Homemade Butter in 5 minutes

I kid you not. Your Thermomix will whip up a batch of fresh, delicious butter with no extra chemicals, preservatives or nasties of any kind, in around 5 minutes.




There's absolutely NO wooden churning, wearing of silly bonnets or suffering aching arms involved - I promise! Just a couple of buttons to press. Here's how:


INGREDIENTS

• 500 - 600g fresh cream, chilled (not thickened, minimum fat content 35%)

METHOD

• Place butterfly into TM bowl
• Add cream and blend for 1 - 3 minutes (depends on freshness of cream) on speed 4 until separated
• Once separated, strain the buttermilk carefully and remove butterfly
• Place 500g of cold water into TM bowl and mix for 5 - 10 seconds on speed 4
• Strain and repeat last step
• Strain liquid again through basket and you are left with your butter

TIPS

• Butter will last around 2 weeks in the fridge
• Add oil and mix to keep it softer when refrigerated
• The leftover buttermilk can be used to make scones, bread or in drinks
• Once butter is ready you can add flavours - herbs, salt, olive oil - and mix for 30 seconds on speed 4. I sampled some made with truffle oil last week and it was utterly divine!

*Recipe taken from Thermomix Every Day Cooking cookbook*

Sneaky Burgers

As much as I love cooking and eating super-fresh and healthy meals, my children don't always share my passion for the healthy side of things, so I have often resorted to being terribly sneaky and simply hiding good stuff inside yummy stuff. Possibly a mild parenting fail, but I reckon it's a win for sneakiness. Here's one of our family favourites, and the kids have no idea how much good stuff lurks within it...

Ingredients:

500 - 600g good quality mince (or make your own in the Thermomix!)
1 med onion, peeled and halved
1 garlic clove, peeled
1 med carrot, peeled and cut in 3 or 4 chunks
1 small - med zucchini, roughly chopped
2 handfuls (approx) baby spinach leaves
100g organic rolled oats
100g breadcrumbs (made in Thermomix, obviously!)
1 egg
1 tbsp olive oil

Method:

• Whiz onion and garlic for 5 seconds on speed 7
• Scrape down sides
• Add carrot and zucchini and chop for a further 5 - 10 seconds on speed 7
• Add spinach leaves and chop for further 5 seconds on speed 7, using spatula if necessary, until incorporated
• Add all other ingredients and mix on speed 4 for 15 - 20 seconds, or until well-mixed
• Remove from TM bowl, shape into hamburger patties (or meatballs) and cook as usual.

*SUGGESTIONS - Have fun playing with ingredients - try adding linseeds, sesame seeds, other vegetables, fresh herbs, or use chicken or lamb instead of beef. Also, if you refrigerate mix for 15 minutes before shaping into patties it can be a bit less sticky.

*TIP if making meatballs - you can then cook your meatballs in the Varoma whilst brewing up a delicious tomato sauce in the TM bowl.

Raspberry Dream

Oh. Yum.

The following recipe was presented at the monthly Thermomix meeting tonight by Go-Getter Elishia Heaford and was utterly divine, and must be shared immediately.

INGREDIENTS

100g raw sugar
150g raspberries (fresh or frozen)
200g ice
1 bottle champagne
Chambord Liqueur

METHOD

Place sugar, raspberries, ice and 100g champagne into TM bowl and pulverise for 30 seconds on speed 9

Spoon 1 tbsp of this mixture into each champagne glass and very slowly top up with champagne.

Add 30ml Chambord to each glass (or to taste) I think a fresh mint leaf garnish would also be elegant and tasty, but that's my own addition.

Drink. Enjoy. Marvel at the deliciousness!

Red Thai Curry Paste

Once you've switched to homemade curry paste I guarantee you'll never want to eat the packet stuff again. Not only does it taste 100 times fresher and more full of flavour, but you also get to avoid all those horrible and nasty preservatives and other yuckies that are in processed pastes.

I've been making this paste for years now by popular demand, so have had lots of fun converting it to a Thermomix recipe. I can't believe how much faster and easier it is!

DRY SPICES

2 tbs coriander seeds
1 tsp cardomom seeds (or 3 or 4 cardomom pods)
1 tbs cumin seeds
1 tbs black peppercorns
1 tsp rock salt or sea salt

OTHER INGREDIENTS

8 - 10 pink shallots - sometimes called French shallots or Asian shallots - peeled
8 - 10 garlic cloves, peeled
Large handful of fresh coriander, including roots (wash well) - very roughly chopped
5 - 10 dried red chillies (or to taste) soaked for 15 minutes in hot water
2 - 5 fresh red chillies (or to taste)
1 thumbsized (approx) piece of fresh galangal (use ginger if galagal not available) - peeled
1 stick fresh lemongrass (remove tough outer layer) roughly chopped
3 - 4 fresh kafir lime leaves (optional but yummy)
1 - 2 tbsp shrimp paste
1 - 2 tbsp oil (peanut oil great, but can substitute any other if preferred)

METHOD

• Toast dry spices for 4 minutes at Varoma temp on speed 1 then allow to cool for a few minutes
• Mill for 10 - 20 seconds on speed 9
• Add all other ingredients and chop on speed 8 for 10 - 15 seconds, using spatula if necessary to incorporate.
• Scrape down inside of lid and bowl and chop on speed 9 for another 10 - 15 seconds until a smooth, paste-like consistency is achieved.
• Add oil
• Set timer for 7 minutes at 100° and cook on speed 1

Paste is now ready to use, or to store for up to 2 weeks in the fridge and indefinitely in the freezer. I store mine in single-use sized containers and freeze so I always have it on hand when the hankering for a curry hits!

Enjoy!

Lemon cupcakes with creamy vanilla frosting

This was one of the first recipes I tried out when I got my Thermomix, and it was a raging success! I honestly think these are the best cupcakes I've ever eaten.

Major thanks must go to member "I Love Bimby" from the Thermomix forums for sharing this amazing recipe (from a previous TM calendar) which I now share with you!

Cupcake ingredients:

250g sugar
Zest 1 lemon
150g unsalted butter
200g self raising flour
2 eggs
50g milk
Juice 1/2 lemon stirred into milk
Lemon Butter from the Every Day Cookbook

Method

• Preheat oven to 160C (I believe TM HQ use a fan forced oven, so this should help the FF vs Normal debate ~ hopefully). Prepare muffin tin with paper liners. Place sugar and zest into TM bowl and pulverise for 10-15 seconds on speed 9.
• Add butter and chop for 5-10 seconds on speed 7. Scrape down sides of bowl and insert Butterfly. Cream mix for 1 minute on speed 4.
• Add half the flour and continue to beat on speed 4. Reduce to speepd 2 and drop eggs through lid onto rotating blades one at a time.
• Add remaining flour and milk combined with lemon juice.
• Mix a further 20 seconds on speed 4. Scrape down sides of bowl if necessary and beat another 20 seconds. Drop generous tablespop of mixture into each cupcake liner. Using a teaspoon dolop a small amount of Lemon Butter on top of cupcake. Cover with additional mixture. DO NOT OVERFILL. Bake for 20-25 minutes. Makes approx 20 cupcakes

Creamy Vanilla Frosting

Ingredients
35g plain flour
200g whole milk
150g sugar
200g unsalted butter
35g natural vanilla extract

Frosting Method

• Place flour and milk into TM bowl and blend for 5 seconds on speed 6. Cook for 15 minutes at 80C on speed 4. Pour into bowl, cover with plastic wrap, pushing plastic down onto surface of mixture.
• Cool completely.
• In clean TM bowl add sugar and pulverise for 15 seconds on speed 9. Add butter and chop for 5-10 seconds on speed 7. Insert Butterfly and aerate butter and sugar for 1-2 minutes on speed 3 with MC off to allow air into the bowl. Scrape down sides of bowl as necessary. Add vanilla and beat for 6 seconds on speed 4. Add cooked milk mixture and continue to beat for around 2-3 minutes on speed 3 until very smooth and white. Cover and refrigerate for 15 minutes (NO LONGER, NO LESS!) Use immediately.