Forum Thermomix
Welcoming Center, Management and General Chat => Introduce Yourself => Topic started by: Rotorchef on September 17, 2014, 04:23:05 pm
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Hello Everyone,
I am brand new to the forum, indeed I am brand new to the whole Thermomix way of cooking.
After being in Australia for a few weeks at the beginning of the year I was introduced to this culinary bundle of amazingness. It was an informal lunch at my fiancés best friends house, who has a very young family. Anyway, long story short, the bread turned up hot and was nothing short of superb, then there were the pates and other morsels of goodness, not to forget (how could I) the scones afterwards. All of which I was told at the time were homemade. I was quietly working under the impression that Sophie (the mother and best friend of the Mrs to be) had slaved in the kitchen all morning. Anyway, it was only after we had all finished and I was helping to clean up that I came across the most bizarre looking blender / smoothie making machine only to be told that "it" was responsible for doing all the hard work. So that was the first introduction.
A few weeks after this, I had my second encounter.
A dinner party at a new friends house (making lots of new friends as I am moving to Aus as the Mrs 2 B is Aussie), and we were being treated to the whole 9 yards of culinary delights. On the main course menu was "Garlic & Butter Morton Bay Bugs on a bed of Chilli and Lime Risotto" - Yep, my first thought was, What the hell are Morton Bay Bugs ??? ;D
Anyway I thought nothing of the 'cooking process' until I offered to help with the Risotto as I know what a pain in the rear it can be if made traditionally. Well I started to become dubious when I was told that it wasn't needed as the 'Thermomix' was in control. So, being a typical bloke my mind automatically hit 'cynical mode' as no machine can make a meal that sounded so good yet be a machine, let alone one that you could just leave to pretty much its own devices, after all we were having risotto!
All I can say is that the dinner was fantastic, the hostess was completely unflustered to the point of she was sat with us drinking wine until we had to make our way to the dining table and I was utterly confused as to this thing called a 'Thermomix'.
I had to find out more! Well, in the weeks prior to leaving Aus to return to the UK >:( I asked many many questions and conducted many many web searches, and the end result is..........
Tonight I will cooking my first dinner in my used but new to me TM31 - am I looking forward to it? You bet I am!
Anyway, I am off to search for some recipes now.
TTFN
RotorChef
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Welcome to the forum Rotorchef.Great news that you finally tracked down a Thermomix and are about to cook your first TM meal.You are certainly going to have fun.Enjoy your cooking experience. :)
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Welcome to the forum Rotorchef. Sounds like you are all set to have a brilliant time with your TM31. Loads of great recipes and ideas on here and, if you have any questions that your fiance's friends can't answer, just ask and we will always try our best to give you answers - often within an hour or two of asking!
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Welcome to the forum. Let us know how your first TM meal goes 😀
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What a lovely anecdote about your encounters with TMX. Enjoy cooking!
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Welcome , nice to,have you on board, you will have to give the risotto 's a go,so,you too can impress your friends.
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What a lovely anecdote about your encounters with TMX. Enjoy cooking!
Have to agree there!!! Looking forward to hearing more from you soon... And the very best of all good wishes for your forthcoming marriage~ many exciting and memorable times ahead for you !! :)
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Hi and welcome RC,
loved your introductory post, you were obviously convinced about a TM - and you are correct!!! ;D ;D ;D
Best wishes for your upcoming wedding,
look forward to reading more posts and reviews from you. ;D
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Hello RC, welcome to the forum. Thank you for sharing your lovely story with us and I must say your fiance's friends sure turned on the hospitality during your visit to Australia. Wishing you all the best for your forthcoming marriage and move to Australia.
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Welcome to the forum RC. Goodluck with your coming move over here and your new found kitchen friend TM.
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RC what a lovely story. Thanks for sharing it with us. Welcome to the forum and all the best for the upcoming nuptials.
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Hi and welcome to the Forum. Love your introduction(s) to the Thermomix. I know you will enjoy the experience and sounds like many meals just waiting to be tried. http://www.forumthermomix.com/index.php?topic=7006.0 - not sure if I got this link thing right but we love the Creamy Garlic Prawn Risotto. If link doesn't work just search "Creamy Garlic Prawn Risotto" and it will take you there. Waiting for your next installment. Have fun.
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Hello everyone
Well, what a great welcome - Thankyou, very flattered.
Deniser,
It would appear that great minds think alike as the Risotto link that you very kindly suggested was exactly the meal of choice for last night - OMG!!!!
So, where do I start..........
At the beginning I guess but I won't draw it out too much.
After arriving back in the UK after being in Aus for the best part of 10 weeks I was cagey about a number of things to the folks back here in the UK, not least of all my mother. For good reason too as I knew she would literally go "off the chart" when I told her I was not only moving back to Aus (I lived there for 3 years a long time ago) but that I was getting married too! She has nothing against Australia indeed she loves the place, what she doesn't like is the fact its the other side of the planet from pretty much anything else except NZ and Antarctica (no offence meant to anyone!).
Anyway, after dropping the bombshell I sort of tried to make small talk as she wasn't overly pleased with the whole 'moving to Aus' topic. We were in a restaurant so I brought up the Thermomix topic as she is a good (very good actually) cook and has more kitchen aids, tools, blenders, mixers, implements and cook books than you can shake a stick at. Naturally I thought that she would not only have heard of this kitchen 'genius' but probably already have one and I was blissfully ignorant to its existence. Well, imagine my surprise when she asked me more about the Thermomix than I had answers for! Maybe she was just being difficult at the time, who knows :-\
To the present day........
Well, imagine my mothers face when she returns from London (she divides her time between Staffordshire > London > Tenerife), walks into the kitchen only to be welcomed by the culinary behemoth sat in pride of place on the cooker hob.........."What the hell is that" came the shriek - it is at this point that I should probably point out that I firmly believed forgiveness was a better prospect than permission (her house after all whilst I am sorting out my house and subsequent move!)
So after much discussion about the 'new toy' she acquieces to its current (temporary) location as it sits rather fetchingly in the kitchen and we could play with it whilst its still here - yep, I will be bringing it with me to Australia!!! ;D Much discussion was had about what it is, what it does, "how much was it", and then she starts telling me all about Heston whatever his name is and the number of TMX devices that he has and uses in his restaurants - things are looking up for the device, seemingly it is a tool of choice for chefs so it must be ok was apparently the rationale. On this note I just listened to her and took it as a meagre sign of TMX acceptance. TMX 1 - Traditional Chef Tools 0! ;D ;D ;D
Dinner last night,
Well, I did a frantic search for something that I knew would be appealing to a diner that is a good cook but also bloody minded and fussy when they want to be. I also needed a level of certainty for success as I needed a quick win with the mighty kitchen acquisition. The choice of meal thus maiden dinner effort was the Garlic and Prawn risotto. I didn't have sufficient prawns so I complimented it with haddock, not a bad substitute either if I may say so.
All the ingredients were arranged and sorted in such a way that all that remained was just weighing and following the recipe which we diligently did. I say we as I pretty much got relegated to the spectator seat as there was a "internet taught TMX God" at the helm. Yep you guessed it, YouTube had taught my mum everything she needed to know about this new kitchen implement of amazingness. Right up until the point of sautéing the butter and spring onion and garlic. It would appear that the youtube video didn't mention anything about having to set a time and temperature for things to work. And that it wasn't just a case of throw it in, set a temperature, set a speed and watch the timer.......oh the small things and the attention to details! Anyway after a couple of scoffing and grumbling remarks under her breath and me frantically reading through the user guide (and cursing not having attended a demo!) the error of her (our???) ways was obvious - from this point on everything else was plain sailing. Right up to the point of adding the stock, setting the temperature / speed / time and then leaving it.................yep, walking away, white wine in hand and leaving it. Now to the uninitiated this would literally be a risotto disaster in the making and I will admit my mother was in no way assured by my confidence, possibly due to me never actually making anything in a TMX. So, off we toddled to the back garden to watch the burning flames in the miniature inferno that was the chimenea.
14 minutes later, and the moment of truth........nervous? YEAH only slightly! This needed to be a good risotto as the reputation of the TMX in my family was resting on this one single meal.
Needless to say, the only things I heard from my mother that whole meal was, "is there any more". Well, without it appearing as too much of a slight I naturally reached to pour her some more wine, imagine my smugness when she said "NO, I meant the risotto"!
I think that pretty much summed it up, other than, the creamy sweet potato mash has some pretty big boots to live up to - oh, thats tonights dinner!
Take care everyone, and again thanks for the warm greetings.
TTFN
RC
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Good news you won everyone over with your news and the Thermomix Rotorchef.Best of luck with the sweet potato mash tonight. ;D
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Creamy Sweet Potato mash update.....
Followed this recipe, although I doubled the quantities as we needed slightly more - mainly because I am a pig!
http://www.forumthermomix.com/index.php?topic=3826.15 - down towards the bottom, Formesby was / is the author.
Well, I can safely confirm that these mashed potatoes produced the smoothest, creamiest, easiest (both cooking and 'mashing') spuds that I have ever had! And I classed myself as something of a mashed potato aficionado!
All I need to do now is work out what setting and blade configuration I need to use in order to do my washing as I am certain that TMX will have that sorted in a jiffy too!
Thanks everyone. Very much enjoying myself at the moment.
TTFN
RC
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Well done all round. Looking forward to hearing more of your TMX / life adventures as time goes by.
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Well done. My DH thought I had lost my mind when I said I wanted a cooking machine that costs $2 k. Well, after six months of owning this machine, he was a total convert and often asks "can your tmx cook this etc?"
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It must have been so hard telling your Mum you are moving to the other side of the earth RC but if she knew you were with a lovely Aussie girl, deep down I'm sure she already had those fears. Perhaps she could come with you and start her own new life over here ;) Your Mum sounds fun! That risotto recipe was a great choice, it's my favourite risotto recipe too. Do you fly helicopters RC?
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Love your stories, RC!! ;D I must say you're doing very well as a self taught tmx-er!! Do you think your Mum will eventually get one of her own?
Looking forward to Round 3! ;D ;D
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Hi and welcome, love your intro. :)
Great to have some guys on here too. Hello to your wife 2B aswell.
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Welcome RC! What a great intro to the TMX, the forum and your mum 😄😃😆
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So glad that your cooking is turning out great RC. Will give you great confidence and you never know, perhaps your Mum will get her own when yours goes to Australia.
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Well done RC. And another convert. Might be easier to leave Thermie behind for her. Soften the blow of your departure.
I am sitting here marvelling at how much you sound like my cousin....I hope if he was immigrating he would have let me know. However.
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Fabulous that you are having so much fun. Enjoy! Love reading your adventures.
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Welcome to the forum!
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Great job RC - so pleased that you liked the Creamy Prawn Risotto. The addition of haddock sounds just about right too. Haddock is not so readily available here in Oz - used to love it when I lived in Scotland. Oh your poor Mother - so sad for her to watch you come to the other side of the World - don't suppose there is any chance that she might come to live here too sometime? My son and daughter in law have just bought a house in Melbourne and I live in Sydney - I cried for days when they told me they might move. Now Melbourne is really not that far away compared to 12000 miles so I don't feel quite so bad. I a sure that all will be well though as us Mothers realize that everyone has to make their own lives. Thank goodness for Skype and email - it does make the World a bit smaller.
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Good Morning everyone from this side of the planet,
OK - I think I will make this my last post in the 'introduce section' as I fear I may have highjacked a thread albeit innocently. :)
Before I update you with last nights efforts, oh yes it was put through its paces last night too, I thought I would answer a couple of specific posts. So in no particular order;
Judydawn - Thank you! My mum is rather fab if honest, I am very lucky! Yes I do fly helicopters, again I am incredibly lucky there too. The profile picture of mine is actually the helicopter that I am currently flying.
Goldfish - Do I think my mum will get one of her own? Hmmmm well it is her 60th (Oh hang on, is that a secret? :P) next year and I thought I may look to get her one if she continues to enjoy it. Although this could be dangerous grounds though, a kitchen tool regardless of how amazing it is may not be sending the right message. I will defer to the wiser ones among you to counsel me accordingly I think.
Bedlam - No win situation for me I fear. I leave the Thermie behind to ease my departure for my mum and I am heading into a whole world of culinary woe from the Mrs2B! Not the footing I want to start things off on. I think I will have to use the tactic of getting mum out to Aus for extended periods at a time to not only see us but also to use the TMX!
Oh, as for sounding like or maybe even being your cousin....I only have one observation and question. If I were your cousin, why oh why would you not have shared your knowledge of a TMX with me sooner? ;D
Obbie - Thanks for the welcome to both me and my wife to be. She is lurking on the forum as I gave her the details and she was chuffed when she read your post!
So, to last nights efforts.
First off I should point out that this recipe is NOT mine, but one that I took from the September issue of Waitrose Kitchen magazine (I hope this doesn't cause any issues! Apologies in advance if it does).
Red lentil, butternut and coconut curry.
Serves 4
1tbsp vegetable oil (I used rapeseed)
2 onions (I used red onions)
2 green chillies (ermmm I used green ones)
100g fresh root ginger
coriander
200g baby leaf greens
1tbsp mild curry powder (I had to use medium as that was all we had)
150g split red lentils
500ml coconut water
250ml water
500g butternut squash
OK - so all the ingredients are there - check!
Right then, how do we put all this into the TMX? What settings, speeds, temps, directions of blade do I use now etc etc......and there it was. It hit me, full speed and full on, I really had no idea of how to 'free style' with this kitchen tool and wow did I wish that I had chosen to get a demonstration and a cookbook before diving headlong into it.
Alas there was a dinner to prepare and a fully qualified, ever expectant hovering Thermomix mum lurking somewhere on the ground floor never more than a soft bounding step away from me to reach over and take the helm of a dinner disaster in the making. Be under no illusions, instructions or not this HAD to work.
So without any nerves as I knew we could always make a killer risotto if all else failed, I decided in true SAS fashion to crack on after all, "Who dare Wins"......right?
The above ingredients were introduced into the TMX in the following fashion / way. (I have tried to emulate the writing style of other helpful recipes on here and clearly this is what 'happened' for me. Those in the know will probably adapt accordingly)
1) Onions, Chillies, Ginger in the TMX Speed 7, 10 seconds - OMG.........what have I done? There is just his colourful finely chopped but oh so fragrant mess all up the sides of the mixing bowl. I think less speed and time will probably suffice next time.
2) Oil into the mixer (clearly after scraping down the sides to ensure it actually sautés 'something') - 6mins, reverse 3, 100deg.
3) Coriander, curry powder (see the note above about the 'heat' of the powder. I used medium and it turned out just fine but I like hot food - suggestion is adjust to personal taste.) 3mins reverse speed 3 100deg.
4) Add the coconut water, water, lentils and the butterfly attachment. 30mins, reverse 2, 80degs (measuring cup removed but basket to prevent any splatters). Again, this duration and heat will be dependant upon how you all like your lentils. I personally prefer a little bite to mine and not a stodgy mess. Its up to you ;D
5) Add the butternut squash (carefully to avoid hot splash back)12mins, reverse 2, 80degs - See the above note about personal preference.
6) Right at the end, add the light greens (spinach) 2mins, reverse 2, 100deg.
nb - There are clearly a couple of things that you can do to amend this to your choice etc. I am thinking of using a hotter chilli the next time we make it and using less powder but that is just me. If you like a creamier texture then I would use some coconut milk in addition to the coconut water or one could always add a touch of cream, creme fraiche etc it is totally up to the individual.
Oh - the decimation (and not the culinary definition either) of the onion, chilli & ginger didn't seem to have too much of an adverse effect either although for a greater texture maybe less speed and less time :-[
I have attempted to attach a photo of the effort so that people can get an idea. It may not look the best but I can assure you it tasted great. Given that I am a self confessed carnivore I didn't miss the absence of meat!
TTFN
RC
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Rotorchef thanks so much for sharing your cooking experience, I really really enjoyed reading your post. Was very entertaining :) and made me lol on several occasions.
Oh and well done to your conversion of the curry it really does look great. Bet the smell was Devine too.
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That curry... And your conversion ( i.e., that of the recipe ;)) looks terrific! So much so, I'll be preparing this tomorrow ! Thank you!! (And please don't stop posting here....love the continuing saga! )
Incidentally, you may want to give that curry of yours a thread of its own so it doesn't get lost! :)
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Very entertaining post RC, you sound like you would be great fun in the kitchen. I only chop onions, garlic etc for 2 sec/speed 5 but it really doesn't matter and you have already made a note that your chopping time can be a lot less. You'll learn something every time you cook something. I think you are very brave to be cooking without using a TMX recipe book and just winging your way through the recipe as you go. Hats off to you.
Thanks for sharing with us, it's great having you on board.
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Just love your enthusiasm RC :-*
With ref to Chelsea's recipe I followed the recipe and added more water as I don't like thick or heavy soup.
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Thanks for the recipe RC.Your commentary is always entertaining to read :D
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Just realised Chelsea's is a soup and your recipe is a main course RC - my apologies. I have removed my comments about the recipe.
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What marvellously entertaining reading this is. I must make this as it looks delicious and sounds so much fun to make.
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I have been though the " I'm moving to Australia" moment, didn't go down well with my sister but the rest of my family was " Great, when can we come and stay with you?". My husband is Aussie and we met out here so here we stayed.
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Welcome to the forum RC