Polenta adds delicious crunchy texture to this pie and is delicious hot or cold. Feta can be used in place of the goat’s cheese.
INGREDIENTS
POLENTA PASTRY
300 gr plain flour
140 gr polenta
240 gr chilled butter, cubed
½ tsp apple cider vinegar
FILLING
4 large tomatoes, thinly sliced
2 tbsp  olive oil
1 tbsp thyme
125 gr goats cheese
200 gr cream
200 gr milk
4 eggs
10 rashers streaky bacon

Mix all pastry ingredients at Speed 4 for 25 seconds. Tip onto cling wrap, shape into a cylinder and rest in the fridge for at least an hour.

Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 150C. Place tomatoes in a single layer on a baking tray lined with baking paper, drizzled with oil and thyme.  Season with salt and pepper and roast until almost dried out (50 mins to an hour).  Set aside to cool.

Line a 25 x 4 cm flan tin by slicing off thin 5mm slivers of pastry. Place slivers on the bottom and the sides of the tin until all sides are covered.  Gently press the pieces together to join them and level them out, finishing with the sides. Allow the pie to rest for a further hour in the freezer.

Blind bake the pie shell by cooking it in a preheated oven at 180C directly from the freezer for 20-25 minutes until golden.

Cool briefly, then line the base with tomatoes.

Mix the cheese, cream, milk and eggs at Speed 5 for 15 seconds. Pour over the tomatoes.

Interlace bacon on a sheet of baking paper to form a lattice pattern, transfer to top of pie.

Bake until golden for 55-60 minutes. Cool slightly before serving.
Serves 8.

This recipe has been adapted from the November 2014 issue of Australian Gourmet Traveller.

Ingredients:

100g millet or buckwheat
400g baker’s flour
1 sachet dried yeast or 2 tsp dried instant yeast
20g olive oil
300g warm water
200g bacon, cooked and chopped
200 g cheddar cheese (grated in the TM)
1 tsp salt

Method:
• Preheat oven to 190degrees
• Put cheddar cheese in TM grate 10 secs / sp 7 (rinse and dry TM bowl)
• Mill millet 10secs / sp 10
• Add flour, yeast, oil, salt and water and mix on sp 5 / 10 secs
• Knead dough for 2 mins
• Leave to rise in TM or in TM Essentials silicone mat
• Roll out the dough in a rectangle – approx 50cm x 30cm (easy to roll on the mat as it has measurements on the side)
• Sprinkle the bacon and cheese all over the dough and rollup starting with the long side
• Cut into 2cm scrolls and place on baking tray
• Leave to rise again for about 30mins
• Put into oven and cook for about 15-20 mins until golden brown.

This recipe makes a lovely slow-cooked dark beef cheeks. Don’t be afraid of the amount of sherry and wine used – the alcohol is cooked off. Beef cheeks are a tough, lean cut of meat when braised or cooked slowly produces a tender and delicious result.

INGREDIENTS
1.8kg beef cheeks, trimmed of sinew and quartered
120g olive oil
400g carrots, quartered
20g garlic
300g onions, quartered
700ml sweet sherry
700ml red wine
3 bay leaves
1 head cauliflower, broken into florets
180g cream
40g butter

Chop the carrot, garlic and onion at Speed 5 for 15 seconds. Add 60 g olive oil and cook at 100C for 20 min.
While the veges are sautιing, heat the remaining olive oil in a large roasting pan and brown beef cheeks and set aside. Stir in the sherry, red wine, bay leaves, 500ml water and season with salt and pepper.
Add the sautιed vegetables and return the beef cheeks to the roasting dish. Seal the roasting pan with foil and bake at 150C for 3 – 4 hours.
Steam the cauliflower in the Varoma for 20-25 minutes at Varoma temp, Speed Soft. To make the cauliflower cream puree the cooked cauliflower, cream and butter at 80C, Speed 8 for 1 minute.
Serves 6 - 8.

Chicken Pies

Ingredients:

500g chicken thigh/breast (minced meat can be used if a meat pie is your choice)
2 cloves garlic
1 brown onion, halved
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp cornflour
1 tbsp TM vegetable stock concentrate
150g water
2 tbsp (20g) Worcestershire sauce
1 tbsp barbeque sauce
1 tbsp tomato sauce
1 tbsp vegemite
Salt & pepper
2 sheets ready-rolled shortcrust pastry
2 sheets frozen puff pastry
1 egg, beaten

Method:

• Grease a large 6 hole muffin tray (I lined with baking paper to make it easy to pull out pies at the end)
• If you are mincing your chicken / beef mince for 30secs / sp 4, set aside
• Place garlic and onion in TM bowl chop 3secs / sp 7, scrape down sides of bowl
• Add oil and sautι 3min / varoma / sp 1
• Add all remaining ingredients (except beaten egg) and cook 10 min / 100 degrees / sp 1 / reverse
• Preheat oven to 200degrees
• Line tin with short crust pastry
• When mixture cool fill pastry in pan.
• Cut puff pastry into 6 round pieces to form the top of the pies. Seal each pie by pressing around the edges. Prick with a fork each top to allow steam to escape when cooking.
• Brush with egg
• Place pies in oven and cook for 25mins or until golden

There are occasions when you’re cooking that nothing can surpass rendered pork fat. You’ll be amazed at how much more flavourful your meals are when cooked in pork fat. I use pork fatback which is firm and white, and readily available from your butcher – I phone ahead first.

Start by cutting 1- 1.5 kgs of fat into 3cm squares. Cook at 100C, Reverse Speed Soft for 4 to 5 hours until the last bits of oil have come from the fat. As the fat renders, amber-colored crispy cracklings will form.

Pour the liquid lard very carefully into a Reusable Pouch or jars using a section of cheesecloth to strain. Set aside the pork crackling crumbs to use in salads.

When properly rendered, lard will store at room temperature just like olive oil; however, you can also store it in the refrigerator with no change to flavour or texture. One kg of raw fat should yield 500 ml of lard.

Great to have with Steak, in Chicken Kiev's or with bread. This delicious flavoured butter has been adapted from one of Tenina's recipes.

60g Blue Cheese, cubed
110g butter, cubed
3 cloves garlic
1 tbsp dry sherry
Ground pepper to taste

Blend all ingredients for 15 seconds at Speed 7. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and repeat if necessary. Keep refrigerated.

Ingredients:
80 grams chocolate chips
80 grams sugar
80 grams pecans
½ cup boiling water
70g chopped dates
1 Ύ teaspoons bicarb soda
185g softened butter
160 grams sugar
2 eggs
320 grams plain flour
½ teaspoon salt

Method:
• Preheat oven 175 degrees
• Lightly grease round or loaf tin
• Add dates to chop 10 secs / sp 5
• Put in spare bowl and pour boiling water over dates (just to cover them) and stir in 1 teaspoon of bicarb soda, set aside to cool
• Add to TM bowl choc chips, pecans and sugar chop 6 secs / speed 5, set aside
• In TM bowl add butter and sugar cream 30 secs / speed 6
• Add eggs and remaining bicarb soda (Ύ teaspoon) 5 secs / speed 4
• Add flour, salt, mix 30 secs / speed 4
• Scrape sides and mix further if required
• Add date mixture 10 secs / reverse / speed 2
• Pour into prepared tin and sprinkle over choc chips, pecans and sugar mixture
• Bake 40 -45 mins

I had a friend at the last minute saying she would be over for coffee! Oh No ....besides a couple of bananas which were well past their use by date, I didn't have anything to offer her to go with her coffee (and she was bringing her little girl), so I thought cupcakes would be ideal. So I am sharing with you this easy Banana Cupcake recipe. Needless to say they are nearly all gone now since my kids got home from school.
 
Banana and White Chocolate Cupcakes

Ingredients
120g butter
140g sugar
1 tsp vanilla essence
1 egg
3 ripe bananas
200g plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
60g milk
250g choc bits (either white or milk/dark chocolate)

1. Either grease muffin tray or line with patty pans.
2. Preheat oven to 180C.
3. Melt butter, sugar in mixing bowl at 100C for 2 mins at Speed 2.
4. Add bananas and blend at Speed 4 for 20 seconds.
5. Add egg and vanilla essence and mix at Speed 2 for 20 seconds.
6. Add flour, baking powder and milk and mix at Speed 2 for 20 seconds.
7. Scrape down the sides of bowl to mix in any flour.
8. Add choc bits and combine at Reverse Speed 4 for 15 seconds.
9. Fill muffin tray to Ύ with mixture and bake at 180C for 18-20 minutes.
10. When cooked place cupcakes on cooling rack.

I put icing on some of mine and dusted the rest with icing sugar.

Members' comments
JulieO - Whipped these up this morning, so quick and easy!  We all really liked them and my only tweak next time would be to halve the amount of choc chips! I also reduced the sugar a little too but I did sprinkle the tops with a pinch of raw sugar for a bit of crunch just before baking. I got 15 normal sized muffins from the mixture.

Cuilidh - I made these yesterday and they turned out really well ... only two left.  Usually DH is a bit reserved with his praise of sweet things, but he was very enthusiastic about these ones.  Definitely have to make them again!!!