What are you cooking today?

[Thermomixer]

Know what you mean, Rowyfo.  My family are brilliant - but live the other side of the world!!!  So not too many visits or help, just once a year.  I have to fight feeling sad or jealous sometimes when I see what it's like for other people who have loving, helpful families around them - but hey, we're still blessed.  And I'm so very, very grateful to have my daughter.  And a family.  And a roof over our heads.  And food on the table. ... And a TMX in the kitchen!! 

You've got us too -  - for better or worse, richer or poorer, .......

[Thermomixer]

  Didn't read the recipe correctly .....  A very forgiving recipe - it let me add them at the end and still turned out well. ) ) )

LOL - great to hear that it is forgiving !!!!

[judydawn]

The Gondola on the Murray series chef was Stefano de Pieri and he used to cycle his way around Mildura to friends and relatives places and cook something at their house in their huge kitchens. It was one of the most interesting cooking programs I have ever watched - European people do so much more than we do.  Mind you, I wouldn't have eaten half of it   He cooked the nettle pie and many other strange concoctions but any Italians I know are just into their pasta dishes.

[brazen20au]

good grief thermomixer, you are determined to be #1 with post count aren't you??? 

[Thermomixer]

LOL - just trying to encourage people to contribute - just saw that there were 142 posts yesterday and unfrotunately half would have been me catching up.     

[brazen20au]

LOL!!

and now, ON topic   i just "invented" a recipe for gluten free scones that my family inhaled! posted on my blog but i will post it here when the photo uploads, as long as i remember lol

[judydawn]

Today for lunch I tried an earlier posting from Macorla called Casserole Meat but adapted it to suit what I had on hand.  Read my comments in the Mains section - it is well worth giving this one a go, loved it - perfect for this cooler weather.  Served it with mashed potatoes and peas.  Red potatoes are by far the best choice aren't they for cooking in the TMX - they even seem to make so much more mash than white potatoes (or is it my imagination )   I then made some beef stock, using all the scraps from the oyster blade steak (I leave so much meat on my offcuts that you can actually get a meal out of them so there was no problem reaching the 300g mark). I had all the vegies and herbs on hand or in the garden so I got my batch for free

[Paul]

A lemon tart, a chocolate tart, chicken and leek and tarragon pie, mashed potatoes and steamed broccoli

[judydawn]

Ooh, I like the sound of that meal Paul 2 desserts though - 1 is for another day, right

[Paul]

yes, they're both for a friend's 40th tomorrow

[CarolineW]

At class today, Sergio was talking about this very thing.  The cucina povera (cuisine of the poor) involving using a lot more of what we now discard.  They use the water from cooking artichokes as a tea for cleansing the liver and couch-grass tea also.

Turnip leaves are becoming more popular as cima di rape or rapini ( foreign name means we are more likley? to eat it and pay more !! )

Couch Grass tea?!?!  You mean, there's a purpose for it on my plot other than to challenge my weeding skills???  That sounds brilliant.  Regretfully, I have no shortage of it at all.  What is the tea good for, do you know?

[CarolineW]

Know what you mean, Rowyfo.  My family are brilliant - but live the other side of the world!!!  So not too many visits or help, just once a year.  I have to fight feeling sad or jealous sometimes when I see what it's like for other people who have loving, helpful families around them - but hey, we're still blessed.  And I'm so very, very grateful to have my daughter.  And a family.  And a roof over our heads.  And food on the table. ... And a TMX in the kitchen!! 

You've got us too -  - for better or worse, richer or poorer, .......

Ain't that the truth!! 

[CarolineW]

A lemon tart, a chocolate tart, chicken and leek and tarragon pie, mashed potatoes and steamed broccoli

Oooh, Paul - can I come for dinner?!    I love the sound of the chicken, leek and tarragon pie.  I feel very inspired for dinner tomorrow night, now.  Did you just do a white sauce with it?  And lemon tart - my favourite.

[Paul]

The chicken pie is nice, it's a recipe from Bill Granger originally, but now I just sort of do it without reading the recipe.  Here goes:

Make some rough puff pastry with the thermomix.  I usually just make enough for  a pie top, but you can make an enclosed pie if you prefer. 

Shake some chicken cut into chunks with flour spiced with cayenne, S&P
Fry quickly on both sides until just brown (raw in centre still) and remove
Fry some sliced leeks in the oil
Add white wine, deglaze
Add some chicken stock or water and 2 tsp dried tarragon
Add some frozen peas
Add about 1/2 cup cream or sour cream until you get the right thickness of sauce
Add the chicken back and cook for a couple of minutes
Put pastry on while filling is still hot, wash with beaten egg and cook for 45 mins at 190 C

Thoughts

I haven't given exact amounts because you can make it any size you want.  Every time it turns out slightly differently, so don't get hung up on exact measures.  Last night's effort was really good, the TMX made the best pastry I have ever cooked.  Ever!

Unsalted butter is best for the pastry, Australian unsalted butter is no good, the wrong consistency or something.  Lurpak, the Danish butter, seems the best bet.  The rare times I have seen French unsalted butter in Cairns it is rancid when bought - yuk.

I use dried tarragon because the stuff they sell in supermarkets is fake.  It's either Russian tarragon, which is easier to grow, but tasteless; or 'Mexican' tarragon with bright yellow flowers, which has an appallingly overwhelming aniseed taste.  So dried seems best.  Chicken and tarragon is a match made in heaven.  The fakeness of tarragon is a pet hate of mine, so don't get me started...

Frozen peas are nicer then fresh peas, unless you grow them yourself and cook as soon as you have picked them.  Otherwise they're mealy and horrible.  I don't buy frozen veges as a rule, peas are the exception.

I don't think we make enough pies these days.  They have a proud heritage, and they are so nice when done with good ingredients.

I have to confess I also made mashed potato to go with it, in the TMX, and I'm eyeing off the leftovers today.

[judydawn]

I love Bill Granger recipes - have one of his books.  Someone is bound to convert this one to suit the TMX Paul as it sounds really nice.  All the extra information is useful too and so glad you had such success with your pastry - that can only inspire the rest of us to give that type a go. Must get some Danish unsalted butter too