Used Thermomix to steam green beans. Added 500g boiling water to tm bowl and added beans to varoma dish, steamed for 6-10 mins, varoma temp, speed 3 until just cooked, rinsed beans in cold water immediately to stop the cooking.
Assembled salad vegetables, cos lettuce, bell peppers, and beans with grilled chicken and topped with mustard balsamic dressing ( a link above ) made from the basic cookbook. Topped salad with roasted pistachios. Delicious crunchy refreshing salad, perfect food for the hot muggy summer weather.
Nb halved the balsamic dressing ingredients so we wouldn’t have too much leftover dressing but it can easily be stored in the fridge for later use.
We are on the long summertime school holidays and after a walk on the beach, an easy salad is called for. Used the Peanut Soba noodle sauce recipe from new Festive Flavour cookbook. ( halve sauce quantity next time )A similar recipe is posted above. Grilled rump steak, sliced finely , tossed into salad topped with toasted pinenuts. Used thermomix to coleslaw up some cabbage, tossed in cucumber and carrots. The dressing made in seconds in with Thermomix (chopped garlic and ginger first 3 sec, speed 7 , then added the other dressing ingredients and mixed at speed 7 until combined) Miss 9 doesn’t like dressing so we left in a jar to be added separately. Makes enough dressing for two or three meals, yum.
Wonderful guided brown rice salad from the basic cookbook. Vegetables steam at same time as the rice which cooks in the basket. For extra flavour to the rice, added a tablespoon of chicken stock paste to the steaming water. Mixed in tuna, cherry tomatoes, olives, mint, parsley and gherkins at the end. Perfect for lunch boxes and when you need to cook ahead. Yah easy dinner is done before midday.
Will try a friend’s suggestion next time, mix cooked rice with the chopped raw salad recipe from the basic cookbook as a change from cooked vegetables and add different combination of proteins and herbs and would take out time needed to chop vegetables too ( chickpeas/ bacon/ coriander/ roasted vegetables/ feta/nuts/cranberries)
Tip : let the rice and vegetables cool before assembling
Another easy tasty meal, this is Louise Fulton Keats “Bang bang chicken” Recipe from her Something for Everyone cookbook. Steamed chicken in Varoma 20 mins, Varoma temp, speed 2. Made sauce by blitzing tahini, peanut butter, soy sauce, sherry vinegar, ginger and sesame oil and water to thin. Used water from steaming chicken in bowl to soften the noodles for a couple minutes. Assembled noodles, chicken, vegetables in serving dish, topped with the yummy sauce and chopped coriander.
Chelsea Winters greek style fish salad is so light, fresh and tasty. Made enough for afternoon tea and dinner. Potatoes steamed in Thermomix Varoma dish 25 mins, Varoma temp, speed 2. Feta dressing blitzed at speed 5/6 for a few seconds. Hoki tossed in oregano and sumac then pan fried. Salad just an assembly job and made ahead because I’m going out tonight. Kids love this with toasted pita bread and I’ve left a bag of salsa corn chips for them to eat with it tonight. Delicious, perfect to welcome the first day of spring.
Tonight’s dinner is Chelsea Winters Moroccan chicken salad. ( link above ) It is absolutely delicious. Love how her recipes always turn out amazing. And the fact you can prepare many of the elements in the morning ready for quick cook later on. The chicken is marinated with cumin, turmeric, and ground coriander, mixed spice and lemon zest. Grilled and sliced on a spinach/quinoa salad with added capsicums, tomatoes, avocado and topped with toasted pinenuts, strawberries, apricots and a cooling yoghurt dressing. The sweetness from the apricots and strawberries make this salad special. So beautiful , the colours of a mid winter Christmas. Served with baguettes and a carrot and coriander soup from the new Everyday cookbook. Used the Thermomix to cook quinoa substituted for Israeli couscous. (See post above to follow) nb mix the spices first before marinating chicken pieces so they are evenly coated.
Got the latest Thermomix cookbook “Everyday cooking for Families” and chip in the weekend and was excited to try it out. Last night tried the guided tuna pasta. As we make meals ahead, the idea of a one step pasta dish seemed like a great idea. But because the pasta is cooked in the TM bowl with sauce, it was shredded into the sauce which was very thick. Very disappointing. Next time I will cook pasta separately in Thermomix and combine with sauce only when ready to serve. With everyone coming at different times pasta definately needs to separate from sauce.
The kids love Caesar salad so Chelsea Winter’s Caesar salad was a must try. The dressing differs slightly from Pete Evans family food recipe in that her recipe has a tsp of sugar and basil added. We didn’t have basil tonight but added some italian parsley and extra lemon juice. And instead of 2 eggs yolks in his recipe, hers uses one egg yolk and one whole egg so less whites to use up later. Poached the remaining egg white to add to the salad, then no leftover egg white. The dressing is enough for two huge salads, perfect for our dinner and lunches tomorrow.
Caesar salad dressing adapted for tmx
1 clove garlic
1 free-range egg yolk
1 whole free-range egg
2 tsp lemon juice
1 tsp sugar
200ml canola or rice bran oil
2 tbsp mayonnaise
4 anchovy fillets
1 cup fresh basil leaves (or 1 x 25g-40g packet)
Add garlic to TM bowl, blitz 3sec speed 7.
Add eggs, lemon juice and sugar, blend 1 min, speed 4 until pale.
With blades spinning at speed 4, add oil in a thin slow stream to top of lid. The oil will slowly slip into the dressing through the gaps under the measuring cup and should emulsify.
Add rest of ingredients and process until smooth ( few seconds at speed 5-6)
Salt and pepper to taste, add more lemon juice to thin or to taste.
NB:- some handy tips from the above recipe ( recipe community) for chicken Caesar salad, oven baking bacon and croutons together saves time and washing up and steamed honey marinated chicken in Varoma would be another healthy option. We used a supermarket roast chicken this time. And this was a great dish for getting the kids in the kitchen to help washing, cutting, and preparing all the ingredients. Alternatively to reduce oil content, a lighter dressing to use is her yoghurt dressing which was published on her blog as part of the Lebanese style meatballs recipe or the yoghurt based dressing in the recipe community link above.
Yoghurt dressing
1/2 cup unsweetened yoghurt (plain or Greek)
1 clove garlic, crushed
1 tbsp lemon juice
1/2 cup finely chopped mint/parsley/coriander – one or all
Chelsea Winter’s Vietnamese Salad dressing. Used Thermomix to make the dressing ; grate a cm piece of ginger (speed 7) as a sub for the ginger juice , then added all the other ingredients per the recipe blitz (speed 5). Marinated some chicken thigh pieces in some of the dressing. Tossed all salad ingredients with dressing and topped with roasted peanuts. (Can use tmx to coleslaw the vegetables and herbs then add cooked rice noodles and chicken to the coleslaw.) left out chillies and added a little sweet chilli sauce and chopped chillies to adults plates. Delish.
http://chelseawinter.co.nz/greek-style-fish-salad/ Chelsea Winter is a star ! Another fabulous recipe that is easily put together with the thermomix but really you don’t even need one because it’s so simple and the flavours are so delicious. This has to be the freshest most tasty fish salad we’ve ever had. Made it for afternoon tea and dinner because we have a busy evening ahead with kids activities and concerts. Toasted some pita bread so the kids could fill with the salad. I couldn’t believe it when I saw Miss 8 eating the red onions and the olives by themselves (she’s never liked these before) and filling her pita bread to the brim. The hero of the dish is the feta herb dressing, blitzed a few seconds in TM bowl. Will be doubling the dressing next time. Lucky for us we have tons of oregano growing the the garden so we could chop and sprinkle fresh oregano onto the fish fillets. The sumac gives the fish a slightly lemony flavour and pan fried in butter, it’s just sublime. Steamed the potatoes in the Varoma, 20 minutes, varoma temp, speed 2 with 500g water in TM bowl. Didn’t have asparagus, used blanched beans instead. This will now be our number one favourite fish salad.
Love Beetroot salad and the guided recipe for beetroot salad is one of our most frequently used recipes. More often than not there will always be some raw beetroot salad in the fridge to snack on so when I spotted the recipe for marinated beetroot salad on Quirky cooking’s blog, had to try it. It’s lovely. The beetroot has been marinating in the fridge overnight and is still crunchy and refreshing. The marinade is used as a dressing so dinner is just an assembly job. And there’s plenty leftover for another salad another day. Notes: halve beetroot before julienne into slices.
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