Oxtail Ragu

This is a rich, rich, rich unctuous ragu with amazingly meaty flavour. My husband says it's fantastic, especially with some pappardelle and parmigiano. The method is like beef bourguignon but the cooking is slow and low. It is a fatty cut - get over it or make something else!

There is not a lot of meat on oxtail so use lots of it. Don't be tempted to supplement with beef shin as the shin cooks much more quickly.

Ingredients

2 kgs + of oxtail - 2 oxtails, trimmed of some of the fat
Flour for coating the meat
Oil for browning
2 chunky carrots
1 large or two medium onions
2 big celery stalks
2 big cloves garlic
2 T tomato paste
1 T thyme leaves
2 bay leaves
1 bottle red wine (I use Rioja)
Beef stock cube or pod.

Method

Preheat the oven to 120 degrees C .

Toss the meat in seasoned flour. Using a large cast iron casserole and some high burning point oil, brown the meat in batches on all sides and set aside.

Chop the vegetables and garlic using the Thermomix. I use speed 5 a few seconds at a time, scraping the sides down to make sure the chop is even.

In the same casserole, sweat the vegetable till soft. 

Then add the meat back and all the remaining ingredients. The meat should be just covered in liquid. Bring to a simmer on the stove. Seal in the liquid with a sheet of foil over the pan and under the lid. 

Put in the oven and cook for about 7 hours, until the meat falls from the bones. Fish the bones out and pull the meat apart with 2 forks.

You can cool it and put it in the fridge so you can skim some of the fat if you like. Season well and sprinkle with chopped parsley.

Serve with mashed potato and a green vegetable, tossed through pasta with a salad or add to a risotto for real luxury.

Lie down.

Hot Chocolate (Thermomix)

Hot Chocolate                      by Fiona Mates

This is the thick, rich kind you get at Paul - a small amount goes a long way and it tastes so luxurious!

This is generous per person, it will take different lengths of time to cook depending on how many you are making it for. For small portions make this quantity for two people.

250g milk
30g dark chocolate
teeny pinch of chilli flakes (optional)
teeny weeny pinch of cinnamon
1/2 to 3/4 tsp soy lecithin
1/8 tsp or less xanthan gum
1/4 tsp cocoa powder
sugar to taste, try 1 1/2 tsps

Put in the TM bowl the chocolate, chilli flakes, cinnamon, cocoa powder, soy lecithin, xanthan gum and sugar, grind quickly, turbo 5 seconds.

Add milk , 6-7 mins (I haven't timed it for different quantities so keep an eye on the screen) temp 90, speed 3 but watch and just cook until it reaches 90 and then give it 1 minute. 3. Speed 10 for 20 seconds to froth . 

Asian inspired Chicken Skewers with Peanut Sauce (Thermomix)

Asian inspired Chicken Skewers with Peanut Sauce

by Corinne Rowe

Makes 15 cocktail skewers 

As a meal feeds 2 hungry or three average appetites. For four, increase chicken recipe by 50% but no need to increase peanut sauce recipe.

Equipment

wooden skewers soaked for 30mins in water

baking tray, covered in foil, oiled

Think ahead

Cubed chicken needs 30 minutes in the freezer before it goes into the TM.

Ingredients

Chicken Skewers

1 garlic cloves peeled

2 red long chilli deseeded

2 lime leaves, finely chopped ( I find they do not chop well in the TM)

20g caster or rock sugar*

350g chicken breast, cut into cubes and frozen for 30mins

Splash Japanese rice vinegar

20g Mirin

40g Japanese soy sauce

Peanut Sauce

knob of ginger peeled

1 garlic clove peeled

1 long red chilli deseeded

150g roasted peanuts without salt

20g brown sugar 

30g Japanese Soy

50g coconut cream

20g water

If using one TM bowl, make the peanut sauce first while the chicken is in the freezer.

Peanut Sauce

Method

Place ginger, garlic and chilli in bowl, chop 5secs/speed5 Scrape down sides, repeat. Add peanuts chop 2secs/speed6, add sugar, soy, coconut cream, 20g water, No MC cook 2 minutes/80c/reverse/speed2. 1sec/speed6 repeat if needed

rock sugar is used in Asian cooking and is not to be confused with sugar lumps. They are long solid blocks of cane sugar with honey produced with slow crystallisation. It gives a subtle sweetness.

Chicken Skewers 

Method

Place garlic, chilli and lime leaves, sugar in bowl chop 3secs/speed 4 for caster (repeat if necessary), 15 secs/speed 4 increasing to 7 for rock Scrape down bowl

Add partially frozen chicken and liquids to bowl chop 5secs/speed6. Transfer to a bowl.

With a damp hand place a golfball sized amount of chicken in your hand and place around bottom part of skewer covering end point. Work into a even small finger size. Place on lightly oiled baking tray covered with foil. Repeat with all skewer ends facing same way. 

Cook under preheated high grill turning once after 5mins (or steam in the varoma but grilling gives nice colour).

TM Notes

I sometimes steam the chicken in the varoma with vegetables on varoma tray and rice noodles (packet sort in fresh food section) steamed on top of the vegetables for a couple of minutes. In a bowl mix the rice noodles, veg and peanut sauce and put chicken on top. Easy meal.

© thermiechef 2016

Menemen

This is served as a breakfast dish in Turkey, served in the pan it is made in. It is more vegetable than eggs and the eggs are very lightly cooked. A little chilli adds very much to it, we think. We made the waiters laugh when we regularly asked for eminem for breakfast!

INGREDIENTS                             

• 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 1/2 teaspoon hot (smoked or unsmoked) paprika 
• 1/4 teaspoon dried oregano (optional)
• 1 small onion, finely diced (about 3/4 cup)
• 3/4 cup finely diced shishito, padrón, or Chinese green long pepper
• salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1/2 cup chopped fresh ripe peeled tomatoes or drained canned tomatoes
• 4 eggs, lightly beaten
• Minced fresh chives, for garnish 

DIRECTIONS

1. 1.
   In a medium non-stick or cast iron skillet, heat olive oil over low heat until barely warm. Add paprika, oregano, onion, and peppers. Season with salt and a very generous amount of black pepper. Cook, stirring frequently, until very soft, about 8 minutes. Add tomatoes and continue to cook, stirring frequently, until deepened in color. Remove half of mixture and reserve.
2. 2.
   Return pan to heat and add eggs. Season with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring frequently, until just barely set. Immediately remove from heat and gently fold in reserved vegetable mixture. Sprinkle with chives, if using, and serve immediately.

Fruit Crumble (Thermomix)

Topping

100g plain flour
80g butter, cut up into pieces and nice and cold
50g sugar
2 small handfuls porridge oats
1 small handful of desiccated coconut (my secret ingredient - oops)
flaked almonds to scatter on top

Fruit of your choice - apples, pears, plums, berries or a mixture

A rectangular pyrex baking dish or similar

Prepare the fruit, removing the peel and cutting into small chunks, and place it in the dish so it comes near to the top.  It is not necessary to precook the fruit. If the apples are not too sweet you might mix a little sugar into the fruit but I never do this.

Preheat the oven  to 180 deg fan

1. Place flour, butter and a small handful of oats in the bowl.
Pulse on Turbo, 1 sec., once.  You should get a reasonably evenly amalgamated mixture with maybe a few small lumps of butter.

2. Add to the bowl the sugar, coconut and remaining oats and mix
at speed 2 for 5 seconds. Check everything is nicely mixed together or swirl the bowl round to mix.

3. Spread the crumble evenly over the fruit. Sprinkle evenly and generously with flaked almonds.

4. Bake at the top of the oven for 40 minutes or until the top is pale golden and the fruit is bubbling.

5. Serve with thick cream.

Hummus (Thermomix)

No photo of hummus - we all know what it looks like and mine looks the same, but there the resemblance ends. Hummus but not as you know it. Hummus your way (as they say at BK).
This makes two tubs the size of the large supermarket versions.

Ingredients


1 jar Navarrico Garbanzos (chickpeas to you and me) - they cost more than canned chickpeas but the quantity is larger and the quality is just superb.  

1 large clove garlic

half a juicy lemon, juice only 

2.5 T tahini

1 t fine salt, black pepper

2 T good olive oil

water to loosen if needed or wanted


Method

1. Drop the garlic through the lid onto the Thermomix blades moving at speed 10 for a few seconds to finely chop the garlic.

2. Add everything else but the water and blend starting at speed 4 and increasing to 6 - be guided by how the sound changes. When it sounds as if the blades are not catching the mixture go up .5 of speed. Scrape down the sides if needed.

3. Look inside and taste. At this point it's up to you. A little water will loosen and make the hummus creamier. You may want to add more salt and pepper, lemon, or tahini. Play with your food children!  Get it just how you want it. A bit more blending and it should be smooth and incredibly creamy. 

Sweet & Sour Cucumber Dipping Sauce for Thai Fishcakes (Thermomix)

Sweet & Sour Cucumber Dipping Sauce for Thai Fishcakes

This is quite a sweet sauce, but the combination with the vinegar and chilli is wonderful for dipping thai fishcakes or spring rolls or even chipolatas. You could reduce the amount of sugar at a pinch. I served it the with fishcakes and coleslaw. I will put up the fishcake recipe when I am happy with it!

• 50 g  cucumber 
• 25 g  carrot 
• 25 g  onion or spring onion
• 1 red chilli, deseeded (two if you're brave)

• 50 ml  white wine vinegar (I haven't weighed this yet)
• 100 g  caster sugar
• 1 1/2 tables water (ditto)
• 2 tsp Thai fish sauce (nom pia)

Place the first four ingredients in the bowl and chop very finely: speed 6 for about 5 seconds, scraping down if necessary. Remove to another small bowl.

Now place the next three ingredients in the bowl and cook 4 minutes, 100deg, spoon speed.

The sugar should be dissolved and the liquid should have a slightly syrupy consistency. If not give it another minute.

Add the liquid to the chopped vegetables and stir in the fish sauce.

Turbot with Pernod Velouté Sauce

Ok  I forgot to take a picture! I was going to make Felicity Cloak's Nicoise salad today with some slices of salmon fillet quickly pan-fried but when I got to the fishmongers there was some gorgeous turbot and before I knew it I had inadvertently invested £35 in four portions of beautiful fish. Now the pressure was on and I had to make something worthy of my investment. I found this recipe own greatbritishchefs.com. It is for a lovely Pernod velouté, which you need some good fish stock for, and I happened to have some in the freezer... You will need:

• 150ml of dry white wine
• 1 banana shallot
• 1/2 bulb of fennel
• 1 knob of butter
• oil
• 1 dash of Pernod
• 400ml of fish stock
• 200ml of double cream
• 4 turbot steaks or fillets (mine was on the bone)
• oil
• flour

Sweat the shallot and fennel in a pan with a little oil and butter until soft.  Add the white wine as well as a splash of Pernod - taste the sauce to establish the right amount - there should be a subtle aniseed flavour but it will intensify as the sauce reduces so be careful.  Bring to the boil and reduce till most of it is gone.  Add the fish stock and reduce by half before finally adding the cream. Bring back to the boil and reduce until thickened slightly. Strain and adjust the seasoning if necessary. A sauce fit for a regal piece of turbot.

To cook the fish, preheat the oven to 200°C/Gas mark 6. Dust the turbot in seasoned flour shaking off any excess, fry in a little olive oil on the dark skin until starting to crisp, turn over and transfer to the oven to roast for 5-7 minutes or until slightly springy to touch. Serve with the sauce and some green vegetables and maybe a little mashed potato.

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Lamb Meatballs with Bulghur Wheat and Feta (Thermomix)

80g bulghur wheat (I use coarse wholemeal, but couscous works too)

500g minced lamb

1/2 onion

15g parsley

1T dried mint

1 1/2 t ground cumin

3/4 t ground cinnamon

1 clove garlic

1/2 t salt

pepper

100 g feta

To serve, any of

Yoghurt or sesame seeds

Lemon juice

or Chilli Sauce

Boil the bulghur in a small pan till nearly tender, drain and leave to dry.

Turn the Thermomix to speed 9 with lid on and drop the parsley and garlic through the lid. Chop for 4 seconds.

Add the peeled and roughly chopped onion to the Thermomix and chop at speed 5 for 3-4 seconds

Add to the Thermomix the mince and bulghur and all the spices in layers (some mince followed by some spices and some bulghur and then repeat).

Mix reverse blade at speed 2 until well mixed

With wet hands, form into 16 balls and put a nugget of feta inside each one.

Refrigerate for an hour or two to firm up.

Ideally cook on a hot barbq. Or cook in a 200 degree oven or in a sauce pan.

Squeeze over some lemon, sprinkle over some sesame seeds and serve with yoghurt, chilli sauce or as they come.

Rye bread (Thermomix)

This was made using the one minute bread recipe I posted a link to a few days ago. This time I used 30% rye flour and added a teaspoon of freshly toasted caraway seeds at the kneading stage. I also had access to some fresh yeast, which gives a much better rise than dried I think.

The photo tells the story. Instead of having three perfect slices by the side of the loaf, they are, well...not there.

This is the perfect bread to have with smoked salmon or mackerel pate.

Caesar Dressing (Thermomix)

 Ingredients

2 cloves garlic

1 whole egg

2 anchovy fillets

1 1/2 T Worcester sauce

1 1/2 T lemon juice

1 cup flavourless oil such as avocado

4 T olive oil

First chop the garlic by dropping it onto the blades through the hole in the lid while running at speed 10 for a few seconds. Scrape the chopped garlic down the sides of the bowl.

Then add the next four ingredients into the Thermomix and mix at 37 deg. spoon speed for 4 minutes.

Then turn off the heat and increase the speed to 7 and, with the measuring cup in place, pour the oils slowly onto the lid so they can dribble into the bowl.

This makes quite a lot - you will not need all of it.  It is not seasoned so you will need to season the salad. If you used salted anchovies, take care with the salt. I used anchovies in vinegar.

Use it to dress cos or iceberg lettuce mixed with whatever you fancy - avocado, cucumber, red pepper.  Then add freshly made croutons (tossed in EVO and baked for 10-15 minutes at 180 deg) and a few quartered hard boiled eggs.  I served it with some white and brown crab meat, but chicken would also be lovely.  

1 Minute Thermomix bread

Here is the link to fabulous home made bread that mixes in literally one minute using the Thermomix and is delicious.

http://www.superkitchenmachine.com/2013/18813/best-thermomix-bread-recipe.html

Strawberry and Banana Sorbet (Thermomix)

Ingredients

60g granulated sugar
250g ripe strawberries, hulled weight
2 large bananas, peeled, peeled weight approx. 250g
3-4 mint leaves
1 T lime juice

Freeze fruit in small chunks in a single layer on a tray in the freezer.
Follow the instructions for the peach sorbet.

Cheese Scones (Thermomix)

Cheese Scones

These cheese scones are the ones from the Thermomix demonstration. I have adapted them slightly. First I make two rounds of 8 scones rather than one, as I think this is a more user-friendly size. One round can be frozen for later, as dough or as scones, as desired, if not needed. Then I added a sprinkling of caraway seeds on top as I love the combination of caraway and cheese and also 80 g (40g per round of 8 scones) of gruyere sprinkled before baking, which I grated in the Thermomix at the start.  Not healthy these, so do make sure to eat them slathered with butter - in for a penny in for a pound. Very good with a tomato based soup.

Ingredients for two rounds of 8 scones each

450g SR flour
120g salted butter cut into 1 cm dice and placed in the freezer beforehand.
1 t baking powder
1 pinch salt (original recipe says sea salt but we use Himalayan rock salt or, as my son Charlie calls it, middle class salt)
120g strong cheddar
250g milk
80g gruyere
pinch caraway seeds

Preheat oven to 220 deg C.
You will need a baking tray, ideally square, lined with baking parchment 
If using, grate the gruyere (40g per round) by dropping it on the moving blades (speed 8) for a few seconds. Set aside to another bowl.
Place flour, butter, salt and baking powder in Thermomix bowl and grate to breadcrumbs
Turbo/1sec/5-6 times (or pulse the turbo button 5-6 times in the TM31)
Add the cheese and chop again Turbo/1 sec/3-4 times
Add the milk and mix 5 sec at speed 4 then knead 30 seconds.

Turn out the dough and divide in half. It should be damp but quite solid.
Bring it together quickly, avoiding over handling especially with warm hands.
Make it into a round about 20cm in diameter and cut through into 8 with a knife. Move them slightly apart from one another. Sprinkle the caraway and gruyere if using and bake for about 18-20 minutes till brown and smelling cheesy! 

Peach Sorbet (Thermomix)

Peach Sorbet

I made this while practising the Thermomix demonstration recipes and from the speed at which it disappeared I took it to be a success.

Time: 6 hours to freeze fruit, ten minutes to make the sorbet


Ingredients

6-7 large white-fleshed donut peaches (you are aiming for 500g of frozen fruit)
60 g granulated or caster sugar - this depends on the ripeness of the fruit but really you need to use very ripe fruit for this to get a good flavour
2 t lime juice (or to taste)
2 mint leaves (optional but I like it)


The fruit needs to be frozen in advance. I covered the peaches in just boiled water for a minute or two to loosen the skins and then slipped the skins off and discarded the stones. Cut the fruit into small chunks and lay it out in a single layer on a tray lined with baking parchment that will fit in your freezer.  Freeze the fruit until fully frozen - at least 6 hours.

To make the sorbet first grind the sugar into icing sugar for 10 seconds at speed 10. Then add the other ingredients and mix at speed 5 for about a minute and a half.  You can use the Thermomix spatula to move the fruit in the bowl and it is helpful to stop the machine and scrape down the sides a couple of times.  By about one and a half minutes you should have a beautiful, smooth creamy sorbet.

Put it in a container and watch is disappear before you get to put it away. Then transfer the remainder to a smaller container and store in the freezer. Or give up and eat it all straight away.

Lemon Loaf Cake

Lemon Loaf Cake (Suitable for Thermomix)


The prefect cake to have with a cup of tea on a Summer afternoon. Easy to make and a beautiful yellow colour.  Made by Charlie for his Dad for father's day.  A version of this was sold at Baker and Spice when it first opened and is also offered at Cocomaya - proof of its excellent credentials. Like most of my cakes it isn't overly sweet, which is why the thin glaze adds something lovely but not too much sweetness. You could ask how long it will last, but really why? 

Experiment with different flavours. Add some poppy seeds to the cake mix. Or a few ground cardamom seeds or whole caraway seeds, or a sprinkle of toasted chopped pistachios.  Or exchange the lemon for orange or grapefruit or passionfruit, which you could echo in the icing. But keep it simple.

Makes 8-10 dainty slices.

For the cake:

115 g self-raising flour
1 t baking powder

2 medium eggs

115 g caster sugar

65 ml double cream

1 lemon, zest

1 T lemon juice

45 g unsalted or salted butter

For the icing:

butter for greasing, or line the tin with baking parchment

30 g icing sugar

1 t or thereabouts of lemon juice

Equipment:

Small loaf tin - this is the 1lb/500g size not the more usual bigger size. Dainty!

Preheat the oven to 170 deg. C.  Line or lightly grease the tin with butter. If greasing, also cut a rectangle of non-stick baking parchment to cover the bottom of the tin. 

Sift together the flour and baking powder. If using the Thermomix using Speed 2 throughout. Lightly beat the eggs with the sugar until just combined. Beat the cream into the eggs for a minute, then add the lemon zest and juice. Fold in the flour until lightly combined, then gently and careful fold in the melted butter.

Pour the mixture into the loaf tin. Set the tin on a baking tray in the middle of the oven and bake for 40 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean.

Leave to cool in the tin for 10 minutes. Very gently upturn the cake on to your cloth-covered hand, then place the cake upright on a wire rack to finish cooling. Or lift it out holding the sides of the baking parchment.

To make the icing, sift the icing sugar into a small bowl. Slowly add two-thirds of the lemon juice, stirring vigorously until combined. Add more lemon juice to make a slightly thin icing, but be careful not to thin it too much - the icing will thin further when left for 2-3 minutes.

Spread the icing over the top of the cake using a knife, letting it cascade a little down the sides. It will set quickly. For added decoration, you can add on top a few chopped pistachios or some poppy seeds.

Lamb Harira

• Lamb Harira

Ah the noble art of recycling. Here's how it goes. We were having a barbq and there was a very hot load of charcoal with nothing more to barbq - unsatisfactory I thought. Next day's main meal was a rolled piece of lamb. Onto the barbq it went, where the fat on the outside caused an inferno to erupt. On with the lid and  the lamb browned nicely. Next I put the lamb in a roasting tray on some sliced onions and whole garlic cloves, threw in some red wine and the remains of a jug of roast chicken gravy. I covered it tightly with foil and popped the whole thing into the barbq again, closing the vents so that it cooled gradually. I left it overnight and next morning the lamb was amazing, falling apart and smokily delicious. So we had this with some roast vegetables and bulgur wheat. 

Some lamb was left over. Another chance to recycle... So the following soup/stew was the result.

• 2 T olive oil
• Leftover lamb - about 500g shredded roughly (it will break up while the soup cooks)
• 2 garlic cloves, chopped
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste
• 11/2 teaspoons ground cumin
• 2 teaspoons sweet paprika
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 bay leaf
• a pinch of chilli flakes (I used alepo)
• 2 cups stock (I used the leftover sauce from the lamb dish and some added water)
• 2 x 400g cans Chopped Tomatoes 
• 1/2 cup puy or beluga lentils 
• 1/2 bunch coriander, leaves finely chopped, plus extra leaves to serve
• 1/2 bunch parsley, leaves chopped
• I jar Navarrico chickpeas, drained
• Thick Greek-style yoghurt and toasted pita bread, to serve

Sweat the onion in the oil till soft.  Add the meat, tomato paste, spices and canned tomatoes and stir to combine and cook for a couple of minutes. Add the hot stock and lentils, cover and simmer over low heat for about 20 minutes while the lentils cook. Then add the chickpeas and half the chopped green herbs, reserving the rest for serving.

Birthday Cake

So this is all that remains of my birthday cake, which was delicious by the way and made for me by Charlie, all by himself (thank you). It's not too sweet so the icing adds a thrilling sweetness and tang that complements but does not overpower. It could theoretically feed 8 but that would never happen at our place. This is how it's made:

Carrot Cake

250g carrots, grated finely
150g light muscovado sugar
150ml sunflower oil
3 large eggs, beaten
150g self-raising flour
1 rounded Tablespoon cinnamon
1 level teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
Grated zest of half a large orange
100g raisins or similar

For the icing:
330g cream cheese (full fat please)
100g icing sugar
lemon zest to taste

Whisk the sugar and oil. whisk in the eggs.
Sift together the dry ingredients (flour, bicarb, cinnamon, orange zest)
Fold into wet ingredients.
Stir in the carrots and raisins.
(It can help the stop the raisins falling to the bottom if you toss them in some flour first)

Pour the mixture into a medium-sized round tin and bake for 40minutes at 180 deg C (fan oven).

Ice only when cold. Mix the icing ingredients together and ice the top only of the cake.

Tennis Court Soup

Tennis court soup 

We call this soup ‘Tennis Court’ because its key ingredient – three-cornered leeks – are foraged and the first place we found them was next to the tennis courts in Whitstable. There are also two good places to find them near the Emanuel boat house by the Thames at Chiswick; one small patch near the point where the road turns sharply right next to the river park, and another on the bank of the Thames near Dukes Meadows golf and tennis club.

Three cornered leeks have a very short growing season in early spring. They grow in clumps, and can be identified by their green, triangular stalks with small white flowers at the top and strong smell, which is why thy are also known as stinking onions!  They should be picked using scissors to cut the bottom of the stalks to enable them to grow back next year.

Ingredients

Butter, about 30-40g

One large onion, finely chopped

One large pan full of three-cornered leeks, roughly chopped (approx. one carrier bag full) and thoroughly cleaned

One potato (optional) in small cubes

Stock (chicken or vegetable) or water

To serve:
Grated parmesan
Cream

Salt and pepper

Method

Sweat the onion and in butter in a large saute pan, until very soft. Add the three cornered leeks and potato if using, sweat for 5-10 minutes till soft and collapsed and then cover with hot stock/water. Add a few twists of pepper and 1/2 t salt.  Bring to the boil then reduce to a simmer. Cover, and simmer until the potato is soft, or until the leeks are soft. It will take less time if there is no potato.

Blend, using a stick blender, till smooth and serve topped with a swirl of cream, or a sprinkle of parmesan, and some fresh bread. Good and practically free!!