A day of fun with the Thermomix

Did you all catch Iron Chef Australia last night?

Did you see them using the Thermomix?  What was it they said - something like Thermomix is new to Australia, but not new to Chefs!!  Well look out all you chefs out there - the secret is out, and we home cooks will soon be turning out food as good as you!!!

Yesterday I was lucky enough to spend the day using a Thermomix - my kitchen literally turned into a test kitchen for the day!  What fun we had too!

Today's posting is going to be a tempter of things to come - there is no way I can share all the recipes with you in one posting, but I will tease you with the things that we made in just a few short hours!!

We started off making a Capsicum and Sun Dried Tomato Dip

Then, rather than washing out the bowl we added a few more ingredients and made a salad dressing from the last remnants in the bowl.

We then proceeded to make 2 kinds of stock - a concentrated vegetable stock (that will last for 6 months in the fridge!!) and also a chicken stock.

We turned a block of parmesan cheese into grated parmesan in a matter of seconds!

                               We made mayonnaise......

Then we made home made nutella, which we then turned into home made Ferrero Rocher Chocolates!!

For lunch we made ourselves a risotto

Another dip was on the menu - this time Rocket and Macadamia Nut

We turned raw sugar into icing sugar in a couple of seconds

Then to finish off we made a vanilla custard - but I forgot to take a picture!!!!!!

Can you believe that we did all that in a few hours!!!

The Thermomix is truly an impressive little machine - but don't be fooled by its size - it is a mighty little workhorse - and the bowl will hold enough to make a risotto that will feed 6!

As I said this is a just a little teaser.  I need to sit down now and fully compile the recipes that we tried out yesterday.  Some were experiments (that maybe didn't work as well as we had hoped they would) - but they just need a little fine tuning and they will be perfect!

I urge you to take a look at the Thermomix if you are a serious cook - they make life so much easier.  This is only a tiny sample of what you can do with one.

If you are interested in finding out more please contact me and I can put you in touch with a consultant who will come to your home and give you a demonstration (and sample) of what the mighty Thermomix can do!!!

And no - we did not consume all this food ourselves in one sitting!!!

Sweet Chilli Coconut Skewers

You simply MUST make this dish!!!

The flavours are great - it is really simple - and would be great for entertaining.  What more can I say?

This recipe is featured on the cover of this month's Super Food Ideas - it looks lovely, and tastes even better, and you will never believe it - "The Darlings" ate it without even turning up their noses!  Well they did have the simplified version - didn't have the sauce, or the salad - but I was expecting the tomato sauce to come out and it to be slathered all over the skewers!  In fact they went looking for more skewers - but alas - we all liked them - and there was none going to food shelters or the dog tonight!!


Now you know me, I did make a few alterations along the way - simply because that was all I had in the pantry - so follow the * to find out what I did differently from the recipe.

Sweet Chilli Coconut Skewers


Serves 4

Presoaked bamboo skewers

165ml coconut milk *
1 tbs brown sugar
1 tbs sweet chilli sauce
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground cardamon
2 cloves crushed garlic
1 tsp fish sauce
800g beef rumps steak, trimmed, cut into 2cm cubes **

Combine coconut milk, sugar, sweet chilli sauce, cinnamon, cardamon, garlic and fish sauce in a glass or ceramic bowl.  Add the beef, toss to combine.  Cover.  Refrigerate for 3 hours, if time permits.

Coconut Chilli Sauce

1 tbs roughly chopped roasted unsalted peanuts ***
1 tbs shredded coconut, toasted
1 tbs freshly chopped coriander leaves
1 red chilli, finely chopped (optional)
2 tbs sweet chilli sauce

                              

Make coconut chilli sauce.  Combine peanuts, coconut, coriander, chilli, sweet chilli sauce, and 3 tsp cold water in a bowl ****






Salad

250g cherry tomatoes, quartered
1 lebanese cucumber, diced
1/4 cup coriander leaves, roughly chopped
salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 tbs rice wine vinegar

Toss all salad ingredients together in a smal bowl.

Heat a greased barbeque plate of chargrill on medium high heat.

Thread beef onto the presoaked skewers.  Season with salt and pepper.  Cook for 3-5 minutes each side, or until browned and cooked through.

Drizzle the skewers with the coconut chilli sauce.  Serve with rice and salad.

* I doubled the ingredients for the marinade, with the extra marinade I basted the skewers twice while I was cooking them - giving them an extra coating of flavour!!

** I used approximately 1.2kg of steak - this served 5

*** I used cashews that were roasted and salted - this was all I had.  You may like to double the quantities for this sauce, as it is so nice you will want more!!

**** I simply forgot this step - and I personally don't think you need the water.

This was a great meal.  I also think the flavours would work really well with prawns, or chicken.  Do tell me Dear Readers if you try either of these options before I get a chance to try them - let me know how they go.

I have spent the day in the kitchen using the Thermomix today - we have cooked so many things - you simply will not believe what we have made in such a short time!!!  I can't wait to assemble all our recipes, and start telling you about what we made today