Show Posts

This section allows you to view all posts made by this member. Note that you can only see posts made in areas you currently have access to.


Messages - helbels

Pages: [1] 2
1
Desserts / Re: Decadent Triple Chocolate Cheesecake
« on: December 30, 2012, 06:53:01 pm »
Just updating to say that the entire family LOVED this - the coulis goes so well with it, and it was suprisingly light tasting - I thought it would be ridiculously rich, but it really wasn't.

A massive hit!  Thank you x

2
Desserts / Re: Decadent Triple Chocolate Cheesecake
« on: December 27, 2012, 05:37:47 pm »
I just wanted to bump this recipe up as I made it today and it was super easy to make (although does create a lot of washing up due to all the separate bowls needed!  ;D)

I'll let you know how it tasted tomorrow - I am taking it over for a family buffet.

3
Main Dishes / Traditional Cottage Pie (with photo)
« on: November 18, 2012, 02:19:39 pm »
Traditional Cottage Pie
Serves 4 (or 3 with hearty appetites  :D)
Ingredients:

½ tbsp Olive Oil  
1 clove garlic
1 medium onion
1 medium carrot
1 large stick celery
300g lean (10% fat) beef mince
Few sprigs thyme
Approx 1 tbps mixed herbs or Herbs de Provence
200g chopped tinned tomatoes
150ml beef stock
100ml red wine (optional - if not using just add an additional 100ml water)
Good dash Worcestershire Sauce
1 tsp Umami paste
1 tbsp tomato puree
1 tbsp tomato ketchup
1 tbsp flour
Salt & Pepper
250g potato
250g sweet potato
10g butter
1 tsp Dijon mustard
50g milk
50g cheddar cheese

Preparation:

This recipe is part converted, and part Thermomix - either way, it all seemed to work quite nicely!

1.   Grate cheddar, Speed 6  for about 10 secs or until desired consistency.  Set aside.
2.    Add onion, carrot, celery, garlic & herbs to Thermie.    Chop for 5 secs, Speed 4.  Scrape down sides.
3.   Add Olive Oil, Cook for 5 mins, Varoma, Reverse Speed 1.
4.   Add mince, Cook 4 mins, Varoma, Reverse Speed 1.
5.   Add chopped tomatoes, stock, wine, Worcestershire sauce, tomato puree, ketchup, flour, umami paste and Salt/Pepper to season.
6.   Cook 20 mins, 100 degrees, reverse speed 1, with measuring cup on an angle to let the steam escape.  Check consistency once done.  If gravy is still too runny, cook 3.5 mins, Varoma, Reverse speed, NO measuring cup but upturned basket on top to catch the splashes, just to reduce the gravy a little bit
7.   Spoon mince mix into cooking dish and set aside.  Wash Thermie.
8.   Add 350ml water and some salt to Thermie.   Cut up Potato and Sweet Potato into 2cm chunks.  Insert basket to Thermie, add the Potatoes.  Cook Varoma, Speed 3 for 18 mins.
9.   Drain potatoes and discard cooking water.   Fit butterfly, then add potatoes back into empty Thermie.
10.   Add milk, butter & Dijon mustard.   Blitz on Speed 4 for about 6 seconds, check consistency.  If still a bit lumpy, remove butterfly and blitz on Speed 6 for about 4 secs until smooth.
11.   Top mince mixture with Mash, spread over.  Top with Cheese.
12.   Cook approx 25 mins at 180 degrees until browned.    Let stand for 5 minutes before serving.

My bf pronounced it very tasty  :D  Here's a pic after he'd started to demolish it!


4
Main Dishes / Re: Mexican Bake
« on: November 05, 2012, 06:23:15 pm »
We had this for dinner tonight (thought I'd browse the recipes that no-one had posted on for a while!).   It was pronounced very tasty (if filling!) by the hubby, and made enough for 4, so he'll be eating it for a few nights yet!

The only thing we did differently was to add 1/4 tsp chili, which is just as well as it would have  been very mild without it.

5
Main Dishes / Re: Honey & Soy Chicken
« on: November 03, 2012, 10:23:48 pm »
We made this tonight - it was yummy!! We made it with chicken breasts but forgot to reduce the cooking time, so the chicken was a bit overdone, however it was still really tasty and we'll tweak it next time.  I'd also probably add some more cornflour next time as the sauce was very runny.  It will make a great salad dressing tomorrow though!!

6
Thanks everyone for your help x

7
Main Dishes / Re: Nico Moretti's Thai Chilli Chicken and Basil
« on: October 31, 2012, 09:33:12 pm »
Made this tonight, followed the recipe exactly but just added some Caramelised Garlic and Umami pastes for a little bit of extra flavour - it was deemed a hit.  Half a chili gave some nice flavour without blowing your head off, just right!

8
Hiya

Sorry, this is a really dumb question.  When using the Butterfly, the MC doesn't fit (it touches the top of the butterfly).  Are you supposed to leave it off when using the butterfly, or just use the MC the other way up?

 ;D

9
I made this today from For Food's Sake....

The recipe is easy to follow, and making it was event free - all instructions worked well.  The only thing that confused me a bit is that it says in the recipe to fill the jar to the halfway point with the hazelnut spread, but the accompanying picture shows the jar 2/3 full of the hazelnut, with only a little Dulce de Leche on top.  I filled to the 2/3 point with the hazelnut spread like the picture, but that turned out to be incorrect and I couldn't then fit in all the Dulce de Leche I'd made.

Be warned that making the Dulce de Leche is REALLY messy, even with the basket on top of the lid - the dulce de leche went up the walls, down the back of thermy, all over the place.  Still, we got there in the end.

The hazelnut spread is not very sweet at all - it's got quite a dark chocolate flavour to it.  The spread is very slightly grainy, but none the worse for that.  It's very rich - couldn't eat much of it.  It doesn't take long to set, so you won't have to leave long before you can add the Dulce layer.

The Dulce de Leche is quite salty (I know it's supposed to be, but the taste takes some getting used to).  However, the real beauty of this recipe is only appreciated when you taste both layers together - they complement each other perfectly and the sweetness of the Dulce makes up for the dark chocolate taste of the hazelnut.  

My only minor complaint is that if you had a thick Dulce layer (ie; half a jar as implied by the recipe), then it would actually be quite difficult to get down far enough into the jar to sample both layers at once, and they are definitely nicest together.

Overall, very nice 4/5 (mark deducted for the clean up operation needed after making the Dulce!!)

10
Cakes / Re: Butter Currant Crisp Biscuits
« on: October 26, 2012, 10:00:51 pm »
Just edited the recipe - had another go today and found a much better way to make them that didn't result in the raisins getting smashed up.  Also lowered the oven temperature a bit - they took slightly longer, but came out a much more even brown.

Enjoy!

11
Cakes / Re: Butter Currant Crisp Biscuits
« on: October 24, 2012, 06:44:55 pm »
Oops sorry that's a typo!  Should be Speed 3,  I will fix it, thanks for pointing it out!

12
Cakes / Butter Currant Crisp Biscuits
« on: October 24, 2012, 06:22:47 pm »
This is my first recipe posting on here - I've only had my Thermomix 3 weeks and it's a converted recipe, so please excuse any silly instructions/mistakes - I'm sure you seasoned Thermomixers will soon be along to tell me how the recipe can be improved for the future!  

These biscuits are an old family favourite.  They are not the prettiest biscuits you'll ever see, but they are MIGHTY tasty - soft, chewy, buttery, and rather moreish.  You need to watch them like a hawk once in the oven, as they go from "just right" to "too brown" in a matter of seconds.  Don't worry if they do go overbrown though - they will look ugly but still taste good!!


Butter Currant Crisp Biscuits

NB: The recipe calls for currants, but I actually prefer to use raisins, as I find the currants can go a bit hard in the oven if you aren't careful!

100g unsalted butter (let soften out of the fridge for a few minutes before making)
150g caster sugar
150g self-raising flour
100g currants (or raisins!)
100g desiccated coconut

Makes about 24


Pre-heat oven to 180 degrees C.  If you need to make your caster sugar in the Thermomix, do this first and leave it in the thermomix bowl.

1.  Add sugar and butter to bowl (Keep the butter in largish lumps)
2.  Fit Butterfly.  Mix for about 1 minute at speed 3.   Remove Butterfly and scrape down sides of bowl.
3.  Add flour and coconut.  Mix Speed 3 for about 1 minute or until until combined. Add currants (or raisins).  Mix  :-: Speed 3 for about 30 seconds or until combined.
4.  Using your hands form the mixture into walnut sized balls and place well apart on a baking tray lined with baking parchment.  Flatten each ball slightly with a fork.  You may need to cook in 2 batches depending on the size of your oven.
5.  Place into hot oven for approximately 7 minutes until light brown - watch them closely from about the 5 minute mark to avoid them getting overcooked :o
6. Remove from oven and allow to sit for at least 5 minutes to firm up, before transferring to a wire rack to completely cool.
7.  Enjoy!




13
Main Dishes / Re: Cacciatore Chicken Risotto - marmee
« on: October 20, 2012, 09:50:14 pm »
We made this tonight - well, hubbie did, and I think you can judge the success of it by the fact that he kept going "oh wow!", "oh my god", "hmmmm mmmmm mmmmmmmmmmmmm"  all the way through his dinner!

Particularly impressed by the way the bacon flavour permeates the whole risotto, and combines with the tomato to give real depth of flavour.   10/10 from us.  Followed the recipe exactly apart from adding 1tsp Cayenne Pepper, and doing the method so that the chicken gets added later.

Thanks so much for posting this!

14
Bread / Re: Plain White rolls - no fuss
« on: October 20, 2012, 01:57:09 pm »
Hope so Judy - there's only the 2 of us in our house, so we struggle to get through a lot of things before they go off - I'm getting very adept at reducing the quantities of recipes - I halved the bread dough today and we got 5 large rolls from it... 3 have been eaten, but the other 2 will need to wait until tomorrow!  ;D

15
Bread / Re: Plain White rolls - no fuss
« on: October 20, 2012, 01:43:53 pm »
Made these for the first time today - verdict: very nice!  Crispy and crunchy on the outside, soft in the middle (although I did spray with olive oil rather than water during the second prove).

Will be interested to see how they are tomorrow.  So far every bread I've tried in Thermomix has been nice if eaten on the day of making, but goes hard very quickly from day 2 onwards, tasting more like "stale" bread.

Pages: [1] 2