winosandfoodies

Thursdays With Thermomix - Pasteis de Nata

I never got to try Pasteis de Nata, the famous Portuguese custad tart, when I was in Portugal in 2004. My trip was cut short by an unexpected event.  I have been meaning to make them ever since.  Seven years later I finally did.

I stood in the kitchen,rolling and folding the puff pastry, thinking of all the Pasteis de Nata I never got to even try. Bryan did, and he said mine had the taste of the Portuguese tarts he ate in Portugal.

They weren't perfect. I didn't get the silky custard I  aimed for, but I think I know where I went wrong and how to fix it. The pastry part was fine, could maybe rolled a little thinner.   I purchased Careme, a quality puff pastry sold in Australia and recommended by foodie friends.  You could use a cheaper one, but as puff pastry is something I don't buy  often I was happy to pay the extra dollars.  It's a little like eating one piece of really good chocolate over an entire block of standard regular chocolate.

The whorls in the base are the result of the special folding and rolling that is unique to these tarts. Check out the post over at Sunday Hotpants for a 'how to' post.

I went with the Bill Granger recipe. It seemed to be the most popular. The custard was made in the Thermomix.

PASTEIS de Nata (PORTUGUESE TARTS)

INGREDIENTS

• 1 sheet of puff pastry
• 3 egg yolks
• 1/2 cup caster sugar
• 2 tablespoons cornflour (cornstarch)
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 2/3 cup milk
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

METHOD

• place egg yolks, sugar and cornflour in Thermomix bowl and blend for 5 seconds  on speed 4
• Add cream and milk
• mix for 7 minutes at 80C on speed 4.
• Add vanilla and blend for 10 seconds on speed 8
• Pour into a bowl, cover with cling film to avoid a skin forming and leave to cool.
• Preheat oven to 200C (375F)
• Lightly grease a 12 count muffin tray
• Half pastry sheet horizontally. Place one piece on top of other and set aside for 5 minutes
• Tightly roll up pastry into a log from short end to short end
• Cut pastry log into 1.25c (1/2 inch) 12 rounds
• Lie each piece on a lightly floured surface and roll out to 10C  (4inch) rounds
• Press each round into muffin pans
• Spoon cooled custard into pastry cases
• Bake in oven until pastry and custard is golden (about 20 - 25 minutes)
• Remove from oven and leave in tin for 5 minutes
• Remove and place on wire rack to cool
• These are best served warm

If you'd like to know the history of these Portuguese Tarts Duncan at Syrup and Tang has written a well researched article. Sarah at Foodbridge documents her visit to Portugal with some wonderful photos and a visit to Pasteis de Belem, the holy grail of the Portuguese tart.

I'm not sure what the difference between 'pastel de nata' and 'pasteis de nata' is.  Is 'pastel' the singular? Anyone know?

Vanilla Icecream on Thursdays With Thermomix

Three thousand years ago the Chinese  began mixing ice and yak milk to create a sweet treat which has evolved into what we now call ice cream.  My plan this week to make a black sesame ice cream was thwarted when I was too busy with too many social outings to pick up any black sesame seeds.  So I stuck with my favourite flavour, a simple vanilla.

VANILLA ICE CREAM

INGREDIENTS

• 2 egg yolks
• 250 gr cream
• 250 gr full cream milk
• 150 gr sugar
• seeds from 1 vanilla bean or 1 teaspoon vanilla essence
• pinch salt

METHOD

• Place all ingredients in Thermomix bowl.
• Cook 5 minutes at 80C on Speed 4.
• Place the mixture in a stainless steal bowl and place in freezer until firm but NOT frozen.
• Take the ice cream from the freezer, cut into medium size pieces and place back in Thermomix bowl.
• mix for 20 seconds on speed 9 then 10 seconds on speed 4.
• Return to freezer until ready to serve.

I have included the Thermomix instructions as this is a Thermomix post.  When I made this I churned it in an an ice cream maker once the custard mixture has cooled.

This is my contribution to Alessandra's Sweet New Zealand, hosted this month by Allison at Pease Pudding.

Thursdays With Thermomix - Lemon Curd Recipe

It's been awhile since my last Thermomix post. Needing to use all the lemons I had in the pantry I tried this lemon curd recipe from the Thermomix forums.  Unbelievably easy and delicious.

TENINA'S LEMON CURD

INGREDIENTS

• 100 grams butter
• zest of 1 lemon
• juice of 2 lemons
• 2 eggs
• 1 egg yolk
• 150 grams caster sugar

METHOD

• Place everything into Thermomix. Chop 5 seconds on speed 7.
• Insert butterfly, cook 8 minutes, 80 degrees, speed 3.
• Pour into sterilised jars.
• Store in fridge. I don't know how long it will last as mine is used within a week.

It is my current favourit breakfast stirred into a bowl of plain greek yogurt a few strawberries and a sprinkle of meusli.

Other lemon cured recipes for those who don't have a Thermomix.

My microwave lemon curd.

David Lebovitz.

Thursday Night Smackdown.

 

 

 

Thursday With Thermomix

Thankyou everyone for you kind thoughts and wishes for our safety during the  flood crisis in Brisbane. We were spared any damage, despite the peak in the flood forecast to enter our street.

Brisbane is now devoid of fresh food. We took a drive up to Wilson's Point to see how fast the river was flowing.

On the way home we stopped off at the supermarket to see if we could restock the fridge. The shelves had been well picked over prior to the floods. Luckily we had flour and butter at home so I able to  mix up a batch of scones.

I've made scones before in the  Thermomix. Not with any great success.  The dough was much too wet. Today I mixed the flour and butter in the Thermomix, then tranferred it to a bowl and added the buttermilk till I was happy with the consistency.

BUTTERMILK SCONES

• 440 gr self raising flour
• 2 tablespoons caster sugar
• pinch salt
• 60 gr butter chopped
• 300 - 350 gr buttermilk

METHOD

• Place flour, sugar, salt and butter in Thermomix and mix for 5 seconds on speed 8.
• remove from Thermomix and place in a large bowl.
• Slowly add buttermilk to achieve a soft dough.
• Place dough on a lightly floured board and roll out to 3 cm.
• Cut rounds with a 5cm scone cutter.
• Place scones, touching on a tray lined with baking paper
• Bake 15 minutes at 200C in a convection oven until lightly golden and hollow when tapped on top.

 

Lemon Matcha Cookies Recipe

I've been a fan of @missesdelicious'  blog Delicious Days since...... forever.  Her banana nutella cupcakes are an all time favourite in our house.

A little late night reading in bed last week, I happened upon Nicky's lime matcha cookie recipe. Perfect for converting to a Thermomix recipe. Nicky's cookies are a variation of the matcha cookie recipe by   Kelli at Lovescool .

I replaced the limes with lemons. My cookies are not as green as Nicky's - the fault of slightly past the 'use by' date of my packet of matcha.

LEMON MATCHA COOKIES (adapted from Delicious Days)

INGREDIENTS

• 80g (3 oz) icing sugar
• 2 teaspoon matcha tea powder
• 2 lemons (Nicky used 3 organic limes)
• 150 g (5.25 oz) cold butter
• 1 pinch salt
• 200 g (7 oz) flour (plus a little more for rolling out dough)
• 25 g (1  oz) cornstarch
• 3 medium egg yolks
• 75 g (2.75 oz) sugar

METHOD

• Place icing sugar and matcha powder into Thermomix. Pulse a couple of times to mix.
• Wash 1 lemon and finely grate the zest.
• Cut butter into cubes and add to the matcha/sugar mix, along with the salt and lemon zest. Pulse a couple of seconds until mixture resembles breadcrumbs.
• Add the flour, pulse to mix in.
• Set dial to closed lid position. Add egg yolks. Knead about 10 seconds on Interval speed.
• Divide dough into two pieces, shape into a finger thick slab, wrap in Gladwrap and place in fridge for an hour.
• Preheat the oven to 170C (340F) or if using a convection oven 150C (300F).
• Line baking sheet with baking paper.
• Wash remaining lemon and grate zest finely, mix with sugar and place in a bowl.
• Dust work service with flour and roll out the dough to desired thickness. (Mine were about 0.5cm). Cut cookies out of dough.
• Roll edges in lemon/sugar mixture. Place on baking tray.
• Bake in oven until cooked through without browning. (10 - 15 minutes)

Here is an alternate Matcha Cookie recipe I have made in the past.

 

ZOMG This Truffle Butter Is Good

I've made butter before. It was the first thing I made with the Thermomix.

Unbelievably good and so easy. As a kid and growing up on a farm, making butter involved shaking a jar of cream until your arm fell off or the cream turned to butter, whichever came first.  It was pretty good butter though. To make butter, the fresher the cream the better the butter.You couldn't get cream any fresher than sticking a jug under the milking machine spout. A minute or so earlier it was still inside the cow.

Our recent dinner at  Tetsuyas began with bread rolls and truffle butter.  The minute I opened my goodie bag from Tetsuya and saw truffle salt I knew I'd be creating my own truffle butter as soon as I got home.

Into the Thermomix went  600 ml of fresh cream,  process for 3 minutes and you have butter. Drain off the buttermilk, wash butter and flavour with salt. I made 3 different butters with 3 different salts.

Tetsuya's - truffle salt

Halen Mon - a sea salt smoked over Welsh oak

Murray River pink salt.

Butter will last in the fridge for about two weeks.

The bonus of making butter is you end up with a cup of buttermilk  which went into  a tray of banana muffins.

 To make it in a food processor check out the butter post on Kiss My Spatula .  It takes a little longer than the Thermomix but I'm sure it tastes just as good.

Raspberry IceCream in the Thermomix

Healthy, low fat ice cream. Perfect for non dairy diets. You don't need a Thermomix for this, it can be made in a food processor.

It contains only 2 ingredients - bananas and raspberries. The recipe is from the Jill Dupliex book Lighten Up. I have asked Jill for permission to publish the recipe but have not received a reply.

It is pretty simple though. Peel bananas, chop into chunks and freeze overnight. Freeze berries overnight. Next day remove from freezer and leave at room temperature for 20 minutes. Place bananas and raspberries into Thermomix or blender and process until smooth.

Serve immediately or freeze in plastic container to serve later.

 

The bananas give it a smooth base. Add other fruits for other flavours.

Tzatziki - Thursdays With Thermomix

Tzatziki.  The things we do for those we love.  My son's girlfriend, Maria from Montreal, is of Greek heritage.  She'd told me about her Father's famous Tzatziki so I decided to surprise her with my Thermomix version last weekend.

My first time making this famous Greek meze and it was brilliant.  Maria says her Fathers tzatziki is much thicker than mine. I suggested perhaps he made his with sour cream and on checking Wikipedia I see it is made with sour cream in Montreal.

Thermomix Method

2 Lebanese cucumbers, cut lengthways, seed removed, skin left on

4 cloves garlic

3 tablespoons fresh mint

400g Greek style yoghurt

1 tablespoon lemon juice

Method

Place cucumbers into TM bowl.

Set dial to closed lid position and pulse Turbo button twice. Sprinkle with salt and place in basket to drain for 15 minutes.

Chop garlic and mint 15 seconds on Speed 7.

Add yoghurt and lemon juice and mix 15 seconds on Speed 4.

Rinse cucumber mixture under cold water and squeeze out excess moisture.

Add cucumber to the yoghurt mixture and mix for 10 seconds on Reverse + Speed soft.

Season to  taste with salt and pepper. Refrigerate if not serving immediately.

Others who have made Tzatziki.

Elise

Kalyn

Peter

Brioche - French Toast - Thursdays With Thermomix

BRIOCHE IN THE THERMOMIX

INGREDIENTS

30 grams sugar

330 grams warm milk

1 sachet dry yeast

10 grams salt

80 grams butter

650 grams bakers flour

1 egg

METHOD

Place suagr in bowl and pulverise for 3 seconds on speed 9

Place warm milk, yeast, salt, butter, flour and egg into bowl. Mix to combine 10 seconds on speed 7.

Set dial to closed lid postion. Knead for 3 minutes on Interval speed.

Remove dough and let prove for 30 - 60 minutes.

Place dough into brioche tin and leave to rise until double in size. I used a square tin as I wanted to use the brioche for French Toast.

Bake in a hot oven at 200C for approximately 30 minutes until golden brown.

Others who made Brioche

Bea
Melissa
Helen

White Pizza - Thursdays With Thermomix

My Thermomix means I can make bread doughs without all the effort of kneading by hand. After my lung  surgery I found I had less upper body strength. Until I bought the Thermomix I avoided making pizza dough unless Michael was around to knead for me.

Here's how easy it is to make Pizza Dough with a Thermomix.

INGREDIENTS
280 grams water
1 sachet dry yeast
20 grams olive oil
2 teaspoons salt
500 grams bakers flour.

METHOD
Place water, yeast,oil and salt into bowl and mix for 5 seconds on Speed 3.
Add the flour. Continue mixing for 6 seconds on Speed 8 to combine.
Set dial to closed lid posistion. Knead the dough for 2 minutes on Interval Speed.
Transfer dough to an oiled bowl and let rise until double the quantity.
Form you pizzas and add toppings.
Bake in a hot oven (200C - 220C) until cooked. Cooking time will depend on the toppings.

The dough will make two family size pizzas. We enjoyed a white pizza one day and the remaining dough was stored in the fridge overnight and a I made a regular tomato/cheese pizza the second day.

WHITE PIZZA
Roll out dough to cover pizza tray.
Brush with olive oil and sprinkle  lightly with a quality salt.
Place a few slivers of brie cheese on base.
Top with finely sliced potato. Don't overlap potato pieces.
Drizzle a little olive oil over and bake 10 minutes at 220C.


TOMATO PIZZA
Roll out dough and cover pizza tray.
Brush with a favourite tomato puree.
Add mozzerella cheese.
Add a few peices of salami and stoned black olives.
Drizzle with olive oil.
Bake 15 minutes at 220C.

Black Olives - Tapenade

Tapenade is a popular paste in our house.  Served with crutides, spread on some crusty bread or sometimes stirred into a casserole - we love it however it comes.

 

TAPENADE

INGREDIENTS

1 clove garlic

300 grams black olives

1 anchovy fillet

a tablespoon capers

A few Thyme leaves

Salt and pepper

Extra virgin olive oil to cover

METHOD

Process ingredients until it becomes a paste.

Cover with olive oil to store.

Today I served it before lunch with a selection of cucumber,carrot and red capsicum crudites.

To make in the Thermomix

Place garlic in bowl and chop 5 seconds on speed 7

Add remaining ingredients except for olive oil

Chop for 10 seconds on speed 7

For a finer texture process a further 1 minute on speed 4.

Others who made Tapenade

David
Amy
Cream Puff

Hummus - Thursdays With Thermomix

I missed Thursdays With Thermomix last week.  Sorry, but  I took  a little longer than usual to recover from last weeks chemo.

I'm back this week though and decided to make hummus or hommus as some people spell it.

HUMMUS
Place 2 cloves of garlic in bowl and chop 5 seconds on Speed 7.

Add:
400 gram can chickpeas (or 250 grams cooked chickpeas)
1/3 cup cooking liquid or juice from can.
juice of a lemon (or more if you desire a more lemony taste)
2 tablesppons tahini paste
2 tablespoons oil
Salt and pepper

Blend 1 minute 30 seconds on speed 4.

Serve with bread or crudites for dipping.

Dive right in

Dukkah - Thursdays With Thermomix

Dukkah - an Egyptian blend of nuts and spices.

We happened to have a large bag of Macadamia nuts in the fridge so that has replaced the traditional hazelnut or almond base.

INGREDIENTS

100 grams macadamia nuts

150 grams sesame seeds

30 grams cumin seeds

25 grams coriander seeds

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon black peppercorns

1 teaspoon dried thyme (optional)

METHOD

Place seeds and nuts into bowl and dry roast for 8 minutes at 100C on speed 1.

Remove the lid and allow to cool.

When cool, add salt, peppercorns and dried thyme and set dial to closed lid position and pulse a couple of times with Turbo button to form a course powder.

Serve with bread and oil for dipping.

Store leftovers in an air tight container in fridge.

This made a lot of dukkah. I have broken mixture down into 1/2 cup quantities, wrapped it in cling film and stored in freezer.

Other Dukkah recipes

Heidi 101 Cookbooks

Pille at Nami Nami

Rosa at Rosa's Yummy Yums

Thursday With Thermomix - Hot Cross Buns

 

Today's recipe is just in time for Easter. I've made Hot Cross Buns before but they have never been as tasty as this batch.

INGREDIENTS
20 g lemon peel
250 g milk
500 g bakers flour
10 g salt
70 g butter
45 g sugar
1 egg
15 g dry yeast
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 1/2 teaspoons ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
170 grams sultanas

METHOD
In Thermomix pulverise lemon peel for 10 seconds on speed 10. Remove and set aside.
Place milk in bowl and cook 50 seconds at 90C on speed 1
Place remaining ingredients, excluding sultanas and mix for 6 seconds on speed 7. Set dial to closed lid position and knead for 3 minutes on Interval setting.
Add sultanas and mix 10 seconds on speed 5
Remove dough to large bowl and place in a warm place for 1 - 1 1/2 hours. Dough should double in size.
Shape into dinner roll size buns. Place close together on greased tray.Let prove for 10 - 15 minutes.
Pipe with crosses (mix 80 g plain flour, pinch salt, 1 teaspoon light oil, 100 g water).
Bake in preheated oven at 220C for 10 - 15 minutes.
Brush with hot sugar syrup while still warm. (2 tablespoons sugar and 2 tablespoons water).

Thursdays With Thermomix - Coconut Milk > Rice Pudding

 Today I made coconut milk in the Thermomix.  It is so easy and quick.

Place coconut and water in bowl of Thermomix.

Cook 5 minutes at 100C on speed 4.

Pulverise for 30 seconds on Speed 8

Strain through muslin cloth and squeeze out all the liquid.

I then made a rice pudding in  the Thermomix with the coconut milk.

Place rice and milk in Thermomix bowl.

Cook for 35 minutes at 90C on Reverse + soft speed.

Add sugar, vanilla and lightly beaten eggs through lid and continue to mix for a few seconds to combine.

Serve with fruit in season.

Delicious.

Thursdays With Thermomix

From raw sugar to icing sugar in 15 seconds.

After all the interest in the Thermomix following my kitchen on Jen's blog I though I'd start posting a Thermomix recipe each Thursday. If you have a Thermomix and a blog join in and I'll post your link here.

Space saving - I only need to keep one lot of sugar in the pantry now as I can make caster sugar and icing sugar from raw sugar.

Previous Thermomix posts - butter.

Butter By Thermomix

Thermomix makes making butter easy. But others have made it without a Thermomix.

Here's the Thermomix way.

Blood Orange Sorbet

How pretty is this? Not only pretty pink but tasty also.

A Thermomix recently found it's way to my  kitchen. A little snippet on David Lebovitz and I was off googling Thermomix.  A  couple of emails, a phone call and suddenly Eva was demonstrating and cooking us lunch on the Thermomix machine.

The Thermomix replaces a myriad of kitchen appliances which is perfect for those of us who have downsized to an apartment with a smaller kitchen and less cupboard space.

You can read all about my new best friend over at the Thermomix site.   I'd rather talk about the wonderful Blood Orange Sorbet I made today. This is how quick and easy it is to make sorbet in a Thermomix.

1. Place sugar in bowl and mill for 10 seconds on speed 9
2. Add the fruit followed by 1 tray of ice and egg white. Slowly turn speed dial to 10.
3. Add the remaining ice after 20 seconds and continue on speed 10 for 40 seconds.
4. Serve immediately or place in freezer until ready to serve.

If you haven't tried blood orange you must. The taste is very different to a conventional orange.

My previous sorbet recipe made the conventional way can be found here.