The time has come to make yourselves known. Although it sounds a little paranoid, or possibly vain, I have put some thought into leaving this blog up as a recipe resource, but not adding to it…yes, deserting my blog for other pastimes! (NO, not dessert-ing…deserting…as in running away!) I am extremely busy in my job, my family and due to shrieks of silence, feel unloved, underappreciated and generally find myself wondering if Anyone cares!! hahahaha.  So if you are Anyone and you care…please send me a message (click on Comments , then Submit Query, below) and perhaps I can re-evaluate the amount of recipes I post. Thanks to all who do comment and I trust I will now be flooded with complimentary, head swelling, superlatives about my wonderful site!

Thanks for all your kind wishes for my ‘little’ boy who is well on the road to recovery and happens to be six feet 3! It has been harrowing, but educational and we are happy that all is going to be well!

As he left for work yesterday morning, my DH asked hopefully if I was putting a blog up (as I was not at work). Of course his concern was not for you dear readers, but more for his choices come dinnertime! Wednesdays have become blogging day (sort of) and I downright cook up a storm on Sundays, (Hence the ‘daze!) photograph it all and hopefully blog it later in the week…so what did we have for dinner last night you may ask?
Not to digress, but on Monday night I attended a seminar with Cyndi O’Meara (and that is another post or two!) the whole foodie, slash nutritionist who was highly entertaining and informative and had a whole lot of local producers with their products in a market atmosphere, preceding her evening. Needless to say I purchased some Olive Oil, cold pressed Extra Virgin Olive Oil, hereafter referred to as, EVOO, pressed with Lemon rind (one process) from a local grove, (Guinea Grove Farm, Gin Gin) organic and bio dynamic etc etc..which all sounds a bit of a yawn to the uninitiated, but the TASTE! Drool…so with that in mind, and with our latest honey harvest fresh from the hive (yes, ahem, another up coming post!) I created the most beautiful roast chicken with a soy, honey, citrus olive oil and garlic marinade…mmmmmnn. Converts to organic, bio dynamic, all of us.

NEED:
1.5 kg roasting chicken
1/4 cup soy (or tamari)
1/4 cup raw local honey…(or just normal honey will suffice!)
3 tablespoons EVOO, pressed with Lemon zest
(You could make your own with a mix of Olive oil and zest of 1 lemon)
enormous amounts of peeled garlic cloves
1 potato per person
handful fresh coriander leaves

DO:
Wash and dry chicken.
Mix all remaining ingredients except garlic and potatoes in TM bowl and process for 10 seconds on speed 7.
Prepare garlic and stuff underneath the skin and in the cavity of the chicken.
Pour marinade over the chicken and leave for at least 2 hours. (Longer is better.)
When ready to cook, prepare potatoes by cutting in half.
Place marinated chicken and any excess marinade in MW Grill glass dish and place potatoes around.
Drizzle with more EVOO to taste.
Cook in MW grill as time directs (approx 35-40 minutes) Add time if necessary.
Due to the nature of the marinade, you may need to turn the chicken over at least once to preserve the delicious color that it will certainly produce.
Garnish with chopped coriander leaves and baste with remaining marinade.

SERVE:
With steamed green beans and a good napkin, cos you’re going to need it!

Always partial to a bit of daal with most things curry, this is a stunning dip with naan bread (see future posting) Great with curry, by itself with steamed rice or just serve with steamed veggies to add a flavour boost. You can add some cooked chicken to this and serve with rice, lemon wedges and chopped fresh coriander (cilantro) for a wonderful easy meal! Not strictly ‘daal’ with the addition of coconut cream, but I can assure you, you’ll be singing my praises as soon as you taste this! In fact you’ll be calling me a real ‘dahl’! (Yes folks that is how us Aussies say Darl!!)

NEED:
1 cup dried yellow split peas
2 onions
10 cloves garlic
2 inch piece of fresh ginger peeled
Enough stock to cover and add as required. (Approx 4 x split pea measurement)
4 tablespoons turmeric
generous amount of olive oil (2 tablespoons)
1/2 can coconut milk (200 mls)
lemons
coriander or cilantro to taste

DO:
Peel garlic, onion, ginger, place in Thermomix bowl and chop on Speed 9 for 3 seconds (NOT KIDDING!!)
Meanwhile heat oil in heavy pan on Induction max. Turn down to 6 immediately.
Add chopped aromatics and cook till fragrant.
Add rinsed peas and turmeric.
Stir until heated through.
Add all of stock and bring to boil on Induction max.
Turn down to 4, cover with tight fitting lid and leave simmering for several hours.
You may have to turn it down again, 2 is ideal for a long enough period. (8 hours)
Stir occasionally and add more stock or water as needed.
The mix should be quite liquid.
Stir through cocnut milk and the juice of one lemon.
Simmer for at least another hour without a lid to thicken.
Leave in pan to cool.
The mix should become quite solid.
SERVE:The next day warmed through with any accompaniments as mentioned above.
USED:

NEED:
2 packs of Arnott’s biscuits
250 grams Philadelphia Cream Cheese
125 grams unsalted butter
3/4 cup caster sugar
1 sachet gelatine (10 grams) blended into;
3/4 cup warm water
generous tablespoon of real vanilla essence

DO:
Line a baking tray with straight sides with the Lattice biscuits, top side down.
In Thermomix bowl, whisk remaining ingredients on Speed 4 until blended.
(Around 1-2 minutes)
Pour onto Lattice base.
Top with more Lattice biscuits, top side up.
Try and line up the ‘joins’ of the biscuits for easy cutting and serving.

Unfortunately not sure if Lattice are available around the world. Please let me know if you have them in your country…and you’re not an Aussie! Enjoy!

OK…after umm-ing and ahh-ing I finally did it! I don’t know why I waited so long! WOW, what an amazing device. It is food processor, steam oven, induction all rolled into one. Of course there are things that can be done in both the steam oven and on the induction that cannot be done in the Thermomix, but by crikey, I’m in gadget love!

The Thermomix is only available through a consultant and frankly that’s going to be my next move…so if anyone would like me to come and cook at your house, have Thermomix, can travel!!! From egg custard, to ganache, to risotto, to sorbet and bread dough, from curry to steamed rice and the best mashed potato I have ever tasted…all in seconds…well minutes in some cases. I have cooked up a veritable storm in the last 2 days.

• sour dough rye bread
• yoghurt
• smoothies
• mashed potato
• orange julius (recipe to come)
• garlic cheese rolls
• egg custard
• apple tea cake
• mushroom sauce
• icing sugar from Raw Sugar!!!
• cornflour from whole wheat!!!

Frankly my kids are unappreciative and I now have a pile of left overs…just cos I can’t stop cooking. Thermo (for short) looks at me so invitingly…I just can’t help myself!

Tomorrow I will do porridge, more bread, a lemon chess pie and maybe cookies or profiteroles. I am at work tomorrow night, and may just have to take Thermo with me! Anyway, like I said, if you live in Perth, want to see the Thermomix first hand (and taste my delectable food first hand) just comment here and I will email you privately.

Oh the recipes will flow, so stay tuned!

This recipe is already on here, but I have been getting a lot of hits for it, so I thought I would take a few photos, and give you a bit of a tutorial on the whole process. Couldn’t be easier…when you know how!

SO: Here goes

NEED:
½ chicken breast per person.
Stuffing of choice. In this instance;
Homemade pesto (little oil)
Prawns

DO:
Butterfly each chicken breast.
Stuff with flavors of choice. (I used pesto and prawns)
Roll over on itself. Carefully lift each breast into hot pan.
Pan fry chicken breasts on Induction high for 5 minutes each side until golden.
Place in Steam Oven tray and process for 15 minutes.
Slice and serve immediately with sauce.

I will need to adjust the sauce recipe from the other entry that is on here. On this occasion I used 250 grams sliced button mushrooms, though brown is nicer. Using the pan that I browned the chicken in I deglazed the pan with a dash of champagne (flat and left over from someone’s lunch!!) Add the mushrooms and fry off. Add more champagne and simmer whilst waiting for the chicken to cook. When chicken is done, add a dash of fresh cream to the sauce, reduce, add salt and pepper to taste and serve immediately! And like I said, please remember who you are at all times, as you LICK the plate clean!

OK, OK, I admit it…I have been asked by so many people to put this up and today my clients asked me again, so I thought I’d better get on it! We had a lunch today and my stock standard to showcase the Induction is the risotto, so I’ve put up a few photos…thanks ladies! Now…remember that this is best done on the Induction…I am not sure it would translate very well to any other cooking medium and of course there are some safety issues involved with using a tea towel on a gas cooktop!

NEED:
dash of olive oil
1 cup arborio rice
2 cups combined chicken stock and white wine (Less wine than stock…really!)
1 diced brown onion
5 large field mushrooms chopped
3 cloves garlic peeled and chopped finely
2 teaspoons Garden Gourmet Basil paste (or substitute handfuls of fresh basil torn roughly)
75 grams unsalted butter
zest and juice 1 lemon
75 grams freshly grated parmesan
Cream to taste, but at least 1/4 cup
1 clean tea towel

DO:
Heat oil in Induction friendly pan on ‘max’.
Add garlic and onion, stir briefly.
Add mushrooms and rice and stir until rice takes on a bright white appearance.
Do not let it catch.
Add all of stock and wine and bring to the boil.
Allow to boil madly on ‘max’ until the mixture becomes a ‘slurry’!
Turn Induction down to 2.
Cover pan with the clean towel and THEN the lid, making sure the seal is tight.
Set timer for 12 minutes.
When cooking has finished, add butter and stir as it melts.
Add basil paste, cheese, and lemon zest and juice.
Continue to mix until all the butter has melted.
(If you are using fresh basil, it is now that you should add it.)
Lastly add cream and remember the mix should be quite runny.
Add salt and pepper as desired.
Serve immediately.

USED:

OR: Get the kids and or husband onto this blog and cooking some easy but YUMMY breakfast for Sunday, they’ll enjoy it too!

Firstly, check out some Overnight French Toast. And if the worst comes to the worst, you could actually organise this yourself…and all they have to do is stick it in the oven, OR, if you are really clever and have a “Start Later, Stop Later” function on your oven (all Kleenmaid ovens but one have this function) you can set it yourself and then the kids just have to serve it! EASY.

If you are not much of a sweet tooth, try Gratin Egg Cups with some toast (unburnt if possible!) and hot coffee, YUM!

Of course, a breakfast blog would not be complete without some reference to Pancakes and I think I have it well covered here!

If you are running out the door and Breakfast in bed is not your thing…you can pre-mix this lot and just bake in the morning. Friands the trendy muffin of the ‘Norties’ (Yes that’s the 2000′s) are so delicious that you will not be able to stop at one. Of course, berries are a healthy choice, but try adding choc chips, macadamias, replacing the almond meal with polenta, the sugar with grated parmesan, and then add sun dried tomatoes, olives etc etc. for a savoury twist.

If you are throwing caution to the winds and getting off the diet yo-yo, (at least for ONE day) try something more decadent from my Seven Deadly Recipes file…but I suspect that you may have to be making these yourself…or for your mum, if you really need an excuse!

Have a great Mother’s Day, and may your toast be buttered right to the edges!