Creamy Pasta

Finding a meal that everyone in the family will eat is a constant challenge. There are no allergies to consider, but there are preferences. I don't eat red meat, neither does Isobel, but she also won't eat fish, which is something I love. Philip likes vegetarian meals, but does like a steak or a rack of lamb from time to time. It's not often I am able to make something that everyone loves. This meal has been made twice now and it will be on regular rotation, especially since it's so quick and easy. This recipe comes from the book Quick Dinners in the Thermomix by Alyce Alexandra. 
I highly recommend this book, it was one I only added to my cart, when buying other accessories, to spend a certain amount so I didn't have pay for shipping, as I have banned myself from buying anymore cookbooks, however I am so pleased I got it as it's got some great recipes in it and they're quick!

Ingredients

500g Penne Pasta
75g Parmesan, roughly chopped
Handful of fresh basil, leaves only
2 garlic gloves, peeled
40g olive oil
250g cream
1 tsp cornflour
Salt, to taste
250g cherry tomatoes, halved
50g rocket

1 Cook pasta according to packet directions
2 Place Parmesan and basil in TM bowl, grate for 2 seconds, speed 8. Set aside.
3 Without cleaning the TM bowl, add garlic and chop for 2 seconds, speed 6. Scrape down bowl.
4 Add oil, sauté for 4 minutes, Varoma, speed 1.
5 Add cream, cornflour and salt, cook for 3 minutes 100°, speed 3
6 Add Parmesan mixture, cook for 30 seconds 100°, speed 2

Toss pasta with cream sauce, cherry tomatoes and rocket to serve.


I use baby spinach rather than rocket, I love rocket, but it's not a favourite of everyone, so I use what they will eat and there is certainly not thing wrong with spinach. The first time I made this I used Penne and it was fine, however I have since discovered Casarecce pasta, which I find to be superior to Penne, but that's an individual choice, I'm sure you could do it with Spaghetti if you wanted to. I also used cherry tomatoes of multiple colours just to add a little more colour to the finished dish. The olive oil I choose to use, particularly for this recipe is Cobram Estate Basil Infused.

Bucatini with Salsa Verde

I was not able to find Bucatini in  our local supermarket, so I used Penne, which is Philip's preferred pasta. Philip really enjoyed this one, me not so much, I think I should have really rinsed the olives. This recipe came from 5 Of The Best by Delicious Magazine and is also available online here, Bucatini with Salsa Verde.

 I don't think I will be making this in a hurry any time soon, just not really to my taste, but I guess you don't necessarily like everything, so there will be the occasional meal I'm not the biggest fan of.

Ingredients

• 8 anchovy fillets
• 2 garlic cloves, crushed
• 2 tablespoons small salted capers, rinsed, drained
• 2 tablespoons seeded mustard
• Juice of 1 lemon
• 1 tablespoon thinly sliced lemon zest
• 4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 4 vine-ripened tomatoes, peeled, seeded, chopped
• 1/2 cup pitted green olives, chopped
• 1/4 cup pitted kalamata olives, chopped
• 375g bucatini or pappardelle pasta
• 1 cup fresh flat-leaf parsley
• 1 cup firmly packed fresh basil leaves 

Method

• 1.
  Place the anchovy fillets and garlic on a chopping board and use a mezzaluna or sharp knife to finely chop until you have a paste. Place in a bowl and add capers, mustard and lemon juice and zest. Stir to combine. Gradually whisk in oil until it forms a thick emulsion. Stir in the tomatoes and olives.
• 2.
  Bring a large saucepan of salted water to the boil, add pasta and cook until al dente. Drain and return to saucepan while you finish the sauce.
• 3.
  Roughly chop parsley and basil and stir into the sauce. Ladle the sauce into the pasta and toss to combine.
• 4.
  Serve immediately.

Stir-fry Chicken with Pesto

Spencer is doing schooling from home and the one subject he is most enthusiastic about is Food Tech. He has recently chosen what he wants to make and we've had brownies and chocolate chip cookies. His teacher asked if we could something savoury, so I suggested the Stir-fry Chicken with Pesto as I thought it looked great. Spencer wasn't overly keen, but that's what we've done this morning, it will make a fabulous lunch!

The recipe we used was taken from the cookbook, I also found the recipe online here Stir-Fry Chicken with Pesto

We have a selection of photos as we were cooking so that Spencer could submit them to his teacher.


Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 4 small skinless chicken breast fillets (about 160g each), thinly sliced
• 1 red capsicum, cut into thin strips
• 225g Swiss brown mushrooms, sliced
• 200g baby spinach leaves
• 1 punnet cherry tomatoes, halved
• 150ml thin cream    

• 1.
  Heat 1 tablespoon of the oil in a large non-stick frypan over high heat, cook chicken for 5-6 minutes until golden and cooked through. Remove and set aside.
  
• 2.
  Add the remaining oil to pan with the capsicum and mushrooms, and cook, stirring, for 1-2 minutes. Add the spinach and tomato, and cook until the spinach just wilts. Combine cream and pesto in a small bowl, then add to pan and cook until just heated through. Sprinkle with basil and serve with rice.

 

 The one ingredient I did not have was the basil leaves, but it's certainly fine without it. We used two capsicums as the ones we had were quite small and we used yellow and red tomatoes just for a little extra colour.  I did have a little taste and I have to say this is pretty delicious and very quick and easy to make, great dinner to put together if you don't have a lot of time.

Cauliflower Cheese Soup Thermomix

I think this is probably my most favourite soup, so tasty and so quick and easy to make. As cauliflower was priced at only $2.50 each today when I went shopping, I bought a couple. This recipe comes from The Convenient Vegetarian by Tenina Holder and you can find it on her website here, Cauliflower Cheese Soup

Ingredients






200g parmesan, cubed
30g butter
1 leek, white part only, cut in pieces
600g cauliflower florets
500g liquid stock of choice
200g cream
salt and pepper to taste
chopped chives for garnish

1. Place parmesan into TM bowl and mill 10 seconds, speed 10. Remove from bowl and set aside.
2. Place butter and leek into TM bowl and chop 5 seconds, speed 5. Scrape down sides of bowl and saute 5 minutes, Varoma, speed 2.
3. Add cauliflower and stock and cook 15 minutes, 100°, speed 2. 
4. Add cream and parmesan and puree carefully, 1 minute, speed 8. Taste and adjust seasoning. 
5. Serve immediately garnished with chives. 

I have made this soup many times now and I always tend to use less cheese, tonight I used 130g which I find gives plenty of flavour. The first time I made it I did use 200g and Philip thought it was a little too cheesy. The parmesan I buy is quite strong which is why I feel I don't need to use as much. I have also made it with a brown onion if I didn't have a leek in the fridge and that works just as well.

Honey Porridge in the Thermomix

Ingredients

100g rolled oats (not instant)
300g water
100g milk
40g butter, or to taste
30g honey, or to taste
1/2 teaspoon vanilla bean paste
Pinch fine salt
Your choice of toppings (fruit, nuts, seeds, yoghurt)

Place oats, water, milk, butter, honey, vanilla and salt in the TC bowl, cook for 11 minutes, 90°, reverse speed soft. For a thicker porridge, allow to stand in the TC bowl for 5 minutes before serving.

I added some seeds to mine and it was really delicious. I was actually sad when I finished as I could have just kept eating it. Philip said it was a little too sweet for him, so I think I will use less honey when I make it again. I think this will be a regular for Sunday morning breakfast. This recipe is from Alyce Alexandra's book Everyday Thermo Cooking.

Brioche in the Thermomix

 Ingredients

20 g milk
20 g fresh yeast, crumbled or 2 tsp dried instant yeast
350 g baker's flour, plus extra for dusting
4 eggs
60 - 100g sugar
1 tsp salt
170 g butter, cut into pieces, plus extra for greasing
1 egg yolk, lightly beaten, for glazing

Preparation

 
Place milk, yeast, flour, eggs, sugar and salt into mixing bowl and knead 7 min

Add butter and knead for a further 2 min

Transfer dough to a large bowl. Dough will be stretchy and sticky. Cover with plastic wrap or a damp kitchen towel and leave to prove in a warm place for 1-2 hours. Then place covered bowl in refrigerator for a minimum of 3-4 hours or overnight.
Grease a loaf tin (approx. 28 cm long) and set aside. Transfer dough onto silicone bread mat or floured surface and gently flatten with floured hands to form a rough rectangle. Roll the rectangle of dough into a log shape the length of the loaf tin. Place dough into prepared loaf tin seam side down and cover with plastic wrap or a damp kitchen towel. Leave to prove in a warm place for 3 hours or until doubled in size.
Preheat oven to 180°C.
Brush surface with egg yolk and bake for 30 minutes (180°C) or until dark golden brown. Remove brioche from loaf tin and allow to cool on a wire rack before slicing and serving.

This brioche was delicious! I made French Toast with it and it was also great just on its own with butter. 

One Bowl Mushroom Spaghetti

This is a specific Thermomix recipe from Alyce Alexandra's book, Everyday Thermo Cooking

Ingredients

5g dried porcini mushrooms

2 garlic cloves

1 brown onion, peeled and halved
40g olive oil
250g mixed mushrooms
200g cream
600ml stock
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1/2 teaspoon fine salt
400g spaghetti
50g rocket
Fresh parsley to serve

1. Place porcini mushrooms in TC bowl, mill 10 seconds
2. Add garlic and onion, chop 5 seconds, speed 5. Scrape down sides.
3. Add oil, cook 5 minutes, 100°C, speed 1
4. Add mushrooms, cream, stock, mustard and salt, cook for 8 minutes, 100°C, reverse speed 1
5. Remove MC and add spaghetti through the hold in the lid. Cook for 4 minutes, 100°C, reverse speed soft.
6. Remove lid and submerge spaghetti into sauce using spatula. Replace lid and MC. Cook for 2 minutes, 100°C reverse speed soft
7. Gently stir spaghetti, folding the top spaghetti to the bottom. Replace lid and leave standing for 10 minutes in the TC bowl to complete cooking

Serve topped with rocket and parsley leaves. 

I didn't bother with the rocket, but did have the parsley on hand. This is such a simple dish to make and is so tasty. The porcini mushrooms certainly add plenty of flavour. The mushrooms I used were button and Swiss Brown. 

Challah

This is the Challah I recently made, just because I woke up one day and felt like eating this delicious sweet bread. My braiding skills could use some work, but the flavour of this did not disappoint. The recipe I used was taken from the Thermomix Recipe Community, therefore it is a Thermomix recipe. you can find the recipe here Challah Bread

Chargrilled Chicken and Vegetable Stacks

Me not working at the moment means I have more time to actually go through my cookbooks and make something other than the standard meals the family are used to. This was something that I really enjoyed, though I made my own changes to suit myself. I took this recipe from Donna Hay's Book The Instant Cook which was published in 2004. 

Ingredients

4 chicken breast fillets, halved lengthwise
2 red capsicum, quartered
1 eggplant, sliced lengthwise
2 small zucchinis, sliced lengthwise
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons lemon juice
sea salt and cracked black pepper
80g rocket
1 tablespoon pesto
1/2 cup mayonnaise

Preheat a char grill or barbeque over high heat. Place the chicken, capsicum, eggplant, zucchinis, oil, lemon juice, salt and pepper in a bowl and toss to coat. Cook the chicken for 3-4 minutes on the grill before adding the capsicums, eggplant and zucchinis and cooking until the chicken is golden and cooked through and the vegetables tender. To serve, place the chicken, vegetable and rocket in a stack on plates and served topped with the combined pesto and mayonnaise. Serves 4.

I attempted to make some mayonnaise, but it didn't quite work out according to plan, think I added the oil too quickly, so we went without the mayo. I also included pumpkin as well as the other vegetables and used baby spinach instead of rocket. I also topped it with a bit of Yarra Valley Cheese Persian Fetta.

 My grill not big enough to do everything at the same time, so I cooked the vegetables ahead of time and just kept them warm until it was time to cook the chicken.

 The finished stack!