Today, as I languished in long awaited sunshine, my thoughts naturally turned to ice cream, and as we have had a recent honey harvest, I knew a honey ice cream would be a real treat…honey and pecan to be precise, so brace yourselves…one serving of this will never do, and it is so easy that I’m almost embarrassed to call it a recipe!

NEED:
3 eggs
75g fresh honey
300g milk
300g ice cold whipping cream
150g toasted pecan nut pieces

DO:
Place eggs and honey into Thermomix  bowl and blend for 1 minute on speed 3.
Add milk and cook for 7 minutes at 90oC on speed 4. Cool completely.
Place cream into Thermomix bowl and whip for 20-40 seconds until holding stiff peaks.
Fold through nuts and cooled custard by adding all to the Thermomix bowl and gently stirring together on Reverse + speed 3.
Place into metal tray or bowl and freeze for several hours until solid. Soften in fridge for around 20 minutes  before serving.

Not very sweet, creamy and oh those toasted pecans…very adult ice cream…the kids will stay away in droves, but that is the idea after all!

Slice-O-Choc!

Just as I get nominated (and voted for many times…thank you!) I run into so much work that I have no time to create, let alone blog about creating! So in a feeble attempt to keep the banner high, this is a blog about more than just a recipe…its my current claim to fame. This morning I had the opportunity of getting up VERY early and making the trek to the Royal Showgrounds as one of the selected few on radio 6PR’s competition to be a cheese and ice cream judge at the Perth Royal Show. Imagine starting your day chomping down on 10 cheeses of excellence and 4 ice creams! All winners in their own right and all delicious to me…John Watson, the chief Dairy judge each year was there to take us through our paces…and make no mistake, it was harder than just wolfing down lactose laden delights!
We had to consider Body, Texture, Aroma, Content, obviously Taste was in the mix. I have to say that the cheese I selected as my winning choice (a Raclette) was outstanding amongst the outstanding-ness! Now I just have to wait and see if I picked the same winner as the judges…and as for ice cream, NOTHING beats my Panforte ice cream of recent testing (if I say so myself)…watch for that in the 2010 Calendar.

And speaking of 2010, they invited me back…so watch out…I’m destined to become the Dairy Queen…hmmn that has a certain ring to it!
Now to the recipe of today…Gluten Free, and guilt free if you consider the amount of antioxidants in dark chocolate and then look at the numbers below…who said chocolate cake (and berries) isn’t healthy? Protein rich…(I know I’m clutching at straws here…), you gotta love it! Its like a big slice of chocolate truffle. Whats not to love?

Dark Chocolate Torte with Berry Glaze.

NEED:
200g couverture or dark chocolate
250g unsalted butter
15g cocoa powder
1 teaspoon espresso powder or coffee substitute
5 large eggs
110g caster sugar

DO:
Line the base of a small springform pan.
Place chocolate and butter into Thermomix bowl and mill for 8 seconds on speed 6.
Melt together for 5 minutes at 50oC on speed 1. Add cocoa and espresso and beat together for 4 seconds on speed 6.
Cool slightly.
Add eggs and sugar and beat for 20 seconds on speed 5-6.
Pour into prepared pan.
Process in steam oven 1 hour.
Cool completely on wire rack.
If you have no steam oven, try steaming in Varoma for 1 hour and then finish off in fan forced oven for 20 minutes at 180oC.

SERVE:
Make glaze with 150g chocolate or couverture, 100g berries of choice and a dash of brandy (optional).

Place all into Thermomix and melt together for 4 minutes at 37oC on speed 1.
Pour over cake, serve with extra fresh berries and cream.

If you can manage to just have one piece, please tell me your secret!
Enjoy!