What are you cooking today?

[judydawn]

Thanks Chelsea, sounds nice.  My rice stuck to the bottom and burnt on a bit too - wasn't happy about that!  Perhaps the butterfly should be used as the original recipe states.

[cookie1]

We're going to Singapore for a week. I'll be able to thaw out. Judy, I'm only getting to the computer in very short bursts. I haven't forgotten your other recipes, will email them asap. (hopefully before we go away)

[JaneeZee]

Think part of the trick with stopping rice cooking when you do risotto is to make sure that the ingredients are agitating right from the word go when you put the 16 minutes on.  This means turn the speed up to 1 or 1 1/2 initially while heat builds.  Keep an eye on it & when it starts to move more turn it down to speed soft.

Eating chicken wings made with ILB's recipe (with addition of tbsp hoi sin sauce & good shake of chinese 5 spice) which I left DH to cook in oven last night as Thelma & I had innocents to the TM religion.....

In addition stir fry vegies - they are just SOOOOO yummy in the TM.  Trying to go all paleolithic with my diet so no risotto for me for a while 

[CarolineW]

I've been disappointed with the pizzas I've made - more like bread with pizza toppings on.  Any idea where I'm going wrong?

In Italy, many pizzas are like bread with pizza toppings.  It may be worth trying to really make the base very thin and bake quickly before it has much time to prove after shaping and then topping.

Let us know what you are doing / what recipe you are following.

I've tried the UK recipe (p88) twice.  It has 4 rises, so it's quite a lot of work (not that you HAVE to give it 4 rises, of course.  Just that it's recommended for a perfect texture).  I think the key is the oven temperature.  I suspect I'm just bunging them in the Remoska without preheating it, so they're rising again.  I'm going to try the Oz recipe with the correction ILB gave, and see how that goes - this time pre-heating my Remoska.  It may be that I actually have to turn the oven on and use that to get a higher temperature  (the horror! ... ) 

[Chelsea (Thermie Groupie)]

I made some butter this morning (we were missing our homemade butter) and then Amanda's lovely lemon yoghurt cake this afternoon.  Gosh it is a yummy cake.  We had JD's mince meat curry and rice for tea - very tasty and VERY easy! Thanks for the great recipes! Am off to make some lemon/lime cordial now.  My hubby likes to dilute it with mineral water - a great cheats lemonade.

Chelsea 

[I Love Bimby!]

I used 380g rice ILB and added the vegies after 15 minutes for another 15 minutes but by then the rice was gluggy.  Made far too much for 2 people.  Thinking I might roll some of the leftovers into balls and coat with egg and breadcrumbs and fry but know I will throw most of it away.  Do you use the butterfly or not - the everyday cookbooks says to use it but someone else said not to and I found it just didn't seem to be turning at all.  Funny part was, when I originally did the mushroom one from the book and followed it to a T, DH didn't like it.  Tonights was terribly mushy and he said it was OK - men, can you ever work them out   It is not something we have regularly, maybe twice a year so it is not a huge problem.  There are plenty of other lovely things to cook which I prefer anyway.

Hi JD.
Do you have a thermoserver?
You only need to cook the risotto for about 16-17 minutes once you add the stock, past that the rice will over cook. Then just pop it into your thermoserver (or a heated casserole dish if you don't have one) for about 5 minutes where it will continue cooking.  It will still be fairly "soupy" when you pour it out of the TMX jug - but don't worry about this.  I've never used the butterfly in it, however when I cook it, I always use reverse speed 1/2 to 2.  (Had it burn on the bottom once and the plastic base melted onto the jug because it started to burn on the bottom however have never had a repeat at these speeds).  So perhaps just add the vegies when you're adding the stock.

At demo's we use a variation of the mushroom risotto.  We use a few dried porchini mushrooms which are ground at speed 10 for 10 seconds before adding the onion, then when sauting with the rice add 100g of fresh mushrooms (usually a mixture of buttom and portabello), then when adding stock I add some shitake mushrooms with the juice (the shitake mushrooms are dried ones from the asian section in the supermarket, chopped in the tmx roughly and then I put a tablespoon of chopped shitake into about 1/2 cup of water and soak for a couple of hours before using).  This gives it a really yummy flavour and so many people have commented that they hate mushrooms but love this risotto (myself included!).

It's a pity you haven't had much luck with risotto. Risotto is what sold me my TMX, I just love it!

[I Love Bimby!]

Made Bron's Creme Caramel recipe tonight at Mums but it didnt have enough time to cool to try it. So Mum will give me the thumbs up I'm sure tomorrow night.

[judydawn]

Thanks ILB.  Yes I have a thermosaver (love it!).  I think the problem was definitely overcooking plus the fact I was trying to be too smart for my boots and convert a recipe I'd read in a magazine earlier in the day.  If I follow proper recipes, I usually do alright. I made my spinach and rice pie again today to take down to DD No. 2 for lunch when vegetarian DD No. 1 arrives from Melbourne on Friday for DH's 60th on Saturday. I managed to convert that one OK but from now on for risotto, will only follow a recipe.

[agpest]

What is a thermoserver?

[Thermomixer]

I've tried the UK recipe (p88) twice.  It has 4 rises, so it's quite a lot of work (not that you HAVE to give it 4 rises, of course.  Just that it's recommended for a perfect texture).  I think the key is the oven temperature.  I suspect I'm just bunging them in the Remoska without preheating it, so they're rising again.  I'm going to try the Oz recipe with the correction ILB gave, and see how that goes - this time pre-heating my Remoska.  It may be that I actually have to turn the oven on and use that to get a higher temperature  (the horror! ... ) 

It is important to cook it quickly - which is the idea of the pizza stones - heat them up so when the pizza hits it starts cooking and crisping up underneath.

[Thermomixer]

JD - one idea with the risotto, left field, would be to put the brocolli florettes in the Varoma and steam these while the risotto is cooking.  Then add the florettes and zucchini slices about 3 mins before finishing.

The risotto sounds like it was well over cooked with 15 mins after adding the veg, 15 mins into cooking.

[judydawn]

Good idea Thermomixer - that was the whole problem, having to cook it longer because the vegies were still almost raw.  Should have put them in a lot sooner but like your idea better.

[judydawn]

What is a thermoserver?

It is a stainless steel, heat retaining dish which keeps things warm (eg rice, mashed potato) whilst you cook a curry or something to go with it. I use it all the time and find it very handy indeed.  You must get one!!! 

[judydawn]

This morning I have cooked Nico's Thai Chilli chicken, Bron's steamed garlic rice and my Goulash soup in preparation for my house guest who arrives just in time for tea tonight.

[Chelsea (Thermie Groupie)]

This morning I have cooked Nico's Thai Chilli chicken, Bron's steamed garlic rice and my Goulash soup in preparation for my house guest who arrives just in time for tea tonight.

What a lucky house guest! Yummo!!! And for dessert . . . .
Chelsea