Thermomix Degustation – Grainger Style

The idea started last year when I commented to one of my friends that I haven’t used my Thermomix as much as I should.

Terry, my friends husband said that they would invite us over one free weekend to have a Thermomix dinner, however 12 months on and we still hadn’t organised something.

Thermomix. Receta MiniMagdalenas (Photo credit: chocolatisimo)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So I thought I might have another Thermomix dinner party with a few friends, after mentioning to a couple of friends, it has now turned into a Thermomix Degustation dinner, Grainger Style.

One of our friends sells the machines, so I asked Margy what she thought of the idea and she thought it was fantastic, so I mentioned my idea to a few more people, ladies who don’t have a thermie, and they too were excited.

The general consensus was great idea, so I decided on a date 12th April (Terry & Marina were on holiday until 11th and so were Diane & Coleman) and we have other friends going away on the 16th, so the 12th was the date.

I sat down and went through the Everyday cookbook (the new one), wrote down a whole list of recipes that I thought we could cook easily.  I was short a few, so rang Margy and asked her to give me some ideas.

Between the 2 of us we came up with a fantastic menu for our degustation.  By this time, I had loads of people asking if they could come, due to space, unfortunately we had to limit the numbers to 28.  Including Greg and myself after the invites and responses we have 25 attendees.

We decided that we would have our dinner party at the club (MOFSC), however, I won’t go into details, but the powers that be decided to put up too many  roadblocks, in my opinion unwarranted, (they obviously did not want us to be there), so now we are having it at our house.  Since starting this, we have had that many people ask if they can come to the next one, so hopefully if everything goes well tomorrow, there will be plenty more to come, but we will have to limit the number to 25 if we have a sit down meal.

Greg set up all the tables and chairs last weekend, cleaned the windows and is generally being a good sport about the whole thing, given that he does not think much of the thermie.

I have spent this last week sorting out menus, ingredient lists and quantities, emailing all invited and asking for donations of food, that we require small quantities so that we  don’t have to spend a lot of money to buy stuff especially if we only need 50g of something.

I cant believe how generous everyone has been, I think that everyone has donated something to the mix

We now have 6 machines coming, wow!! I am sure it will be a fantastic evening.

We wanted to create and cook a large variety of food to be able to utilise the machine as much as possible, hence the degustation.

I have sorted out a few of the pantry items,both out of my pantry and some of the invited guests have given me their donations early.

Table cloths, table settings, the table pretties (balloons & marshmallows) organised by Shelley and Marina, meat by Margy, groceries by Greg & Lee, thermies, and accessories by Marina, Shelley, Margy, Lee, Michelle and Julie, name place  settings by Maxine,lots of donations from all of the other ladies.

Thanks girls.

Our menu for our inaugural Thermomix degustation :-

Cocktails

Midori Splice

Strawberry Daiquiri

Peach Bellini

Tropical splice daiquiri

Home made lemonade

Appetisers

Sundried tomato dip

Herb & garlic dip

Capsicum & sundried tomato dip

Chicken liver pate

Foccacia – dukkah

Pizza Bianca

Entrees

Chicken Valute soup

Pumpkin feta zucchini field mushroom

Herbal chicken hors doeuvres

Arancini with saffron aioli

Mains

Chicken Valute meal

Lamb rack with port sauce on mashed potato

Beef stroganoff & mashed potato

Curry chicken & rice

Mushroom risotto

Desserts

Sweet chocolate & strawberry pizza

Lemon coconut pudding

Simple almond cheese – dairy free ricotta cheese with quince paste

Sticky date pudding / butterscotch sauce & custard

Fruity berry dream

Restaurant review – Artizan Mandurah (formerly The Stage Door)

Mandurah Foreshore (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Grumpy tried to ring and book tea for 4 at the stage door, I had told him the evening before that the restaurant had changed it’s name to Artizan (mummy told me, because I asked her to ring the stage door and get a quote for catering the food for her 70th birthday party that we are having at our house when she found out the name had changed) and the phone number was not in use any more. He drove to the restaurant made a booking and grabbed a business card.

Our reservation was for 6.30pm but we arrived at 6.15pm and sat at the bar for a drink, unfortunately they didn’t have Kalhua or Tia Maria, the only things I drink so I settled for a squash, Grumpy ordered a Hahn 3 1/2   and the Sharon  & Carl arrived, ordered their drinks and commented on the amount of variety of beers that would be on tap in the near future.

We were talking to the Venue Manager before we went to our table about the issues with most restaurants in Mandurah where the service is slow and the wait staff walk around with blinkers and don’t offer more drinks to keep the patrons satisfied, she advised us that this wouldn’t happen. We thought we would wait and see.

We made our way to our table anxious to see the menu as it is great to go to a new restaurant and try the menu.

The others ordered chorizo and scallops for their entrée and I ordered chicken tenderloins

The chorizo and scallops was beautifully presented on long rectangle plates with a slice of lime, my chicken tenderloins were on a bed of sweet potato mash, with rocket, chilli jam, freshly steamed asparagus, it was presented beautifully and we couldn’t fault our entrees, they were divine.

We all ordered a different main, Grumpy ordered the Moroccan chicken tagine with dukkah cous cous, Carl ordered the rib eye with salad and chips, Sharon ordered the chicken breast wrapped in prosciutto on a bed of fresh vegetables and I ordered the lamb back straps on creamy mash with wilted spinach and roasted tomato jus. They were all exceptional meals.

All through the meal the staff were attentive, constantly offered drinks when our glasses were nearing empty and asked if our meals were acceptable.

We ordered dessert, Sharon and I had pre ordered the creme brulee with pralene, wafers and ice cream, the boys ordered sticky date pudding, and while we were waiting for our desserts to come we were quite concerned about 2 fellows sitting at the table next to us, they were jigging their legs and had not received a meal at their table for a considerable time, the venue manager brought a plate of garlic bread to the table, they didn’t touch it, we were even more concerned now, they had been there for over an hour with no food,  one of the wait staff spoke to the men and then the venue manager came over and spoke to them again, and about 15 minutes after that, another man walked in and sat on the bench seat at the table, (the small table had only been sent for 2 and not 3) they pulled another table to theirs and ordered their guest a drink.

Our desserts came and our brulee was superb, the sticky date pudding however was a little dry with minimal sauce, I wouldn’t have enjoyed it.

We ordered coffee 1 mugacino and 1 mugacino 1/2 shot for me, the girl that took my order misheard my order and I thought it was a little funny when she asked would I like the cup topped up with hot milk. The coffee that came for was a  macchiato. She apologised profusely and my coffee was brought (hot) not long after.

We finished our meal and the boys went to pay while we stood outside and waited. They discussed the issues with the venue manager, she took it all on board and when they mentioned the fellows seated next to us, she explained that they came in to the restaurant without a booking in the busy meal time and they wanted to wait for their guest as they weren’t sure he would turn up. That settled that.

All in all an excellent evening. Would we go back, definitely.

The position of the restaurant in Mandurah is one of the best, on the water adjoined to the Mandurah performing arts centre.

I wish them well and we will certainly be back. 1 big bonus for us is that we can go by boat, the only draw back is that we can’t pull our boat up against the boardwalk as the pilons are too short and our gunnel would be underneath and not the ideal rafting position, however we can pull up at the old Amalfi (now a chocolate restaurant) jetty and just a little walk to the restaurant and a great night to be had – no driving home, we would just move the boat and anchor in the estuary.

Grumpy made Hot Cross (without the Cross) buns

We left home about 2.30 Saturday afternoon to head down to Dawesville to stay overnight and have tea at the Coast Cafe.

The meal was lovely but the Owner is quite arrogant, we were going to stay and have breakfast and head back to our club for lunch but we overheard the comments that the Owner made to the on duty marina manager and we decided, that we wouldn’t spend the money at his restaurant and we would head back to the club and have a meal there.

Before we left the marina, Grumpy took the little girl up for a walk and bought a Sunday times and read through it on the way home. He found a recipe by Donna Hay for Hot Cross buns and he decided that he would make some.

We had all of the ingredients so he decided to make a batch, we went through all of my baking trays to find a tin that would fit them nicely.

 

 

Lee’s Chilli sauce made in the Thermomix

Ingredients
250g onions (I used brown onions)
60g ginger skin removed (I used 1 whole piece)
1 large bulb garlic
500g chilli (weighed after tops removed) (I used chillies out of our garden and bought the rest)

1kg tomatoes

80g raw sugar
1 tsp salt
75g apple cider vinegar

Large handful of basil
We Love chilli sauce and it is one thing that Grumpy doesn’t have an issue with me making in the Thermomix.

I collected a pile of chillies from Grumpy’s chilli plants and a large handful of basil from my herb garden and bought the rest of the ingredients to make my chilli sauce. We tend to use a spoonful of the chilli sauce in most meals that we make, and boy does it give the meal a kick

Chillies from Grumpy’s garden

My finished jars of chilli sauce

 

Preparation

Put basil, onions, ginger, garlic, chilli and tomatoes in TMX bowl.

Chop on speed 7 for 10 seconds.

Cook for 3 ½ minutes on 100°C
Add sugar, salt and vinegar.

Cook for 45 minutes on Varoma temperature, speed 1.

Put rice basket on top to prevent spitting everywhere

Halfway though cooking time, scrape down TMX lid and put liquid back in bowl

Sterilise your jars while the sauce is cooking

Pour into sterilised jars

Leftovers for tea on Monday

We had leftovers for tea last night after our BBQ with our friends.

I had chorizo, cherry tomatoes, onion and bacon, so I thought I would roast it all with my salad dressing over the top. The dressing is made of olive oil, balsamic vinegar and sesame seeds. Grumpy cooked the sausages on the BBQ outside, and because I am such a princess, he cut mine in half and cooked both sides until the middle section gets crunchy. When he was finished we had the tomato mix, left over potato salad, sausage and a boiled egg.

 

I’d’ve using fridge leftovers for Monday 21st January 2013

Leftovers. It’s nice to be able to clean out the fridge  and use leftovers
Grumpy bought some pork fillets and I decided to.make.wedges, tomato and onion with.honey.carrots.
I had made some pistachio dukkah for Grumpy’s birthday, so I used that along
with lemon pepper and BBQ seasoning along with olive oil as the coating for the wedges. We had potatoes in the fridge, so we used some of them.
I had 6 cherry tomatoes, half a red onion and 1 slice of ham, so I used a small amount of the dukkah and some olive oil and roasted them and he wedges in a very hot oven.
I julliened Some carrots, sprinkled some honey and sesame seeds.
All in all, it was a.ver nice meal and the only expense today over leftover fridge items was the meat at $9.35.
I even had enough for lunch tomorrow.

Freshly harvested Mussels, Basil & chillis and Lee’s chilli sauce

 

The little girl has found that she loves swimming in the canal – chasing the blowies, so we went down to the water on Wednesday and while we were waiting for her when she was swimming, Grumpy decided to pull a few mussels of the pontoon.

He asked if I felt like chilli mussels as we haven’t had them on our wall for about 7 years so we have not had fresh ones for a long time.

So we harvested, cleaned and cooked the mussels using my freshly grown basil, Grumpy’s chillies and my special chilli sauce, and a small garlic bread.

Well it was great, albeit a little salty, but we think that might have been the bacon.

There is nothing like having fresh produce, especially when you hunt and gather and then cook it yourself.

We are going to have some more next week as there are plenty more mussels growing on the pontoon.

I did want to make them in the Thermomix, but didn’t dare ask, I know what the answer would have been.

 

First curry that I enjoyed.

Masterfoods Mild Chicken Tikka Masala

 

Today we cooked Masterfoods Mild Chicken Tikka Masala – using the packet spice mix/ recipe base and I thoroughly enjoyed it, so far as to say, I have added it to my cook again list.

I cooked the rice in the Thermomix, a little disappointing as I have cooked rice in it before and it has cooked beautifully, this time there were patches of rice still crunchy. I put it back on to cook for a further 2 mins, turned out ok, but not overly happy

I made the recipe as is on the pack but would tweak a little next time and add onion and red capsicum.

I cooked the chicken in the pan on the stove, however, had Grumpy not been hovering I would have cooked it in the Thermomix and put it in the Thermoserver.

We both really enjoyed it.

I have not wanted to make curries, in fact never made a curry that is not with beef mince and curry powder and when we have that type of curry, we have condiments on top, peanuts, sultanas and dessicated coconut.

 

Ingredients

2 tbspn vegetable oil – we use olive oil – EVOO

500g lean chicken thighs diced

40g Masterfoods Mild Chicken Tikka Masala Mix

½ brown onion sliced – would add next time

¼ cup red capsicum sliced – would add next time

140g tomato paste

400g tinned tomatoes

125ml thickened cream

1 ½ cups cooked rice – we use basmati

Preparation

Cook rice

Heat oil in pan and cook chicken until browned

Sprinkle the recipe base over the chicken and continue to cook for another 2 mins stirring until coated

Add tomato past and tinned tomatoes and stir to combine

Add cream and simmer on low heat for 10 mins or until sauce thickens

Serve with Rice

 

Don’t you just hate when you can’t get something from the shops

I was going to make KFC chicken (Kerrie Farm Chicken) a recipe from the ThermomixForum by achookwoman today and only needed to buy 1 ingredient Celery seeds, and do you think if could find them, I went to 2 different shops, the first nothing and the 2nd had 2 brands that had celery salt, not what I wanted.

Unfortunately I didn’t make the chicken recipe, I was also going to make satay chicken, but ran out of time as I wanted to marinate the chicken before I cooked it.

I asked one of my friends if she new where to buy it and she has suggested a health food store, so I might go an have a look on Saturday if I get time.

Left over chicken Recipe

Shredded chicken, sundried tomatoes and onion

 

We had 2 full cooked chickens left over from our food from the blessing of the fleet and I was not going to chuck it out so I needed to find a recipe to use to cook for tea.

I googled leftover chicken recipes and came up with the taste.com site that had over 43 recipes for leftover chicken.

I printed off 2 so that Grumpy could make the decision on which one we would have so that if it wasn’t nice, it wasn’t going to be my fault.

He chose the following recipe but I tweaked it a little as we were missing a couple of ingredients. VERY surprisingly when I asked what it was like, and he said it was OK. This is big praise from him.

Ingredients

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The original recipe is by Jenny Fanshaw from Super Food ideas February 2009

I called the Recipe Leftover Creamy chicken pesto pasta

3 cups penne pasta

100ml cream (the recipe said 300ml, but Grumpy doesn’t like creamy sauces)

1/2 cup basil pesto

1/4 red onion (recipe said green onions but we didn’t have any)

1 1/2 cups shredded leftover chicken

1/2 cup drained sun dried tomatoes diced (I used sundried cherry tomatoes as that is what I had in the cupboard)

1/3 cup parmesan cheese ( I didn’t put this in because I forgot it until I was typing this recipe and I don’t eat cheese anyway)

Preparation

Boil the pasta (DON’T FORGET THE SALT IN THE WATER)

When cooked, drain and return to the pan

Add the remaining ingredients and stir until heated through.

Make sure there is enough left over for lunch tomorrow.

Completed meal for leftover chicken

 

 

I have to laugh when I look at this plate, over 30 years ago Coles in Kalgoorlie had a bonus system when you spent so much money you got stickers, when you got enough stickers to fill up the sheet you could get a plate for $2 or 50 cents, I can’t remember, everybody collected them for me and we ended up with a crockery set for 4 people, the plates were a good quality back then and we still have 3 left, the picture above is one of these plates, and Grumpy gives me a hard time every time we use them because we have 2 very nice dinner services that we use for guests only. He keeps threatening to chuck them out but I am not going to ruin a good set by having one broken, so we will continue to use them until we move.

Related articles

• 4 Things To Do With Leftover Turkey (dangerouslee.biz)