Thermomixing during the Easter break

It's taken me a while to post these pic's. Here are a few things I made over the Easter Break. We had the bread rolls for brunch. Click on the link: Danube bread rolls, on the Opies Family Food Blog, for the recipe.

I also whizzed up some Ras El Hanout,(traditional Moroccan spice mixture) and marinated a butterflied leg of lamb. Here's the link for Janie's recipe for Ras El Hanout 

The lamb was marinated with Ras El Hanout, limes and honey.




Beetroot salad (recipe from EDC/ Aussie book)

and of course desert!

Good Friday Brunch in our garden - Hot Cross Buns (ohne crosses)

For brunch on Good Friday this year, I whipped up a batch of hot cross buns in the Thermomix. I used the recipe from the Everyday Aussie Thermomix Cookbook. The recipe is also here on chookie's blog. I left them in the rustic state, and omitted the flour paste for the crosses and the sugar syrup glaze.

It takes a few minutes to throw in all the ingredients into the Thermomix, mix and then knead on interval speed for 3 minutes. The recipe in the EDC book has 2 pkts of yeast in it, so I did the fast rise in a cold oven, and they were perfect.

They're filled with raisins, sultanas and cranberries. Loved the cranberries, I'll definitely make these again next year.

We ate them outside in the garden, enveloped by the scent of the wisteria and the lilac trees. Our buns were followed by homemade yoghurt, topped with Wannental - or more aptly, Beat's, tangy orange pumpkin, ginger confi. The Wannental  farm is our favorite place to buy locally grown, homemade jams.

I used the yoghurt recipe from the UK Thermomix site, and let it set in wide neck Thermos flask for about 5 -6 hours. The yoghurt was thick and creamy, and tastes nothing like the store bought stuff. Delicious!!

Our morning fruit smoothie and linseed (omega-3) fix by Thermomix

I try to make us all a fruit smoothie for breakfast, adding a handful of linseeds for our daily dose of omega -3 fatty acids. More on omega-3 here.

Ingredients: for 3 - 4 large glasses of juice

30 - 40 g  linseeds or about 1 large spoon per person (I usually use a mixture of brown and golden linseeds)
fruit (washed and chopped), (about 2 pieces per person or if using berries allow a large handful per person)
8 - 10 ice cubes
approximately 200 -300 g water
raw sugar (optional)

Preparation: 
Process linseeds on speed 9 for 40-50 seconds. Add fruit, ice and sugar, and blend for 30 seconds on speed 10. Add water and blend for around 30 seconds more on speed 7-8.

Linseeds promote bowel callesthetics and favor the "lean microbiota" versus the "obese microbiota" (Ley and Turnbaugh - Bacteroidetes are preferable to Firmicutes in our intestinal microflora).  If you're in Switzerland and you're looking for information on IBD, here's a great site (SWISS IBD cohort study).

But it's never to late to start being pro-active against IBD. A daily dose of raw linseeds whizzzed up in the Thermomix with seasonal fruit provides an inexpensive source of omega-3 and promotes the good bacteria.

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Sunday Brunch at Hiltl

I love Sunday brunch at Hiltl in Zurich. It's a perfect place to have a family brunch or to catch up with a special girlfriend. They are known for their outstanding selection of vegetarian dishes.
Brunch (55 SFr. ) is a discretion (all-you-can-eat), only on Sundays. 

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Spring Chinese dumplings - made easy by Thermomix

Last Saturday we got together with some friends and made a batch of chinese dumplings (jiaozi or pot-stickers). One of my work colleagues had  recently been Bärlauch picking around Kyburg, and I was lucky enough to be a recipient of a huge bag of this wonderful stuff. This was inspiration for a spontaneous jiaozi evening amongst a very international group of people (German, Taiwanese, French Swiss, Chinese American and Aussie with Chinese roots).

Bärlauch (wild garlic or Ramsons)

In Switzerland, Bärlauch grows in early spring. You can sometimes also buy it at markets and Migros or Coop. The Tien family, (Lenzburg's master dumpling makers), discovered that Bärlauch, when mixed with ground meat transform it into the most incredible heady, intense garlicky dumpling filling imaginable.

Dough Ingredients:
400 g flour
250-300 g boiling water (this can vary depending on the flour)

Preparation
Place flour and water into the TM bowl, with dial set to closed lid position, knead for 1 to 2 minutes on Interval speed. The dough should be moist but not wet. Transfer to a bowl, cover with a damp tea towel and allow to rest for approx 30 minutes.


Filling Ingredients:
500 g ground meat (pork or beef) or prawns
250 g Bärlauch or wild garlic, washed and dried  (alternatives: Chinese chives, Bok Choy, Wom Bok)
50 g spring onions (cut in 3 cm pieces)
15 g ginger
30 g light soy sauce
40 g sesame oil
50 g white wine or sherry
5 to 10 g salt
white pepper

Pork-Bärlauch filling

Filling Preparation: Place half of the Bärlauch into the TM bowl and chop for 3 seconds on speed 6. Repeat with second batch, remove and set aside. Add spring onions to the TM bowl and chop for 2 seconds on speed 6. Add all ingredients to the TM bowl and mix on REVERSE speed for 30 to 60 seconds.

To make the dumplings: Cut dough into 4 pieces. Work with one piece at a time, keeping the remaining pieces covered with a damp tea towel. Take the dough and form a sausage shape about 25 to 30 cm long. Cut it into approximately 2 cm pieces. Take one piece and flatten it with your palm, then roll into a circular shape. Repeat with all pieces. 

Place a spoon of filling on the middle of the dough circle. Fold dough over and seal with small pleats.

Cooking the dumplings:

Pot-stickers:

To make pot-stickers, heat a fry pan and add about 1/2 to 1 Tbs of sunflower or raps oil. Arrange dumplings as shown, leaving only very small gaps.  

Add about 180 ml water, cover and allow to cook for about 5 -8 minutes on medium heat. 

Turn out onto a plate, (as you would with Rösti), when the underside of the dumplings are golden brown.

Boiled Dumplings:

Place the dumplings in a large pot of boiling water. When the water returns to the boil, add a small cup of cold water. Stir gently and repeat this procedure 2 more times (you will have added 3 cups of cold water in total).

Steamed dumplings:

Place dumplings onto the varoma tray, fill TM bowl with 900 g water, steam at Varoma temp, speed 1 for 15 minutes.

Sauce:
I usually make a mixture of these ingredients (no measuring involved, just taste):
Chinese vinegar
Soy sauce
pinch of sugar
Chopped chilies
Sesame oil
Coriander

SERVE and ENJOY!


(Tien-Ko recipe)

First training demo - Ticked

I can now tick off my first training demo. Claudia D'Alonges, (our team leader in Kanton Aargau), did a great demo! WHO was there?  I invited a few people, (plus partners), from our Gastro lab.

Our menu: 

• Strawberry cocktails
• Gazpacho
•  "Bärlauch" (wild or bears garlic) pesto dip
• Capsicum, sun-dried tomato and cashew dip
• 2 types of Bread 
• Steamed salmon with asparagus and hollandaise sauce 
• Mushroom risotto
• "Aargauer Rüblikuchen" - carrot cake
• Strawberry icecream

Having 2 machines helped tremendously, but this was a mammoth demo.







Here's a link to a short video: Aussie chef Mark Best using his Thermomix to make a pear souffle.

News: In Switzerland TM is offering a discount of 150.- due to the low EURO, including the usual 100.- bonus for getting married, having a baby or hosting a demo. Current price is 1650.-, but if you're planning on getting married soon, (as are some of my lab mates), it's 1400.-

Sept 2014: The new TM5 is currently selling at 1395 SFr.

My contact details: 
Email: chdv@sunrise.ch        cheryl.devalliere@gmail.com
Cell phone: 078 853 89 56