Garlic butter

Following on from my last post on homemade butter, I just thought I'd share a slightly blurry photo of yesterday's effort at garlic butter. I was most impressed!


I then made up a batch of pizza dough, drizzled it with a tiny bit of olive oil, baked it and then spread it with the garlic butter - very tasty snack!

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.

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!