The layering process begins!

Smorgastarta Up Close and Personal!

Okey, so if you are on board with me here….this is what you are waiting for to finish off this creation. It really is impressive and a lot of fun to serve. There are a lot of ideas for decorating, I went with Swedish (sort of) but for lots of other ideas head on over to this The Kitchn post. There were mixed reactions at the most expected Grand child in history’s baby shower, some people were disappointed it wasn’t sweet, others were so taken by the idea that is was savoury, they couldn’t wait to dig in. Slicing it is the trick, so be brave, but use a serrated edge to get through all the layers and serve in thin wedges if possible. We loved the left overs more the day after the Baby Shower, and I think it was because all the flavours had melded together. Therefore, this is a perfect party food to do ahead…way ahead.

Hope you post pics over on Facebook if you do this…go on…you know you want to!

Fillings;

NEED:

4 hard boiled egg yolks

100g mayonnaise (For Foods Sake has some amazing Mayo options, and I did use a home made garlic, spring onion and lime option)

100g pickled gherkins

60g red onion

250g cream cheese

100g smoked salmon

Juice 1 lime

Murray River pink salt flakes to taste

DO:

Place egg yolks, and mayonnaise into Thermo bowl and blend 4 sec/speed 6. Add gherkins and onion and chop 3 sec/speed 4. Add remaining filling ingredients and blend 6 sec/speed 6. Remove from bowl and set aside. Clean bowl if you want a white ‘frosting’.

Frosting;

NEED:

500g sour cream

500g cream cheese

DO:

Place sour cream and cream cheese into Thermo bowl and blend 10 sec/speed 7. Insert butterfly and whip for 30 sec/speed 4. It should be fluffy and aerated. Remove from bowl and set aside in the fridge until ready to use.

Sliced cucumber

Sliced chicken breast fillet, ham or other cold meats of choice

Caviar

Sliced hardboiled eggs

Butter

Sliced onions

Beetroot

Stuffed olives, black olives

Parsley leaves to garnish

Cherry tomatoes to garnish

Other garnishes of choice

You must have sparkling mineral water to brush the bread layers with.

ASSEMBLY:

Remove the crusts from all the loaf, including the top, leaving only the bottom crust.

Slice the bread loaf into 3 or 4 layers horizontally.

Spread a little of the frosting onto the serving plate you will use. Stick the bottom layer of loaf onto this plate.

Brush this layer with a generous amount of mineral water. Butter it and then spread with some of the filling. Top with other meats, cheeses, vegetables of choice. Top with next layer and repeat, until all layers of bread are used. Do not overfill the layers between the sandwich as it will make it difficult to cut.

Completely brush the whole sandwich cake with mineral water. Frost it using all the frosting you have and pipe rosettes on the top like you would a cake around the outside circumference. Decorate the top with as many garnishes as you would like.

Arrange individual parsley leaves on the outside of the cake. Garnish the base with cherry tomatoes, and add any other garnishes of choice. Cover and refrigerate for at least 24 hours.

The mineral water helps the consistency become easier to cut and more cake like.

Chicken Pot Pie

This recipe is a conversion request…and I must say, well received in this household. The pastry is my recipe and the idea of puff on the top as well…love it! Easy and delicious, watch this space, pretty sure this will show up on Spin A Dinner  the thermomix app of all apps it would seem…At the moment sporting over 30 recipes and fast on it’s way to another 30 at the rate I’m going!! Did you get yours yet? Both iPad and iPhone versions are going M.A.D. We are so wrapped that you are so wrapped! AND…hold onto your hats, the Android version is close…how close? Not close enough I hear you cry…but coming, so stay tuned, and go and let me know on Facebook, how much you want this to happen. (Need to feel the love right now kids!!)

Anyhoo, thanks for the email Douglas…here you go. Chicken Pot Pie at your service…

NEED:

Parmesan Shortcrust;

60g parmesan, cubed

A few peppercorns

1 tsp paprika, ground

60g butter

220g plain flour

1 egg yolk

1 pinch Murray River pink salt flakes

30-50g ice cold water

Filling;

75g butter

100g onion, halved

40g flour

Generous pinch Murray River pink salt flakes

2 tsp powdered greens (optional)

100g carrots, sliced thinly

1-2 stalks celery, sliced

300g water

2 tbsp Chicken Stock Powder (recipe in For Foods Sake)

500g chicken fillet, cubed

Freshly ground black pepper to taste

100g frozen peas

50g milk (optional)

To finish pie; 2 sheets commercial puff pastry

DO:

Place parmesan, peppercorns and paprika into Thermo bowl and mill 10 sec/speed 10. Add butter and flour and blend 6 sec/speed 6.

Add yolk and salt and a little water and blend 5 sec/speed 5. If dough is coming together there will be no need to add more water. If still crumbly, just add a little more water and blend further 5 sec/speed 5 until dough forms a mass.

Remove from bowl and form into a disc on floured Silpat mat. Wrap and place into fridge whilst you make filling.

To make filling place butter, onion, flour and salt into Thermo bowl and chop 4 sec/speed 5. Saute 5 min/Varoma/speed 2.

Add powdered greens, carrots, celery, water and Chicken Stock Powder to Thermo bowl and cook 10 min/100ºC/Reverse/speed 2.

Add chicken and pepper and cook 5 min/100ºC/Reverse/speed 2.

Add peas and milk and stir through 3 sec/Reverse/speed 2.

Preheat oven to 200ºC.

Line a deep pie or casserole dish with the Parmesan shortcrust. Fill gently with the chicken filling. Top with puff pastry being sure to tuck and seal the edges. Cut a cross in the centre of the pie for steam to escape. Bake 35-40 minutes until top is puffed and golden.

Leave to cool for around 10 minutes before serving.

Hungry today…and this is what showed up! Didn’t have a lot of time to muck around with fussy food (do I ever??) and this cut straight to the chase. Filling for those kids with hollow legs on holidays, who normally will eat anything not nailed down. And yes, it beats 2 minute noodles hands down. Pretty good toasted the next day with bacon, eggs and beans…was dreaming of Holl

NEED:
70g parmesan cheese, cubed

2 cloves garlic

300g water

1 sachet dried yeast (2 tsp)

500g bakers flour

20g EVOO, plus more for drizzling

100g provolone cheese, cubed

Generous pinch Murray River pink salt flakes

DO:

Place parmesan and garlic into Thermo bowl and mill 10 sec/speed 8.

Add water, yeast, flour and 20g EVOO and blend 8 sec/speed 6. Knead 3 min/Interval. Turn out onto floured Silpat mat and wrap tightly. Allow to rise in warm place…(If you are lucky enough to have a warming drawer…use it! I confess, I am LOVING my Kleenmaid warming drawer!)

Meanwhile, place provolone (or mozzarella) into Thermo bowl and mill 5 sec/speed 8.

Preheat oven to a bread setting 220ºC and line a rectangular baking tray with paper.

Cut your dough into two pieces…you will see in the pic the amazing SuperKitchenMachine spatula. They are perfect for cutting sticky (or not) bread dough and absolutely perfect for this recipe and are currently available in the Tenina store!

But I digress…

Roll one piece of dough out to fit the size of your prepared baking tray exactly. Lay onto the paper. Sprinkle with all the provolone cheese, and lay the other piece of dough on top, tucking it in at the edges to seal. Again, rise the dough, (in the warming drawer) covered until it looks like a focaccia.

Score the dough into rectangles with the spatula, drizzle with a little EVOO, and sprinkle with salt to taste.

Bake 15 minutes or until golden. Serve hot, with or without the butter, which melts all over the place and makes this a truly decadent experience…

Soy Marinated Pork Fillet with Quinoa Tabbouleh

Well yes, this is delicious…but then delicious is my mantra…why eat it, if it doesn’t blow you away? I love quinoa and have been finding so many ways to use it lately. On this occasion, I used black quinoa, but white would have looked more traditional tabbouleh…but it is so pretty, don’t you think? We do eat with our eyes after all.

I have just finished Dairy Judge Training and in fact have been invited to become the Top Cheese in WA…(in a manner of speaking!) The Internationally Acclaimed (note capitals!) Russell Smith is going to mentor me through some training to get me to the point where I can hold my own in a room full of reknowned, spitting dairy judges…oh the joy! Cheese judging is very complex, as opposed to judging other dairy, but as an eater and a lover of cheese, and a lover/tourist of all cheese producing countries, I say; Bring it on!

But I digress, I was about to tell you, (as discussed in Dairy Judge Training!!) that we eat with our eyes first, so when we get the whole beautiful meal in front of us, we should salivate and be enticed to eat, and then of course, flavour must deliver and never disappoint, as our palate has a long memory and may never recover from disappointment.

No disappointment here I trust…don’t be tempted to overcook the pork, remember this is the other white meat and perfectly fine and safe to eat when medium rare….in most countries anyhoo!

NEED:

2 pork fillets

200-300g soy sauce

2 tbsp brown sugar

4 cloves garlic

150g black quinoa

Water for soaking and steaming

Handful Italian parsley

Handful mint

Lemon juice to taste

Finely grated zest 1-2 lemons

1 punnet grape tomatoes, halved

1/2 burpless cucumber, diced

Fini EVOO as needed

Good pinch Murray River pink salt flakes

DO:

Place pork fillets into long flat ceramic dish.

Place soy sauce, brown sugar and garlic into Thermo bowl and blend 10 sec/speed 6.

Pour over pork fillets. Cover and refrigerate.

Meanwhile, soak quinoa in a large quantity of water for at least 30 minutes.

Drain quinoa and place into steamer basket and insert into Thermo bowl.

Pour enough water over to reach the bottom of the steamer basket.

Line Varoma dish with a piece of wet baking paper. Remove pork fillets from marinade and place into Varoma dish. Drizzle a little of the marinade over, but reserve the rest.

Place Varoma into position and steam quinoa and pork 20 min/Varoma/speed 3.

Remove pork and cover.

Drain quinoa and finish tabbouleh.

Place herbs into clean, dry Thermo bowl and chop 3 sec/speed 7. Combine this with all remaining ingredients, finally stirring cooled quinoa through. Set aside.

Sear rested pork fillets in a hot fry pan, (Induction 7) drizzling with reserved marinade to taste, being cautious not to burn the marinade. Slice pork and serve over tabbouleh. Reduce the remaining marinade if desired and drizzle a little over the pork prior to serving.

ENJOY!

Chicken Vindaloo

I love curry…you may have noticed…I love spicy food; you may have noticed. I love chicken dishes; you may have noticed. So combine them all and I am in hog heaven…well…you know what I mean. Fragrant and amazing, don’t stop here, try this mixture with lamb, beef or (shhhh, dare I say it?) pork…It’s not too often you hear of a Pork Vindaloo but I am taking a stand and saying, go ahead…pork it up! But chicken works just fine…more than ‘just’ actually! Yum.

NEED:

1/2 tsp each ground, cinnamon, cumin, coriander, cloves, cardamom, fenugreek, cayenne, mustard, ginger and black pepper

1 tsp ground turmeric

1 tsp sweet paprika

20g Fini EVOO

150g brown onion, cut in pieces

20g fresh ginger, peeled

8 cloves garlic

500g tomatoes, cut in pieces

20g red wine vinegar

900g chicken thigh fillet, cut in large pieces

Steamed rice to serve

DO:

Place all dry spices into Thermomix bowl and heat for 5 min/Varoma/speed 2. Scrape down sides of bowl.

Add oil, onion, ginger and garlic and chop 3 sec/speed 5. Saute 5 min/Varoma/speed 1/MC off.

Add tomatoes and vinegar and cook 10 min/100ºC/speed 2.

Add chicken and cook further 10 min/100ºC/Reverse/speed 1.

Serve with fresh coriander, sliced chillies and chopped cucumber and tomato. A little dollop of plain yoghurt is nice with this too…and the obligatory steamed rice or quinoa.

Three Cheese Pizza with Heirloom Tomatoes

I am always inspired by the produce I see when shopping…(well mostly) and often come home with amazing product or wierd and wonderful ingredients that I must then put into something that ends up on here. Some gorgeous heirloom tomatoes just yelled ‘pick me, pick me’ when I headed out for the family shopping today. Although they cost more per kilo than the ring on my finger, I did buy them, and they were worth it! Rather than smother them with something overwhelming, I kept them fresh and uncooked and they were simply delicious as a foil to the rich cheese topping for this pizza.

Dinner just as I love it; Simple, tasty, quick and painless…(take the food pic quick, before the hoardes descend!)

This amount will make 4 thin crust pizzas or 2 thick crust.

NEED:

Dough;

30g fresh yeast

20g Fini EVOO (Extra Virgin Olive Oil)

300g water

Pinch Murray River pink salt flakes

150g rye flour

350g bakers flour

Topping;

As many mini heirloom tomatoes as needed

1-2 cloves garlic

130g Aussie Parmesan, cubed

130g Jarlsburg, cubed

200g Stracchino, sliced thinly

Snipped fresh Italian parsley

Additional EVOO to drizzle

Big Appetite

Pizza Stone….or Pizza oven…

DO:

Make dough by placing yeast, EVOO and water into Thermomix bowl and warming 2 min/37ºC/speed 2.

Add salt and flours and blend 10 sec/speed 6.

Knead 2 min/Interval. Tip out onto floured Silpat mat and roll into a tight ball. Wrap and prove about 10 minutes.

Preheat pizza stone in the hottest oven possible on a bread baking setting if available. You should at least try for around 220ºC.

Place garlic, Parmesan and Jarlsburg into Thermomix bowl and mill 10 sec/speed 10.

Divide dough into quarters and roll each pizza out to desired thickeness. (Thin is best on this occasion…but then thin is always best in my book!)

Bake each piece of dough approx 5-6 minutes until puffed and starting to colour around the edges particularly.

Remove from oven and cover with grated cheese mixture. Arrange sliced stracchino over the top and return to the oven for around 3-5 minutes or until cheese is melted and golden.

Slice tomatoes and chop parsley.

Arrange over the top of the hot cheese, drizzle with additional EVOO and serve immediately.

(Gotta say this once…YUM!) 

Chicken, Fennel and Potato Bake

To call this a recipe is a bit of a stretch…it is one of those mere suggestions, and dare I say it? You could do this without the use of your Thermomix. It was one of those hot days we have been suffering through here in Perth and to throw something tasty into the oven meant I didn’t have to think too hard about it…and whats more…I needed another Dinner for our Dinner Spinner iphone app (the ‘app’tly renamed, Spin-A-Dinner) If you haven’t got one…go get one, we will keep adding recipes bit by bit, so eventually you will have the most amazing Thermomix app ever! (And the Sydney Morning Herald is never wrong about those things!)

NEED:

1-2 chicken thighs per serving, skinless

1-2 small red capsicum, seeded and cut into strips

1-2 small fennel bulbs, sliced thinly

2 red onions, cut in wedges

1 red skinned potato per serving, quartered

Sea salt and freshly cracked black pepper to taste

2 cloves garlic

1 tbsp fennel seeds

1 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp ground smoked paprika

60g Fini EVOO

40g lemon juice

Handful blanched almonds

Chopped fresh parsley and Greek yoghurt to serve

DO:

Place chicken into large casserole dish. Add vegetables and season with salt and pepper.

Place garlic into Thermomix bowl and chop 3 sec/speed 5. Scrape down sides of bowl and add fennel seeds, cumin and paprika. Saute 10 min/Varoma/speed 1.

Add EVOO and lemon juice to Thermomix bowl and blend 10 sec/speed 5.

Pour over chicken and vegetables and allow to marinate for 10-15 minutes, covered in the fridge.

Preheat oven to 220ºC. Bake uncovered for 50-60 minutes until everything is cooked and fragrant. Add almonds and cook a further 10 minutes until almonds are golden.

Serve with freshly snipped parsley and a dollop of Greek Yoghurt if desired.

Crio Bru and Avocado Dip or Spread

Well in Mexico they use unsweetened chocolate in savoury dishes all the time! That is my story and I’m sticking to it. THIS IS DELICIOUS….FYI! So do not judge me until you try it.

Part of our Chic Chocolate Cooking Class, we really had to have more than just sweets all the way through and so our menu did take on a bit of a Mexican theme, a cuisine with which I am totally in love. (Probably something to do with the chocolate they use indiscriminately!!)

Whip up a batch of this the next time you have left over Bru grounds and let me know what you think! And of course, don’t forget all those amazing health benefits you are eating as you polish this off…

NEED:

1 clove garlic

1/2 red chilli

Handful herbs of choice (I used a combo of mint, Italian parsley and coriander leaves)

Pinch sea salt

1 spring onion/shallot

Juice 1 lemon

1 tbsp Crio Bru grounds (left over from your morning cuppa!)

1 avocado, ripe

DO:

Place all ingredients except avocado into Thermomix bowl and blend 3 sec/speed 6.

Add avocado and blend further 3 sec/speed 4.

Eat on crackers, as a dressing for anything Mexicano! (Think Quesadillas, enchiladas, wraps, chilli con carne!)

Baguette with Dip and Soft Cheese

This is a quickie…in the best sense of the word. Pretty impressive on home made baguette toasted with EVOO on a hot grill. Top with a little cheese of choice and you are rocking and grilling. Of course, also fantastic as a straight dairy free dip, with crackers or chips of choice.

You can use any nuts of choice or seeds if there are nut allergies in your household. Hope you’ll try it…once you have finished cooking your way through my  new book, For Food’s Sake…no copy yet? What are you waiting for? Get on to it. Selling like the proverbial hotcakes, 160 pages of delicious thermomix recipes with beautiful color pics of every recipe. (You heard me!) The book you hoped was out there for Thermomix…IS out there!  Signed copies on my website, otherwise there are lots of copies available in bookstores around the nation.

NEED:

1 clove garlic

50g semi sun-dried tomatoes

50g kalamata olives, pitted

50g macadamias, roasted and salted

20g Fini EVOO

20g balsamic vinegar

(Sea salt if needed, depends on your olives!)

DO:

Place all ingredients into Thermomix bowl and blend 6 sec/speed 6. Scrape down and reblend until happy with consistency.

Serve on its own as a dip or use on crostini with a soft cheese.

Chorizo Pumpkin Salad

I admit I am throwing posts together these days like nobody’s business…I have been a bit busy! We have launched For Foods Sake, and are in a mad panic about how to get the book out as quickly as possible to all the fans out there who are ordering like there is no tomorrow. Its great, but rendering me sleepless in Perth again…as I crazily rush from project to project….bear with me if we take a couple of days to get the book to you. So far so good! DO YOU LIKE IT??? (let me know either on here or facebook!) We are loving it! The other thing that is going gang busters is our little app, which rated a mention in both the Sydney Morning Herald and The Age papers. Hope you have that organised. Dinners never were so easy as they are with Spin-A-Dinner…the app that could! Of course, if you are iPhone-less, you can always order the book as a combo with For Foods Sake and get over 100 recipes, all with full colour pics…a Thermomixer’s idea of heaven, I would have thought!

Another dinner, this recipe is hardly rocket science; easy, quick and delicious with minimum fuss for hot weather. If you don’t want to turn on the oven, just leave the pumpkin out. You can change it up by adding more or less of anything, to suit your family size…I did a large salad, and we had it for lunch the next day. This is my idea of delicious…hope you like it.

NEED:

70g cubed pumpkin per serving

Honey and oil to taste

Sea salt

2 chorizo sausages, sliced

1/4 small red onion, thinly sliced

200g baby spinach leaves or as needed

400g tin butter beans, drained

200g bocconccini cheese(s)

1 small Lebanese cucumber sliced on the angle

Few fresh oregano leaves

Olive Tapenade;

150g kalamata olives, pitted

1 clove garlic

30g Fini EVOO 

40g lemon juice, fresh

Pinch sea salt (optional)

DO:

Roast pumpkin in hot oven (220ºC+) drizzled with honey and a little oil and salt for about 25-30 minutes or until golden and caramelised.

Place chorizo into Thermomix bowl and saute 20 min/Varoma/Reverse + speed 1. Remove from bowl and retain the oil from the sausage in the thermomix bowl.

To make tapenade place all ingredients into Thermomix bowl with chorizo oil and blend 10 sec/speed 6. Taste and add salt if needed.

Assemble salad with all ingredients, topping with cooked chorizo, pumpkin and then drizzling with tapenade. Serve immediately.