The new Thermomix TM5 is here!

I'm so excited about the new Thermomix model TM5. It does everything the TM31 does and more. I wasn't so thrilled about the "guided cooking" option when I heard about it, but now after using it several times, I love it. It's ideal for inexperienced and budding young cooks or if you feel lazy e.g., if you arrive home late from work and your grey matter needs some down time.

The automatic lid takes some getting used to but I'd say it's a bit like having an automatic door versus a door with a handle.There are lots of pro and con listed on different web sites, so I'm not going to make an extensive list here. A couple of notable advantages is that the bowl is 10% bigger. This translates to 200 ml more space. The varoma is also larger. It's definitely quieter and the motor also has a faster reaction time.

What I don't like: it's a bit bulkier and heavier than the TM31. We used to take our TM31 on ski holidays, but I'm not so sure that the TM5 will be coming with us.
The TM31 is brilliant for the sight impaired, this one is not so user friendly. They would require a Siri app, so Thermomix headquarters, as I know you read all things TM related; this is something to work on for the next model.

If you're in Switzerland, feel free to contact me to ask questions or to set up a demo, either with me or one of my colleagues. 

Email: cheryl.devalliere@gmail.com

Phone: 078 853 8956

FaceBook: Thermomixer in Switzerland

Price: 1395  1275 SFr

UPDATE! NEW price, effective for all orders received after 15th January 2015: 1275 SFr

Swiss Grain free (gluten free) carrot cake

This is a Swiss Thermomix recipe, which I've adapted for gluten and grain free diets. 

Gluten (grain free) carrot cake

300 g whole organic almonds
400 g organic carrots, peeled and cut into quarters or thirds
300 g coconut sugar (or sugar of your choice)
peel of 1 organic lemon
4 large organic eggs
80 g arrowroot flour (or 25 g coconut flour)
1 tsp bicarbonate soda
2 tsp cream of tartar
pinch of Himalayan salt (or sea salt)

Preheat oven to 200 C. Grease and flour (use arrowroot flour) a 26 inch springform pan. Put almonds in the Thermomix bowl, Speed 10, 15 sec. Transfer almonds to a clean bowl.
Place sugar and lemon peel into the Thermomix bow, Speed 10, 30 sec.
Add carrots to sugar mixture, Speed 5, for 2 - 3 sec.
Add almonds, eggs, arrowroot flour, bicarbonate soda, cream of tartar and salt, Speed 7, 10 sec.
Transfer mixture to the cake pan. Place the cake in the middle of the oven, turn down to 160 C, and bake for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, turn oven back up to 180 C. Continue baking for 30 to 40 minutes.
Cool on a cake rack.






We squeeze fresh lemon juice over the cake before serving. ENJOY!

Waffles - a Paleo, wheat and grain free Thermomix recipe, inspired by Maria Emmerich.

This is the first day of the New Year and I wanted waffles for breakfast. Naturally they needed to be wheat and grain free. I'd seen a recipe in the latest Maria Emmerich's book The Art of Healthy Eating - Savory, for waffles that I wanted to try. Her recipe calls for Jay Robb protein or egg white powder, which I didn't have, but I had at least 7 or 8 egg whites in the fridge left over from a custard that I'd made the night before. So it was time to experiment. Actually I was pretty happy with how they turned out, so this recipe goes in my "to keep" file. I don't know how often I'll have 7 egg whites floating around, so I may need to source egg protein powder, when I next make these.

Thanks to Clever Cook for the tip on grinding the psyllium seed husks. I've used the husks for making bread and cakes and it works, but I suspect that what we buy here in Switzerland are already partly ground or that they're the baby husks. For this recipe I ground the husks to a fine powder in my Thermomix, and it worked beautifully. Clever Cook mentions in her post that some people are allergic to psyllium dust and suggests placing a piece of paper towel between the lid and the measuring cup (MC) to reduce airborne particles, during the grinding. It's a good tip to remember when milling grains, such as spelt or rye, or sugar.

Psyllium seed husks, before grinding

Paleo (wheat and grain free) waffles  - a Thermomix recipe

Ingredients

2 Tbps psyllium seed husk powder (grind approximately 4 to 5 Tbsp psyllium seed husks, speed 10, 1 min)

1/2 cup coconut flour

1 Tbsp or 1 pkt of baking powder  

1/2 tsp sea salt

1 cup egg whites (7 to 8 egg whites)

4 eggs

1 to 2 Tbsp coconut blossom sugar or erythritol, (optional)

1 cup almond milk (or milk of preference)

55g butter or coconut oil, melted

Preparation

Grind the psyllium seed husks, speed 10, 1 min.

Insert butterfly, add dry ingredients, egg whites and eggs. Turn onto speed 3, add the milk and melted butter or coconut oil until combined, 40 to 60 sec. 

Turn on waffle iron. Leave mixture stand for 5 minutes.

When the waffle iron is very hot, ladle in the mixture taking care not to overfill it. 

Cook for 3 to 4 minutes, (cooking time will depend on your waffle iron, so check after 2 minutes).

Waffle mixture

Waffles - 3 minutes

Hmmm, note the jam... so ok, no today was not a sugar free day. Tomorrow perhaps I'll do better.....

These waffles are softer than the regular wheat ones, but putting them in the toaster helps "crunch" them up some. Either way, they're delicious, plus they're gluten free, wheat free, grain free and high in protein. Perfect way to start the day!

Upside down Orange Cake

Upside down Orange Cake

inspired by Donna Hay, gluten free and adapted for Thermomix

Ingredients

Sticky Topping

160 ml water

250g erythritol (a sugar alcohol which can found in health food stores or the BIO section of large supermarkets) / if you want a more caramel topping, try coconut blossom or nectar sugar, and if you're not so worried about the glycemic index of your sugar you could use Rapadurra 

3 large oranges (preferably organic), washed, dried and thinly sliced

1 or 2 vanilla beans, split lengthwise and seeds scraped

For the Cake Batter

120g almonds

180g erythritol (Coconut nectar sugar or Rapadura)

60g honey

40g coconut flour 

10g psyllium seed husk powder (I tried this again, and it's so so... much better when the husks are ground to a powder. Do this at speed 9 or 10 for 1 minute in your Thermomix. Tip from Sarah at CLEVER COOK, place a piece of kitchen paper between the hole of the lid and the measuring cap to minimize the psyllium dust floating around in your kitchen)

4 tsp baking powder

150g butter

6 large eggs

60g almond milk (or coconut milk, rice milk)

Preparation

Topping - do this first

In a large ovenproof pan (2.5 L), combine water, erythritol, oranges, vanilla beans/seeds, and place on medium heat, stirring until erythritol has dissolved. Cook on medium to low heat for 10 to 15 minutes. Remove from heat.

Cake Batter

Preheat oven to 160C.

Place almonds into Thermomix bowl and mill for 10 sec/speed 7. 

Add remaining ingredients into Thermomix bowl. Mix for 30-40 sec/speed 7, or until well combined. 

Spread batter over the oranges, spreading the mixture to the edges of the pan. 

Bake for 30 to 40 minutes, (cooking time depends on the pan size).

After 5-10 minutes, turn upside down onto a a large plate.

Allow to cool and serve with warm coconut custard.

Coconut custard

25 g cornflour (increase to 30g for a thicker custard)

60 g erythritol (or rapadura)

500g coconut milk/coconut cream mixture

Place cornflour and sugar into Thermomix bowl, mill 10 sec/speed 10.

Add milk and cook 100 C, 7 to 8 min/ speed 4.

Enjoy..........without feeling too guilty.....

Easy grain free five seed bread (coconut flour and psyllium seed husks) Thermomix recipe

One of our daughters has been suffering from intestinal problems for a couple of years. She suspects that it's linked to gluten. So that and my steadily increasing weight gain inspired me to read The Wheat Belly. Even though I don't agree with everything he says, I've decided that restricting wheat, grains and sugar from our diet is worthy of an attempt. Here are some in depth reviews of Wheat Belly; 1, 2, 3, 4, which outline the pros and cons of Davis's weight loss premise.

In the last few weeks I've tried several gluten and grain free bread recipes. After many so-lah-lah attempts from recipe books and web sites, I decided to convert one of my favorite recipes (it's the Five Seed Bread in the Aussie Everyday Cooking.... for every family book) to a grain free bread. And after a few trial and error masterpieces, I've come up with a recipe that works. The amount of liquid may vary slightly depending on the type of coconut flour you use. I found my coconut flour, coconut milk, coconut oil and coconut sugar in Alnatura in Weil am Rhein, Germany. If you're in Kanton Aargau, you'll find the psyllium seed husks at Bio-Peter in Lenzburg.

The recipe below makes 3 to 4 small'ish loaves, I usually freeze 2. The crumb of this bread is perfect for sandwiches and it also toasts well.


















Coconut flour

                                                                                

Psyllium seed husks

Seedy grain free bread

IN RED: changes/improvement 

Ingredients

80g  (1/2 cup) Coconut flour
60g (3/4 cup) Psyllium seed husks (for a softer bread, grind the husks speed 10, 1 minute to a POWDER)                                                          
25g Chia seeds
25g Sesame seeds
25g Pumpkin seeds
25g Linseeds
25g Poppy seeds
10 to 20g Coconut sugar (or honey) (OPTIONAL)
2 Tablespoon Coconut Oil
400 g water  or coconut water/milk  or almond milk. / After lots of experimenting I prefer to use water, it makes the bread lighter.
3 large eggs
2 tsp baking powder / NB: for lighter fluffier bread, use up to 4 tsp baking powder. (1 pkt)
1 tsp salt (if you like salt, add 1.5  to 2 tsp)

Preparation

1. Pre-heat oven to 200 C.
2. Grind the Psyllium seed husks for 1 min, speed 10. 
3. Add all dry ingredients into the Thermomix bowl, 
4. Mix on speed 6, 10 sec.
5. Add the liquid ingredients, work as quickly as possible here.
6. Mix for 15 sec on speed 7.
7. Add more water if necessary, the dough should not be too dense and dry, the amount of liquid needed does depend on the brand or type of coconut flour being used.
8. Knead for 2 minutes
9. Shape in loaves or balls for rolls, Loaves: sprinkle with seeds. Rolls: roll in seeds (e.g., sesame seeds)
10. Place on a paper lined tray and bake in the oven for 30 to 35 minutes (depending on the size of the loaves). Allow to cool completely on a wire rack before cutting.

This was day 4, toasted and served with guacamole and baba ganoush.
Bon app!

Update Feb 2013:

This is how the bread looks if you double the amount of baking powder (see changes to the original recipe in red above). I also omitted the poppy seeds, and increased the other seeds.

Green smoothies

Green Smoothies

I'm usually most productive if I start my day with a green smoothie. I'm not a big breakfast person, but I've found that if I drink a smoothie before I leave the house, I can resist having the morning "Gipfeli " on my way to the lab. I make enough for breakfast and to sip on during the day when my energy levels are low. Here's a recipe that I adapted from various books and web sites:

Green Smoothie

Ingredients

2 Tbs Chia seeds

2 Tbs Linseeds

1-2 cm piece of ginger, peeled 

2-3 dates (seeds removed) or any other sweetener such as erythritol or coconut nectar  (optional) 

Frozen pineapple, (about 1/4 to 1/3 of a whole pineapple, cut into 2 cm pieces before freezing)

1 orange, peeled and cut into eighths 

1-2 large handfuls of greens (baby spinach, kale, bok choy or romaine lettuce)

1 tray of ice cubes (filtered water)

100 - 150 ml filtered water or coconut milk
1-2 tsp coconut oil 

Preparation

1. Place the seeds in the TM bowl, and process on speed 10 for 10 sec
2. Add ginger and dates, and process on speed 10 for 5 sec
3. Add remaining ingredients and process on speed 10 for 1.30 to 2.00 minutes.
4. Pour into a glass and enjoy. Keep the remainder in a Thermos for a boost for later.

Note: Any fruit can be used, apples, peaches, berries are great. To limit the morning stress, I try to prepare my fruit in advance. Just wash, peel, cut and freeze the fruit in zip-lock bags. You'll also have a stock for Fruity Dream (Sorbet).

 A green smoothie and a cup of Crio Brü - the perfect way to begin the day!

Need a Thermomix? Want to make Gaytime goes Nuts?

Did you catch the extensive use of my favorite kitchen toy in the MasterChef Australia finale? Congratulations to Andy, Australia's new Masterchef for 2012! In the third and final round, Julie and Andy cooked Christine Mansfield's, amazing desert, Gaytime goes nuts. It looked like they had a blast in the kitchen.

I've had numerous inquiries about demo's recently! Thank you!! So just to keep you updated; the current price for a Thermomix in Switzerland is 1290.- SFr, (with an extra 100.- discount for wedding or births). And until the end of August, if you host a demo and invite at least 3 guests, and buy a Thermomix, you will also have the option of purchasing a second complete bowl set (as well the extra bowl, this includes blades, steamer & butterfly) for 50% off the regular price (instead of 338.-, you pay 169.-). This is a brilliant deal! I love my second bowl, it's undoubtedly the next best thing to having a second Thermomix.


I'm busy, 

this is where I am most of these days, 

but I think I can see a glimmer of light at the end of what has been a very long dark tunnel. So if you want to see a Thermomix in action, contact me and we'll see if we can arrange something. If I can't organize something, one of my colleagues will be able to help you.


How to contact me:
FaceBook: Thermomixer in Switzerland
Phone: 078 853 89 56
Email: cheryl.devalliere@gmail.com

Ski and Thermomix update from Portes du Soleil

 

I've just returned from a death run in the fog and snow. It was only -15 °C on the thermometer but with the wind chill factor it felt like -26 °C. My husband suggested we ski down to Grand Paradis to get out of the fog and wind. Well it was far from fun, unless you're into skiing on ice and half blind in fog and snow. After skiing, I needed some comfort food, and luckily there was some pumpkin risotto, left over from last night's dinner, in the fridge. 

I often use this risotto recipe from Antonella Botrugno-Manco. It's a great basic recipe, and the pumpkin can be replaced with asparagus, mushrooms, other vegetables of your choice or seafood .  


Pumpkin risotto
150 g pumpkin
300 g risotto rice    
1 onion  
40 g olive oil
40 g butter  
40 g Parmesan cheese (optional, extra Parmesan cheese if desired)
10 g parsley
75 g dry white wine  
Salt (about 1 tsp, this also depends how much vegetable stock concentrate you add)
700 g vegetable stock (700 g water plus 1 to 2 tsp of vegetable stock concentrate)
freshly grated pepper and extra Parmesan cheese 

1. Place Parmesan into the TM bowl, chop for 10 seconds, speed 9-10. Transfer to another bowl and set aside.
2. Place parsley into the TM bowl, chop for 5-8 seconds, speed 5.  Transfer to another bowl and set aside.
3. Place onion into the TM bowl, chop for 5 seconds, speed 7.  
4. Add olive oil, sauté for 2 - 3 minutes, 100 ° C, Speed 1. 
5. Add peeled and chopped pumpkin, sauté other 2 minutes, 100 ° C, Speed 4-5.
6. Add rice and sauté for 2 minutes, 100 ° C, reverse, Speed 1. 
7. Add wine and sauté 1 minute, 100 ° C, Speed 2, without measuring cup (MC) in place.
8. Add water, stock concentrate, salt, cook for 13-15 minutes, reverse, Varoma, Speed 1 (if necessary place the TM sieve/basket on top of the TM lid to avoid splattering).
9. Add cheese, parsley and butter, mix for 5-10 seconds, reverse,  Speed 2-3.
10. Taste for seasoning, if desired add extra salt, pepper and cheese.

Transfer the risotto to a thermo-serving dish (I have this one from IKEA, it looks ok and better still it's only 19.95 SFr).

I sat with my risotto in front of a blazing fire. So good........

Thermomix joins us for a ski break in Portes du Soleil

We're back in one our favorite places, La Planachaux, in Portes du Soleil. I've lost track of exactly how long we've been coming here to Chalet Coquoz. We're in a no car place about 100 meters below the top cable station of Champery. It's wonderful to be able to step out the door and ski, but it also means we have to cook in the evenings, as there aren't any restaurants close by. This year I decided to bring my Thermomix along for ski hol's. The travel bag, which is an optional extra, but really worth the 6o or 70  SFr.-, is brilliant for transporting the TM. My cousin recently took a Thermomix in its travel bag as cabin luggage  from Zürich to Sydney. Very pleased with myself, it was such a brilliant idea to throw the TM in with all our bags and skis. We skied down from the top of La Planachaux and Agnes's son of  Restaurant Coquoz, brought our boxes of food and luggage from the top of the cable car, to our front door on his snow mobile.

The TM has been very busy in the mornings making perfectly boiled soft eggs, numerous types of bread and gallons of smoothies.

I loved these rosemary and garlic cheesy scones which we had for afternoon tea the other day, (the recipe from Busterman is posted on TM forum).

News for Thermomix Switzerland and my latest Fall demo's

I was here, above the lake of Zürich, last weekend. It's a small village called Schindelegi, just 10 minutes, up the mountain, from the Richterswil exit, when driving from Zürich direction Chur. I gave a Thermomix demo to a fun group of international ladies. Menu included: Claudia's quick-rise baguettes, sun-dried tomato, cashew and capsicum dip, beetroot salad, carrot cake, pumpkin risotto and mixed berry fruity dream. I would have loved to have had a second TM to help me out for this demo.

A few of the ladies couldn't make it on Saturday, so we met at the crack of dawn on Sunday in Zürich. We were extremely minimalistic - we only made poached eggs with hollandaise, followed by a green smoothie. Less than an hour and we were done, and ready for a morning swim.

Ladies, you're all going to love your new kitchen toy! We'll get together and do Asian dumplings soon...........

FALL TM NEWS

NEWS for Thermomix buyers in Switzerland
From 1st November 2011, the 100 SFr reduction for hosting a demo will no longer apply. 

However, the hostess will receive a gift (choice of one of the following: TM cookbook, silicone cake pan, or bread pans)

BUT the good news is the Euro discount has been officially extended until December 2011. 

Thermomix (TM31) NOW 1290 SFr (plus 8% MwSt).

and 100 SFr wedding OR baby discount is still current!

Cheryl de Vallière

Phone: +41(0)78 853 89 56 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting            +41(0)78 853 89 56      end_of_the_skype_highlighting

Email: chdv@sunrise.ch

Waffles for Sunday Brunch

This morning we enjoyed crisp hot waffles for brunch, courtesy of my daughter and her boyfriend. They whipped these up in record time in the Thermomix.

Waffles
Ingredients
3 eggs, separated
pinch of salt
370 g milk
250 g flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
60 g raw sugar
60 g butter, melted
40 ml water

Method
Whip the egg whites and salt in a clean dry Themomix bowl, with the butterfly in place, speed 4, 37 C,  4 - 5 minutes or until soft peaks form. Mix melted butter and water, add to the egg whites in the TM bowl. Add remaining ingredients to the bowl, and mix on reverse, speed 2 for 10 - 20 seconds or until combined. Brush the hot waffle iron with oil, and pour enough mixture to almost cover the iron. Close and cook for 1 to 2 minutes, until golden brown. Makes about 8 waffles.

Sweet Caramel Pumpkin bread

This is a great fall recipe that I found, via David Lebovitz's blog, on Sunny Side Up in San Diego ( sourced from Willowbirdbaking).

Before preparing the dough, steam the pumpkin in the Varoma tray (10 to 15 minutes).


This is not a Thermomix (TM) recipe.  But it worked, by simply by adding all the ingredients for the dough, into the TM bowl; set TM to closed lid and mix on the knead function for 4 minutes. Let the dough rise in the TM bowl for 35 minutes. Knead again for 1 minute in the TM. Roll out the dough, into a large rectangle, then sprinkle over melted butter, Rapadura sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg mixture. The recipe made one large loaf and baby size loaf.


Here's the recipe and more detail for the prep:


Cinnamon Caramel Pumpkin Bread


Ingredients:

Dough

30 g unsalted butter
110 g cup milk
2 1/4 teaspoons or 1 pkt active dry yeast
3/4 cup pumpkin puree  (prepare in advance: steam/Varoma or bake/180 C, 30- 35 min or until tender.)
60 g Rapadura or raw sugar
1 tsp salt
325 g flour

Sugar Mix

250 g rapadura or raw sugar
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp fresh ground nutmeg
50 g unsalted butter

Melt butter and milk in TM 60 C/ 1-2 min, mix in remaining ingredients, speed 2/ 10 s.

Preparation: 

Grease and flour a large loaf pan. Place dough ingredients into the TM bowl, set on  closed lid and knead function for 4 minutes. Leave to rise in the TM bowl or transfer to a lightly oiled bowl, cover with gladwrap. Allow to rise in a warm place for 40 to 60 minutes or until doubled in size.

When the dough has doubled in size, punch down, then knead in the TM or by hand for 1-2 minutes. Roll dough into a 20x12 inch rectangle. Sprinkle the dough with the cinnamon sugar mixture, press sugar mixture into dough with palms of the hand. Cut the rectangle into 6 strips. Lay strips on top of each other and cut each strip into 6 even squares (cut in half then each half into thirds). Stack strips vertically into the loaf pan. Cover the pan with a clean towel and let rise for 30-45 minutes.

Bake bread in preheated oven (180 C), 35 - 40 min. Cool for about 20 minutes, then remove from pan and drizzle with glaze.


Glaze 

50 g unsalted butter
100 g  Rapadura sugar (milled in the TM to powder sugar, speed 9, 20 sec)
20 ml milk
25 ml rum or 1 - 2 tsp vanilla

To prepare glaze:
Mill sugar for 20 s, speed 9. Add remaining ingredients, 60 C for 1 -2 min.

Small loaf

Large loaf - after 35 minutes

Large loaf

The glaze is a mixture of melted butter, sugar and rum. Since I didn't have any rum, I used my homemade vanilla extract.

Because I used Rapadura sugar, my bread looked very brown after drizzling over the glaze, but it was delicious, moist and light with a hint of burnt caramel, cinnamon and pumpkin.

Guinness Chocolate Cake

I made this cake last weekend for my daughter's birthday. The original recipe is from Nigella Lawson and has been adapted for the TM by Lou Toosey (the link is here on the UK TM site) and also here on the Aussie TM forum. The recipe is easy and fast, definitely a keeper. The cake was light and moist. We covered and filled the cake with a chocolate mousse frosting. Basically it's just a batch of  chocolate ganache (300 g cream to 400 g chocolate), allow to cool and then mixed with 150 ml of whipped cream.