Buttermilk Yeast Waffles

You know I love yeast…and now, I cannot go past fresh yeast ever since watching Dani Valent use it in one of the recipes for her nearly here Wunderbook In the Mix. The thermomix is so perfect for using fresh yeast, don’t let it scare you…37°C is just perfect to warm it up and get it all bubbling and frothing…which is exactly what you want. These are not the quickest breakfast around as you do have to allow a little rising time, but perfect to spoil dad this Fathers Day…breakfast in bed? Sorted!

NEED:

330g uncultured buttermilk
30g fresh yeast
pinch salt
1 tbsp sugar
45g Butter
190g bakers flour
4 eggs
150g SR flour
1 tsp vanilla
Toppings of choice

DO:

Quinoa Porridge

I have one child with gluten intolerances (recently diagnosed) and she loves a morning porridge…so as oats are out, this was a great solution. It fast became a family fave, high in protein, and if you want to speed it up, soak the quinoa overnight. You can then cook it for around 20 minutes total.

NEED:

150g quinoa
300g water
120g milk of choice (nut, soy. rice, dairy)
1 vanilla bean
Pinch sea salt
Maple syrup or honey to taste
Toasted almonds to serve

DO:

Place quinoa, water, vanilla and salt into mixing bowl and
cook for 15 min/90ºC/Reverse + speed 1.

Add milk and cook a further 10 min/100ºC/Reverse + speed 1.

(It may bubble up, so stay close.)

Allow to rest in Thermomix bowl for around
10 minutes until liquid has been absorbed.

Drizzle with real maple syrup or honey, serve with toasted almonds and a
dollop of yoghurt or creme fraiche. Add fresh fruit of choice…You will be full all day….not kidding, ALL day!

Serve with Orange Creme Patisserie

Low Fat Upside Down Blueberry Orange Cakes

Now I know that Tenina.com and ‘Low Fat’ are mutually exclusive, but I am on a mission! I am sure if you have delved into the black depths of this site you will have found several recipes with no story and no picture. This is one such random recipe….Let me tell you the story behind those!

…Once Upon A Time….I was the ‘Celebrity’ chef who ran cooking classes for Kleenmaid Appliances and had a lot of clients who wanted my recipes. Not being a publisher and being entreprenerial, I started this site by simply placing my recipes into posts. The site has evolved and changed over the years to become this (dare I say it?) very ‘speccy’ site that you see before you today. In an effort to make it even more ‘speccy’ I am renovating the oldie but goldies and taking new pics, updating the blog, recipe by recipe. SO, low fat it is, not terrible, but…bring on the fat, and that other butt….next recipe.

NEED:

130g frozen  blueberries

1 tbsp cornflour

2 tbsp dark brown sugar

2 tbsp brandy

1 orange sliced

150g almonds

150g  plain cake flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

150g egg whites (approx 4)

3 egg yolks

100g caster sugar

1 tsp vanilla bean paste

DO:

Lightly spray nonstick 12 hole muffin tin with oil.

Place blueberries, cornflour, sugar and sherry in a bowl.

Toss to combine. Place 1/2 orange slice in base of each muffin hole.

Top with blueberry mixture. Set aside.

Place almonds and flour into Thermomix bowl and mill together for 10 sec/speed 9.

Add baking powder and sugar, blend quickly for 3 sec/speed 6. Remove from bowl and set aside.

Insert Butterfly and place egg whites into Thermomix bowl. Beat for 3 min/37ºC/speed 3.

Return flour mixture to the bowl, add egg yolks and with dial set to closed lid position, fold through for 15 sec/Interval or until just combined.

Don’t over mix. Spoon batter into muffin tins.

Process in Combi Steam oven for 15-20 minutes. Stand in tin for 5 minutes.

Turn out and serve with Orange custard if desired.

Should you not possess a steam oven, by all means, go and buy one! If that isn’t working for you, place a bain marie on the bottom shelf of your conventional oven, preheat the oven to fan forced 180ºC and cook the muffins for the same amount of time. They may be a little trickier to remove from the tins, but you can always resort to silicone.

Muesli Slash Granola Bars

Well it goes without saying that to have Muesli Bars, one must have, well, Muesli….so the same would be true of Granola bars! This is a Muesli, slash, Granola bar recipe and of course, I recommend you first make my Granola recipe. It is a really quick fix for those of us who stand in front of a microwave and say ‘Hurry, Hurry”! So if you are in my camp (busy and hungry) as long as you have your muesli slash granola ready, this is a snap!

And I will take no responsibility for the taste result if you do NOT use my recipe for Granola….this will just taste better if you do…enough said!

NEED:

65g butter

65g honey

10g cocoa/cacao

450g Granola/Muesli

200g dark chocolate in pieces

1 tbsp coconut oil

DO:

Preheat oven 180ºC on a fan forced setting and line a rectangular baking tin with paper.

Place butter, honey and cacao in Thermomix bowl and cook for 3 min/100ºC/speed 2.

Add granola and blend for 5 sec/Reverse/speed 3-4.

Press into prepared pan using MC to smooth the surface. Bake for 25 minutes.

Meanwhile, melt the chocolate with the coconut oil either on Induction 3-4 or chop in Thermomix bowl, then melt for 5-6 min/37º/speed 2.

Drizzle or flick (or absolutely ladle) over surface of cooked Muesli Bars and set until cold. Cut into lengths and don’t eat them all at once!

Black Forest Ham and Swiss Cheese Danish...?

Of course I had to acknowledge in a foodie way, my upcoming trip to the land of Cheese and Chocolat which is fast approaching. I have so much to do between now and Saturdays departure to Zurich, that I feel slightly ill, and yet, dear reader, here I am, only thinking of you and blogging away. (AM I insane?)

I must say, these pastries disappeared faster than I could get the next one out of the oven, and with great acclaim. I think it was suggested I open a shop with just these for sale. Boring, yet dependable. You’d never need to ask to see a menu! ‘Ham and Cheesies pleasie’! Or more accurately; ‘Feuillete Savoyard s’il vous plaît’…or something like that.

NEED:

3 sheets butter puff pastry, thawed

1 large egg + 1 yolk

120g creme fraiche (or sour cream)

40g unsalted butter

30g cornflour (cornstarch)

120g whole milk

Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Thinly sliced Jarlsberg or Gruyere cheese (or go wild and use Raclette)

Thinly sliced Black Forest Ham

Egg wash

DO:

Preheat oven to 200°C. Line 2 baking trays with paper.

Cut puff pastry sheets in half and set aside.

Make a Bechemel Sauce by placing the egg and yolk, creme fraiche, butter, cornflour and milk into the Thermomix bowl and cooking for 6 minutes at 100°C on speed 4. Cool.

Lay cheese and ham slices across 1 half of each pastry sheet leaving room around the edges to seal. Top with Bechemel and cover with other half of pastry. Seal borders with a fork or small knife. Slash tops to allow steam to escape and brush liberally with egg wash. Bake for 20-25 minutes until puffed and golden. Serve hot.

These can easily be assembled the day before needed and either refrigerated or frozen prior to baking. Add a little to the baking time as needed to compensate. Thus they would be a great Christmas breakfast inclusion. I am pretty sure you’ll be making them again…or coming to buy them from my shop…what should I call them folks? I think I am sticking to the pedestrian Ham and Cheesies!

Citrus Butter/Curd

Based on my penchant for all things lemon, this was an attempt to branch out to some of my other faves; citrus in general. I had a bowl full of tangelos, oranges, limes and lemons, just begging to show up in a stunning recipe. I subsequently used this curd through some whipped cream and drizzled on top of a sponge sandwich…gave a couple of jars away and of course slathered the rest on brioche toast…another fave. Is it any wonder I resemble the cuddly 50′s housewife? Give me an apron and a day in the kitchen, Happy. As. Larry. Whoever that is!

NEED:

220g sugar

zest of 2 lemons, 1 lime and 1 orange

240g butter, cubed

200g mixed citrus juice of choice

4 eggs + 2yolks

DO:

Place sugar with zests into Thermomix bowl and mill for 10 sec/speed 10.

Add butter and chop for 5 sec/speed 7.

Insert Butterfly and add remaining ingredients. Cook for 10 min/80°C/speed 4.

Remove Butterfly and cook 1 min/90°C/speed 6.

Pour into sterilised jars and seal.

This makes a great tart filling, make a quick vanilla bean pastry, blind bake mini tartlets, and just before serving, dollop in cold citrus curd. Stir through whipped cream, fresh raspberries and cubes of sponge cake for a quick dessert, serve over vanilla ice cream as an elegant topping or as mentioned, it is fantastic on brioche toast, French toast or even brioche French toast….can you imagine?

Breakfast Parfait

SO the question is; is the plural ‘Parfait’ or ‘Parfaits’? I’m going with Parfait…its all that high school French kicking in. This is less recipe and more suggestion, though of course I highly recommend another recipe that goes with this, well, recipe!

I had some stewed rhubarb just sitting in the fridge, begging to be eaten. I knew it was going to sit there a wee while longer if I didn’t tart it up, so here we go. Took me approximately 2 minutes to make four of these babies…breakfast, with style…so much style. I AM a foodista! I am also going to make these again. Definitely.

NEED:

Parfait glasses or goblets

500g cold, stewed rhubarb (see note below)

Enough granola/muesli per serve to taste

50g Greek yoghurt per glass

Fresh strawberries to garnish

DO:

Layer each ingredient into parfait glasses carefully, starting with rhubarb, and topping with a strawberry. Eat within a day.

Told you it took me 2 minutes for 4. The fastest recipe in the west. So all you Francophiles, let me know. Parfait? Parfaits? And those of you who eat; Delicious? Divine? Its all about choices really.

Persian Power Bars

I have been twiddling around with the idea of power bars for sometime as the ones you can buy are;

• A) nasty tasting
• B) bad for you in that they have masses of additives and
• C) because I have a Thermomix and that is what I do!

Of course due to the masses of spare time at my disposal, until now there has been no need for such a thing on here, but dear reader, I recieved my usual subscription email from my friends over at Duo Dishes this week…and inspirationally there was a lovely recipe for something along the lines I had been thinking of, but far more romantically named and of Persian origin, who could not be charmed by that idea? Anyhoo…it catapulted me into action and here we have it! I guess the thing I loved most about their recipe was the no baking bit, and of course with Thermomix in your kitchen, the cooking plus stirring part could not be easier!

However, it did became a bit of a ‘schlep’ (as Marketing Manager Mandy would say…MMM from here on in!) I have 4 Thermomix bowls at home which naturally makes life a little easier in recipes like this, but I resolutely persisted and did this in one bowl, just so I knew it could be done…and yes kids, it can!

Persian Power Bars (with a little Duo input!)

NEED:

100g walnut pieces

40g organic shredded coconut

100g almonds

100g rapadura sugar

zest 1 orange

400g pitted Medjool dates

100g shelled pistachios

1tsp vanilla bean paste

240g unsalted butter

40g raw honey

300g SR flour

2tsp ground cinnamon

2tsp ground cardamom

1tsp Celtic sea salt

DO:

Toast walnuts for 10 minutes by placing into cold oven and setting temperature to fan forced 200°C. Cool. (May I just mention, do not skip this step as the difference between toasted and untoasted walnuts is a revelation in flavour!)

Place coconut, almonds, raw sugar and orange zest into Thermomix bowl and mill for 10 seconds on speed 9. Set aside.

Place dates, pistachios, vanilla and toasted walnuts into Thermomix bowl and chop for 10 seconds on speed 6. Set aside.

Place butter, honey, flour and ground spices into Thermomix bowl and chop for 3 seconds on speed 5.

Cook for 20 minutes at 100°C on speed 2. Ensure that mixture does not stick to centre of blade by pressing Reverse button a couple of times and also by stopping timer to scrape down sides of bowl during cooking time.

Add 220g of coconut almond mix and salt to Thermomix bowl and blend for 20 seconds on speed 5. Press half that mixture into large square spring form pan lined with baking paper. (Or use square pan of choice but for easy removal bring baking paper up on two sides, above the top of the pan.)

Push date mixture on top of base, press remaining cooked mix on top of that and then press (using a piece of baking paper) the remaining coconut almond mix on top of that again! Allow to cool completely before placing in fridge for at least 4 hours before cutting into bars.

Wrap separately, freeze and on a busy day (who has those??) you have a fantastic breakfast on the go, a mid morning snack for the energised or dare I say it, an extremely high calorie tidbit to have any time of the day or night! So, MMM, I’m hoping you’ll be making these now now.

Jaffa Risotto

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 100°C 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 100°C 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.

SERVE:

In beautiful glasses with mascarpone on the side. Add a few orange zest strips if desired. This serves absolutely heaps of people…Have yet to try half the recipe…if you do, and it works, let me know!

Lime Buttered Pretzel

You know I love a good bread recipe, and never short on food ideas, I am happy to say that I found a couple of fellow bloggers on the same wave length for these ones; Pink Parsley did an excellent recipe adapted from the now extinct Gourmet Magazine and added Jalepeno Mustard…terrific idea! But my first discovery of like minded plan was by cruising Tastespotting, a site that should you happen across, you will immediately gain 3 kilos and lose all sense of time…well maybe I exaggerate, 2 kilos max. Pennies on a Platter showed up on Tastespotting with these beauties and so the deed was done. They say there are no new stories in the world, and similarly, no new recipes, and sorry folks, have to agree, though I couldn’t resist adding a sweet version of course. What else is there if not adding chocolate to bread? Well theres always lime…so I’m giving you (and me!) a day off the chocolate, and defaulting to my other sweet fave. Enjoy!

NEED:

1 batch Pretzel Dough divided in half

1 recipe Lime Butter (Lemon Butter using lime zest and juice…)

100g tasty or aged cheese cubed

200g chorizo sausage

DO:

Make pretzel dough and allow to prove.

Make Lime Butter and refrigerate.

(I pre made the Lime Butter a day ahead and therefore it was completely cold, which helps.)

Preheat oven to fan forced 220°C and line 2 baking trays with paper and set aside.

Place cheese into clean, dry, Thermomix bowl and mill for 10 seconds on speed 10. Set aside.

Place Chorizo into Thermomix bowl and chop or mince for 8-10 seconds on speed 8.

Roll half dough out into large rectangle and spread first with cheese, then chorizo. Carefully roll over onto itself along long side of rectangle to make a large sausage shape, tucking the dough underneath itself and pinching together to close. Cut into pieces and lay onto prepared tray. Brush with mixture of  50g Baking soda (bicarb) that has been dissolved in a little water before baking for approximately 10-12 minutes. Serve hot.

To make Lime Butter Pretzels, repeat rolling out process with remaining dough, spread with cold Lime Butter, roll, cut into bite sized pieces and place on prepared tray. Brush with Bicarb mixture before baking at same temperature. These will cook a little quicker, so check them at around 8 minutes. Dollop with additional Lime Butter as they cool. Serve immediately.

After a weekend of eating, I have almost decided this blog (and bloggess) needs to go on a diet, (or at least stay away from Tastespotting!) and yet I can’t help but notice the first three letters of diet are die! AND I made another tart with pineapple and passionfruit that, yes, will undoubtedly show up on here soon. So what do you think readers? Are you ready for a few weeks of spartan? It’s just not as much fun dreaming up a bowl of lentils, that’s all….comments please!