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Topics - Carine

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1
Bread / Simple baking tip for a crusty loaf
« on: January 12, 2012, 05:41:51 am »
I've been making a plain white crispy cobb for a few years but it wasn't until I got the French cookbook Mille et une pates...a pain that I adjusted the cooking temperature to get the nicest possible result.  I couldn't see this info in the bread section so here you go  :):

For a lovely crust try to :
- put a loaf tin filled up to about 2-3 cm with water in your oven, to create a humid environment
- preheat your oven to 230- 240 deg C,  20mn before you bake your bread
- slash your bread just before you slide it in the oven
- bake it at 230-240 deg C for the first 30mn, then at 200 deg C for 15mn.

I also slide my bread on a pizza stone.

Hope my explanations make sense- can't seem to find my english words today  :-\
Oh, and here is a pic of the bread I made today (550g laucke bread flour- 320g whey instead of water, but water works just fine- 2tsp dry yeast- 1/2 tsp salt).  Very basic ingredients but it works!

2
What a tasty recipe!
I didn't have any fish stock cube but used 350ml of fish stock, resulting into a moist tagine:  perfect served on top of some couscous.
I used some kalamata olives instead of black ones as I prefer their flavour.
You could probably use any kind of firm fleshed fish (had some basa fillets).
Oh, and I skipped the marinating phase as I was in a hurry.  It was still a lovely dish!  Got the thumb up from my blokes: DH, and DS (10 and 12).

3
Chit Chat / Woolworths- $2 fruit & veggie bag bargain
« on: September 19, 2011, 03:41:00 am »
I generally do my grocery shopping at Woolworths (in Tamworth) on Wednesdays afternoon (in between my sons music lessons) and we have been lucky to get a $2 veggie & fruit bag nearly every week.  Between 3.30 and 4 they bring out a trolley full of fruit and veg that are a bit passed their prime or slightly bruised.  You can fill up a bag with anything you like for $2.  We regularly leave woolie with a nice assortment- mushroom, ginger and fennel recently.
I was just wondering if the $2 bag was happening where you live too... 
Not a bad way for Woolworths to deal with their not so good looking fruit & veg  :)

4
Bread / Chapati- indian flat bread
« on: August 24, 2011, 01:55:10 am »
I made chapatis a few times using a mix of wholemeal and plain flour but I was never quite satisfied with the result, until I finally found some atta flour.  This flour truly makes the difference:  nice elastic dough that puffs beautifully.  The recipe below is very similar to the "Indian flat bread" recipe in the Travelling with Thermomix cookbook.

Ingredients
250g atta flour
110g water
20g sunflower oil
1/4tsp salt

Method
Place all ingredients into mixing bowl, knead 1.30mn *: ::
Form dough into a bowl, place into a bowl grease with oil and let rest for at least 30mn.

Divide dough in balls size of a golf ball.  Scatter a little flour on your work bench. Roll each ball using a well floured rolling pin.  Chapati should be about 15 to 20cm in diameter and very thin.

Cook chapatis as soon as they're rolled:
- in a nonstick frying pan
- or on the BBQ!

We had a bonfire last Saturday night and cooked chapatis on the BBQ, to go with a spicy pumpkin soup.  They puffed beautifully -just make sure your BBQ is hot enough.  I had doubled the quantities and we fed a crowd of friends  :)  Enjoy!





5
Cakes / Marmalade Biscuits
« on: July 29, 2011, 04:17:54 am »
Marmalade Biscuits

I found this recipe in Sheridan Roger’s “Food Year” column (The Sun Herald).  Sheridan Roger names Carol Hansen as the recipe inventor.  Anyway, after tweaking it, here is my adaptation of this buttery citrus biscuit:  perfect with a cuppa this winter!

Ingredients (makes about 30 biscuits)
180g marmalade (I use homemade lime marmalade)
200g butter
50g sugar
320g plain flour
100g mixed citrus peel
1 egg

Method
Cook the marmalade in the TMX bowl for 7mn- 90C- speed 1- MC sideways
Add butter, sugar and plain flour and mix until the food comes together in a ball:  1mn on speed 4-5 should do it.
Add mixed citrus peel and mix for 40s on speed 3.  Dough should look glossy (not surprising with 200g of butter!) but should come very easily out of the bowl.
Wrap dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate until firm- 30mn.
Preheat oven to 180C.
Roll out dough on as lightly floured surface to a thickness of 5mm.  Using a 5cm-diameter cutter, cut out biscuits and place onto 2 baking trays lined with baking paper.
Whisk egg and brush the biscuits with egg.
Bake until golden- 15mn or more...: the longer the crispier.

This has become one of our favourite biscuit recipes:  hope you like it too!

6
Spice Mixes / Curry powder for lamb/ beef/ chicken curry
« on: July 20, 2011, 02:54:08 am »
I've made this curry powder a couple of times  and this was delicious with lamb. The recipe comes from taste.com.au website (Delicious- June 2009) and it says you can also use this curry powder for chicken or beef.  I've used my THM to make the curry powder and chop onions + garlic, ginger & chilli but I cooked the lamb on our slow-combustion stove  :) 
The original recipe used fenugreek seeds and 10 fresh curry leaves.  I replaced fenugreek by fennel.
Anyway here is the whole recipe:

Coconut Lamb/ Beef/ Chicken Curry

Ingredients
Curry powder
15g coriander seeds
5g each cumin, fennel, mustard and cardamom seeds
8 cloves
1 cinnamon quill
2 small dried chilli
pinch of nutmeg
5g ground turmeric

Other ingredients
800g diced lamb shoulder
Sunflower oil
1 onion thinly sliced
3 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
1tbs ginger, freshly grated
1 long red chilli, chopped
1tsp turmeric
400g can chopped tomatoes
500ml stock
125ml coconut cream
2tbs chopped coriander

Method
Prepare curry powder:  place coriander, cumin, fennel, mustard, cardamom, cloves and cinnamon in TMX bowl and dry roast for 3mn, Varoma temp, slow speed.
Allow spices to cool. Add nutmeg and turmeric and grind spices for 20s on speed 9, or until finely ground.  Set aside.

Heat some sunflower oil in a heavy-based pan (cast-iron is great) and brown lamb in batches for 4 to 5minutes (take care to brown, not to “stew” your meat!).  Remove with a slotted spoon and set aside.
Cook onion (until soft) in sunflower oil using the same pan. Add garlic, ginger and chilli and cook for a minute.  Add turmeric and 4tbs of the prepared curry powder, stir well. 
Return lamb to the pan and stir well.
 Add tomatoes and stock and bring to the boil then reduce the heat.  Simmer , uncovered, for 1.30h to 2 hours , until meat is tender.
Stir in the coconut cream and chopped coriander 10 minutes before  lamb is ready.

Serve with steamed basmati rice, naan, raitas, etc!

7
Desserts / Nutty Brownies
« on: July 11, 2011, 02:36:33 am »
I had a look at previous brownies recipes and thought I would volunteer my version as it's a recipe that I've shared with many friends.  Johnro had posted a similar recipe with cranberries, mine hasn't got much flour and is full of chocolate and cocoa with the addition of macadamia nuts (the Aussie touch  :)) and rum (the French touch :)).  I've had that recipe for a while but can't remember where it came from...  Hope you enjoy it!

Ingredients:
125g dark chocolate, broken in pieces
125g unsalted butter, chopped
150g brown sugar
3 eggs
Rum or Cointreau
90g plain flour
30g cocoa
½ teaspoon baking powder
macadamia nuts, or any other nuts!

Preparation
Preheat oven to 180C .  Grease and line a dish with baking paper and set aside (I use a 16x26cm Pyrex dish).
Grate 125g dark chocolate for 7s- speed 8.
Add 125g chopped unsalted butter and 150g brown sugar:  melt for 3mn- 50C- speed 2.
Add 3 eggs through the lid, one at a time, while mixing on speed 3 until eggs are incorporated (speed 2).
Add a dash of rum or Cointreau + 90g plain flour + 30g Cocoa + ½ teaspoon baking powder and mix for 30s on speed 5.
Pour mixture in prepared dish.  Sprinkle a handful of nuts on the top (macadamias are our favourite but walnuts, pecan or hazelnuts work well too) and bake at 180C for 30 to 40mn, depending how gooey you like your brownies.


8
Drinks / A way of using pomegranates: cordial/ syrup
« on: July 10, 2011, 03:31:46 am »
We had a glut of pomegranate so I decided to use the TMX to make a cordial/ syrup. I couldn't find a lot of info on the net to do it with a TMX so I improvised.

I scooped 4 pomegranates which gave me 380g of seeds.
I blitzed the seeds for 10s at speed 9.
After straining the pulp (using the basket and a cloth) I ended up with 200ml of juice.
I added 200g of sugar and cooked the lot for 7mn at 100 deg C, soft speed.  I bottled the syrup straight away.

To be honest this isn't the best pomegranate syrup ever as I used a sweet variety of pomegranate but the method works- probably less messy than juicing the pomegranates with a conventional juicer...  We've added some lime juice to the cordial and it gives it the kick needed.

9
My boys were craving for a fondue so we unearthed our fondue set and prepared the cheese dip in the TMX.  I hadn't done one for a long time and although I was very happy with the way the cheese melted in TMX without "catching" at the bottom, I don't know if I'll have another go because this was such a pain to clean the blades afterwards  :-\
Anyway, I would probably use less white wine in the mix:  300ml instead of the 420ml suggested.
Otherwise this was a nice fondue mix and this is fun to have a fondue on a winter night.

10
We were really looking forward to try this recipe and weren't disappointed:  this dish is packed full of flavour!
We live in a country town but after a trip to Sydney last week we came back armed with a few Asian ingredients, ready to "attack" some recipes! 
This was my first time using belachan (shrimp paste) and candlenuts.  So refreshing to try something new  :)  Only my youngest son frowned at the "stinky" paste  :D
I did cheat while finishing off the recipe as I transferred sauce on a pot on the stove to cook the prawns and be able to to use the TMX to cook rice and steam veggies.  I wasn't sure which vegetables are usually served with Sambal Udang.  Would anybody know?

11
Chit Chat / What's your favourite quiche filling?
« on: July 03, 2011, 02:34:48 am »
I seem to always come back to the classic quiche Lorraine filling (eggs, cream, onion, bacon & Swiss cheese). Our family also love quiche with salmon and greens, or roasted capsicums, tomatoes & goat cheese...  What's your favourite?

12
I've always cooked my choux using the traditional method (stove top & pan) and thought I would see how it went in the TMX.
The recipe I use matched the Aussie cookbook for the ingredients:  exactly the same proportions (250g water + pinch salt + 100g butter + 150g PF + 4 eggs)
I did a few thing differently when preparing the choux pastry:

- Preheat oven to 220C
- Place water, salt and butter into TM bowl and cook for 6mn at 100C on speed 2- MC off- the main thing is to keep an eye on when the water & butter will come to boiling point.
- Add the flour and mix for 40s on speed 4- the pastry need to form a ball.
- Let dough cool down a bit- 5mn is enough
- Add eggs to the mixture by dropping one egg at a time onto rotating blades for 40s or more on speed 5- until you end up with a nice glossy ball.  If you use large eggs you may only need 3 eggs:   keep an eye on how the dough is "absorbing" each egg.
- Let dough cool down a little before spooning on a tray lined with baking paper.  For "perfect" choux pipe the mix!  You should end up with 15 middle size choux.
- Bake in preheated oven for 5mn, then lower down the temperature to 200C and cook for another 25mn.  DO NOT open the oven door or choux may not rise properly.   The only time I open the oven door is a few minutes before the end when I lower the oven temperature to 180C and stick a spoon in to maintain the door slightly open (this allows the choux to finish cooking without deflating).  I leave the choux in the oven even after it's turned off so that they finish "drying".  Choux should be golden and "crisp" all over and completely cool before you fill them.  I guess the cooking time depends on what type of oven you use.

I fill my choux with cold creme patissiere to which I've added rhum or grand-marnier.  Then I make a toffee that I drizzle on the choux just before serving (that's the way I used to purchase them when I was living in France).
Sorry I haven't got a photo to add:  my boys jumped on the final product  :D

13
Desserts / Persimmon Sorbet
« on: June 13, 2011, 01:08:15 am »
Name of Recipe:  Persimmon Sorbet
Number of People: 4 greedy ones!
Ingredients: 400g persimmon flesh (4 to 5 very ripe persimmons)
                           40g raw sugar
                           60g lime juice
                           1 egg white
                           400g ice
                       
Preparation: place sugar into bowl and mill for 10s on speed 9.
Add persimmon flesh, lime juice, egg white and ice and slowly turn the speed dial to speed 10- mix for 1mn.  enjoy!

Persimmons are soft and sweet:  ideal to make sorbet.





14
Bread / Brioche from a French point of view (pic added)
« on: June 13, 2011, 12:33:42 am »
I grew up in France and i love a good brioche: rich, buttery, fluffy on the inside and buttery on the inside and slightly flaky on the outside.  I've made my first Thermomix brioche by using a recipe by Danielle Scott on Steph Berg website- Thank you so much ladies :)  See link below:
http://www.stephberg.com/?p=2872
This recipe was FANTASTIC!  This brioche could come out of any french bakery- a real treat when you live in a country town in Oz!
The only things I changed were the mixing & kneading time- a few more minutes to get the right consistency.  The dough should be very buttery but pliable and stretchy.  I guess it depends on how hot your kitchen is...
I've only had my Zumbo- Thermomix- for a week but I really enjoy the speed with which you can whip up some recipes!

15
Hello all,
I'm having a Thermomix demo tomorrow afternoon and I can't wait to see it in action again!  My sister-in-law has one and after seeing what it could do I just need to have another look to take the plunge!!  I LOOOVE cooking and I think the Thermomix could make a nice addition to my kitchen. 
We (hubby, 2 sons and I) live on a farm and I really enjoy cooking on our slow-combustion stove in winter: nothing beats a slow-cooked stew!
We grow most of our own fruit & veg, have ducks & chooks for eggs, lambs and steers for meat.  Life is good :)
I grew up in France and learnt how to cook by watching and helping my grannies & mum.  I moved to Australia in 1995 and haven't looked back- such a beautiful country!
Anyway this looks like a very friendly forum and I look forward to contibute with a few posts!

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