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Messages - ANNEUK

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1
Seafood and Fish / Quick and dirty Kedgeree
« on: May 19, 2016, 07:19:04 pm »
I'm not sure how authentic this recipe is but it's my TMX version of what my Mum used to cook.

Put the kettle on with a litre of water. Put basmati or long grain rice (enough for up to 4 adults) in the steamer basket. Pour boiling water into TMX with a good pinch of salt, then do that thing where you spin it at 5 for 5 seconds to rinse the rice. Then push an egg per person into the rice.  Cook for 8 minutes at Varoma temp on speed 2.5 - 4, depending on if you can hear the water bubbling out of the lid.

Immediately, take a piece of smoked haddock and slap it onto the top layer of the Varoma (chopped into pieces if it won't fit). Put that on top of the TMX.

Now chop 1 or 2 small onions into small pieces and fry them in olive oil and/butter until at least softened. My family like them well browned so they sweeten up. When cooked to your preference, add a teaspoon or two of curry powder and warm it through. Then add about 75 ml of milk and take it off the heat.  It will bubble up and turn yellow.

By now, your TMX is probably singing at you.  Carefully lift the eggs out, stand them in cold water. Check the fish to see if it is cooked, in which case take it off the TMX. Also check your rice. Since you started with boiling water, it should be almost cooked. If it is totally cooked, remove the steamer basket

Now add some frozen peas (and maybe some spinach) to either the steaming basket or the Varoma. Cook at Varoma temp for another couple of minutes, until rice and vegetables are all cooked.

While that is happening, peel and chop the eggs and place in serving bowl. Flake the fish off the skin and add to bowl. Then when they are cooked, add rice and vegetables, pour the milky onions over it all and gently fold it all together.

As you can see, it all seems to fit in together into about 20 minutes, but if you are less slick about it, you can add hot ingredients to a thermoserver as they are ready.  I don't think it needs to be served hot anyway. We eat leftovers cold.

2
Chit Chat / Re: Hollandaise Sauce
« on: November 23, 2015, 09:50:54 am »
Just a word on hollandaise - I made it in my thermomix several times with no problems at all and to great appreciation from family. Then I had a couple of times when it just wouldn't work. It seemed to start ok but then suddenly went thin - disaster! Tried cooking for a bit longer - no good. There may have been too much lemon juice, who knows?

The second time it happened, I took out the whisk and turned up speed for a few seconds and blasted it. It worked!

Someone may be able to explain it. I can't, but just wanted to put my solution out there in case anyone else has the same disaster.

3
Bread / Re: Sourdough loaf, activated in fridge overnight .
« on: July 05, 2015, 02:04:07 pm »
AnneUK. I don't think that there is any perfect method and yours sounds pretty good to me. I mostly don't get oven spring but a little rise when in the oven.  I try to prove it to max in tin before I place it in the oven.  I think the cracking on the top is due to a higher proportion of water in the dough.
If I could make a suggestion. With the overnight rise, do it in a lined bowl which is about the same size as the pot that you are heating in the oven. ( don't do a second rise). Lift the dough carefully from the bowl after overnight rise and carefully place it, liner and all, into heated pot and bake.
You could add more water to the mix as you are not going to knead it by hand.  I give my dough 4 minutes in the TMX.
Hope this helps.

That's a good suggestion. I just had it in my head that I needed to do it in 2 stages...  Will have a go tonight.

4
Bread / Re: Sourdough loaf, activated in fridge overnight .
« on: July 02, 2015, 06:13:02 pm »
This looks great, but I have a question about the starter. You use 400g of starter? Do you always keep that amount of starter on the go? Or do you build it up over a day or two?

I make a sourdough loaf a couple of times a week. I know I don't use very correct methods, so sometimes the loaf doesn't rise too well, but it usually does...

(I keep my starter (probably about 300g) in a spring top jar in the fridge. I put about 120-150g into thermomix with about 350g flour, some salt, and enough water to make a middlingly soft dough (2.5 minutes of kneading). Then I put that in a mixing bowl with a shower cap on it overnight on the counter.  In the morning, I use wet hand to fold dough over 4 times and flop it into a round cake tin lined with a floured paper cake liner. When it's risen 'a bit', I turn on oven with a Le Creuset pot in it for 30 minutes. When it's heated up, I carefully lift the loaf in its paper thing into the Le Creuset, put lid on and bake for 30 minutes, then for another 15 minutes with lid off. 

I feed the starter to replace the volume I took out, and put it back in the fridge.  Sometimes, I feed it extra to later make to crumpets or flatbreads or stuff)

My issue is that I would love the loaves to get a bit more 'oven shock', as I love that torn crust look.  Should I be building up a bigger starter, and then use more in each loaf?

5
Recipe Book Recipe Reviews / Re: Review EDC Rough Puff Pastry Page 130
« on: April 21, 2015, 04:04:45 pm »
I don't have this book, so can't comment on the recipe but just want to respond to people saying that they make short pastry but buy flaky as it's too much trouble.

Here's my method for rough puff pastry - it's close to flaky but really easy:

Take half a dozen ice cubes and some water, and whizz them to a snow on a fast speed. Set aside in a measuring jug.

Put equal quantities of butter from the fridge and flour in your now cold TMX - the bit of water in there doesn't matter. Whizz on about 5 until you can see pretty big lumps of butter. Then make up your ice to the amount of water it says in the recipe. Add that to butter/flour mix, and mix on 4/5. Stop while you still have a lumpy mess and turn it out onto a board. Squash it together with your hands, but mainly with the rolling pin.

Now you start doing that turning the pastry in thirds thing. I find the pastry is so cold that I can do it about 10 times, and it's still cold/firm. Then wrap in cling film and rest it for about half an hour if you can.

That's it - a bit of mixing in the TMX, a bit of rolling out, a bit of resting and it's done.

6
Recipe Book Recipe Reviews / Re: TM5 Automated Program : Yoghurt
« on: October 12, 2014, 08:30:45 pm »
Sorry if I'm not allowed to ask too many details of a Review - but how exactly does the new machine make this yogurt? Is the milk/yogurt mixture remaining in the TMX for the 8 hours? Rather than being put into something insulated? Could I use my TM31?

7
I'm always on the lookout for a good glass storage system....

One thing in response to original question - my undertanding is that you are best storing open packets of nuts and seeds in the fridge (in your container of choice). Their polyunsaturated fats are 'fragile' and go rancid relatively quickly/easily. Rancid polyunsaturated fats taste worse than fresh, but also contain nasty free radicals!

8
Cakes / Re: SPECULAAS (Dutch Spice Biscuits)
« on: December 03, 2013, 06:11:19 pm »
The spread is from a cafe chain called Le Pain Quotidien. I have bought a jar, but it's supposed to be a stocking filler for a non- gluten sensitive child, so I haven't opened it.

I'm afraid I'm decorating another child's bedroom at the moment, so I've not been spending much time in the kitchen...

9
Cakes / Re: SPECULAAS (Dutch Spice Biscuits)
« on: November 27, 2013, 02:47:36 pm »
This is great timing for me. I'm in the process of investigating Speculoos Spread recipes.... You can buy the spread from a cafe in the us and now the uk, and my eldest daughter desperately wants some. But she is gluten-free so can't eat the commercial one.

I will have a go at your recipe, with GF flour, and then use some of the biscuits for spread....

10
Chit Chat / Re: Recommendations for a good slow cooker recipe book?
« on: June 14, 2013, 07:42:43 am »
I love my slow cooker, though don't use it enough - until now...

I found a great suggestion on a website recently (something to do with Mom and Baby), which makes slow cookers even more useful. You buy and prepare loads of slow cooker meals in one go (plan an evening surrounded by mounds of chopped veggies and industrial quantities of your chosen herbs and spices - not to mention meal!), pack meal-sized portions in labelled, ziplock bags and then flatten them as much as possible. They stack up beautifully in the freezer once frozen.

Then you go to the freezer in the morning, pick your stew and put it in slow cooker for the day. The writer cautioned that everyone's slow cooker is different, so it's a good idea to be around for your first go.

I did a pork, apple, sweet potato and carrot stew, with finely chopped onion and garlic. My label reminded me to add cider. I had chopped the veg quite big and they were cooked by the evening, but we all agreed that starting from frozen had quite an effect, and I would chop them smaller next time. I also needed to thicken my stew at the end, so would shake some flour ino the freezer bag next time.

But all in all, once you have found some favorite recipes, this is a great way to make your mornings go smoothly.

11
Vegetarian / Re: Lentil Patties
« on: June 12, 2012, 04:42:45 pm »
I used to make something like this years ago, but lost the recipe, so thanks very much.  My then toddler daughter used to love them as finger food, chopped up after cooking.

She's 20 this summer!

12
Chit Chat / Re: Dinner Party Hits?
« on: March 20, 2012, 10:15:45 pm »
Anything from The British Larder website. Weekend before last I did her cheese brûlée for starter, venison meatballs for main and blood orange panna cotta for dessert. Starter and dessert done early afternoon and into the fridge (I think they could/ should be done the day before)

The friends who came round asked me for the website address so they could do 2 of the courses this weekend for more friends of theirs!! High praise!

13
Cakes / Re: chocolate Lava cake
« on: January 24, 2012, 09:46:16 pm »
I do a very similar pud to this. Can't remember where I got the recipe from, but it has been on here. The order in which you make the recipe is slightly different and slightly easier in terms of washing up:
Whizz chocolate until ground up. Add butter and sugar, cook to 60 degrees until sugar dissolved ( cant remember how long, sorry). Leave to cool for a bit, then add eggs and flour and whizz for a minute total, scraping down at least once.
Put into buttered, floured ramekins ( though using cocoa instead of flour looks and tastes better)
Freeze for at least 90 minutes, then bake to taste. Some of my kids love these almost raw, but the freezing certainly helps ensure a runny middle.
This takes about 5 minutes and dirties only the TMX, so I make them during the day practically as I'm making a cup of tea. Fantastic for an incredibly impressive pud!

14
Desserts / Re: Frozen Chocolate Parfait
« on: January 08, 2012, 07:18:48 pm »
The British Larder website has an amazing parfait recipe
http://www.britishlarder.co.uk/victoria-plum-and-blackberry-frozen-ice-cream-slices/#axzz1itaqS7mz

I tried to use the method to make a chocolate and beet root parfait last year. I wasn't very pleased with the texture results and intend to try again. Your recipe should help me, so when I get round to to it I will report...

However although I wasnt pleased with the texture ( spoilt as I was by the plum parfait !), it wasn't wasted. I cut the parfait into ice cube sized chunks and whizzed them in the thermomix. The resulting ice cream was smooth, dark, shiny and delicious in its own right!

15
Recipe Requests / Re: Duck eggs
« on: September 06, 2011, 08:14:08 pm »
I was watching a program me over here where 2 Hairy Bikers compete with a chef. He made what he called 60 degree duck eggs in a thermomix. It's a bit of a no-brained: put duck egg yolks in the thermomix with a dash of buttermilk, salt and white pepper. Set to 60degrees and cook until thickened. Sorry can't tell you if it needs the beater or speed or time. It looked a bit like a hollandaise sauce and he served it with a fish called Zander in a very cheffy dish.

Good luck

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