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!

Chocolate Self Saucing Pudding

This recipe did not come from a cookbook, this one came from my friend, Jo, way back in 1999, just when I was starting to get into cooking. It has been used lots with great results every time.

Cake Ingredients

3/4 cup SR flour
2 tablespoons of cocoa powder
113g butter
2/3 cup of caster sugar
2 eggs, slightly beaten
2 teaspoons vanilla essence
1-2 tablespoons milk

Sauce Ingredients

2/3 cup brown sugar
1 tablespoon cocoa powder
1 cup hot water

Method

Cream together butter and sugar. Add vanilla essence, mix well. Add slightly beaten eggs and mix well. Add sifted dry ingredients and mix in with milk, if required. Pour mix into greased dish.

Add together in a separate bowl the sauce ingredients. When combined pour liquid over the cake mix. Cook for approximately 40 minutes at 180degrees. Don't overcook as cake should be moist when done and have the hot sauce underneath. Serve with double cream or on its own.

You can also use chopped walnuts/pecans if you wish.

Roasted Pumpkin and Persian Feta Ravioli with a Creamy Mushroom Sauce

I used to shy away from buying a whole pumpkin as I thought it would be too difficult to cut and I wouldn't get through it all, now, I buy and I make sure I use it for as many different things as I can.
Pumpkin had already been used to make two different pumpkin soups, so I wanted to try something new. My beetroot ravioli turned out well, hopefully pumpkin would be the same.

Ingredients for ravioli

Pumpkin roughly chopped into similar sized pieces  
100g Persian Feta
Wonton wrappers
Oil

Ingredients for sauce

120g sliced mushrooms
15g butter
Italian herbs
50ml white wine
1 cup stock
1/2 cup cream
1tb cornflour
salt to taste



I didn't weigh the pumpkin, just chopped it into smallish pieces so roasting would be quick, I used basil infused olive oil to roast with, about half an hour on 200°. Then let it cool down before mashing. I have previously bought Southcape Persian Feta, however chose a different brand because it was cheaper, I won't do it again, I think the Southcape one is better. Lesson learned. I mixed the cheese in with the pumpkin. Then it was just a matter of spooning the pumpkin and cheese mixture onto the prepared wonton wrappers and sealing them with a little water. 

I cooked the ravioli in a pot of boiling water for about 5 minutes and removed individually with a slotted spoon. 

Sauce

Melt butter over low heat, add mushrooms and cook until soft and dark. Stir in herbs, salt, and stock. Increase heat to medium and cook stirring constantly. Reduce heat to low, stir in cream until smooth, stir in cornflour and simmer for a minute to thicken. Pour over pasta. 

This sauce is probably not this best fit for the ravioli, works really well with a bowl of penne, but I used it as I knew Philip would like it and I wasn't wrong. Overall dinner was very nice. 

Roasted Beetroot and Goats Cheese Ravioli with a Walnut and Brown Butter Sauce

About five weeks ago I took my grandmother out for lunch, we went to a lovely little place in Riddells Creek called Seasons Bistro Bar and Deli. I really like it as they have some great food, traditional things like pies, that suit my Nanna and more modern things like the Beetroot & Goats Cheese Ravioli with Walnut Butter that I had.

This was my lunch.

I loved it, so thought I would try and make it at home.

Ingredients

2 fresh beetroot
100g goats cheese
wonton wrappers
butter
walnuts

I wrapped the beetroot in foil, placing a teaspoon of water in with it.  Roasted it for about 40-45 minutes on 180°. Tested it will a skewer to see that it was done and peeled it while wearing disposable gloves so my hands didn't turn pink. I then finely grated the beetroot into a bowl and mixed in the goats cheese. Then it was just a matter of spooning the beetroot and goats cheese mixture onto the prepared wonton wrappers and sealing them with a little water. 

I probably should have roasted my walnuts in the oven, but I didn't. I heated the frypan and did them on the stove top before the butter. Once they were done, I put them aside and started on the butter. As it had been a while since I had made something with a brown butter sauce I thought I had better check the net and make sure it's done right. I used this for the brown butter sauce. 

I wasn't really sure how long I should cook the ravioli for and I was terrified that it would all fall apart, but after about 5 minutes in boiling water, I was able to serve it still intact. Removing from the water with a slotted spoon helped. Then I just added the walnuts and sauce. 

I told Philip when I gave it to him that this dish was experimental and that if it wasn't any good I would make him something else, but he was very pleased, thought it was very nice and worthy of a place in a restaurant.  That was nice of him to say.