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.