Fiona Hoskin is one of my most favourite people, she is an award winning Chef who has turned around her cooking & eating habits around to be gluten free, grain free & refined sugar free. I have learnt so much from Fee over the almost 7 years we have been friends. I just love her infectious positivity & her delicious healthy recipes. Most are available on her website & I’ve been lucky enough to cook, test & photograph some of the recipes too 🙂
WOW! Dreams do come true!! What an epic year 2017 has been for me, filled with delicious food & wonderful friends both new & old from all over the world! This year has been brought to me by the number 4 (sometimes with added 0/s)
4 Blades –Â This year I started working for The 4 Blades Magazine doing some of their food photography every month & even had 3 issues in a row where my photo made it to the front cover!! To be paid to do what you love is just so awesome, I’m so happy!
4 trips – I went to Auckland for Thermofest, a sneaky girls trip to Melbourne to Dani Valent’s Thermomix Restaurant Club at Vue De Monde (including a VIP tour of their kitchen), to Italy for the Thermomix Emerald Class trip & a whirlwind trip of Australia working for Sophia the Thermomix Baking Blogger – 10 classes in 6 cities in 2 weeks!! (Including behind the scenes at the Dani Valent set watching the filming!!)
40 is fabulous!! I turned the big 40 in June this year & celebrated by throwing a dress up Foodie 40th Birthday Party. My friend Rosey made me a Thermomix costume for the party & it has now been worn by myself, Dani Valent & Sophia (Thermomix Baking Blogger) not to mention taking the costume on the baking cooking class tour around Australia too!!
400 – This year I have now clocked over to having more than 400 Thermomix customers. I can hardly believe it & I’m so grateful to have met so many awesome people through Thermomix over the 6 years I have been a consultant. It’s been so amazing seeing people that have been wanting a Thermomix for ages finally getting one in their kitchen or lucky people getting a Thermomix as a gift. I love seeing families cooking with their Thermomix making things they never thought they could or would make. Some customers even have 2 Thermomix on their bench too!!
Food 4 thought – it’s always about the food tasting & trying new recipes. This year I cooked over 50 Italian recipes, I finished cooking & photographing every recipe from the Entertaining with Dani Valent Cookbook – my favourite Thermomix Cookbook!! And I got my model 5 Thermomix signed by Dani Valent herself (pictured above). I have learnt how to make some of the best bread this year from Sophia’s 7 day 7 breads challenge & by reading & cooking from her Real Bread Cookbook. I’ve met some amazing Chefs & dined at some delicious restaurants while ticking off my foodie bucket list. I’ve been to lots of awesome cooking classes. The best times I’ve had, have been cooking with friends, sharing tips, recipes, ideas, learning new cooking skills together, chatting, laughing & tasting homemade flavoursome food made from scratch with good quality ingredients. You really can taste the love in the food. (Yes I’m getting all soppy!)
Cheers to you all, I wish everyone a very Happy 2018 with lots more delicious Thermomix cooking with family & friends.
I’m so excited that Dani Valent has answered my Famous ThermoFive questions. She is my foodie/Thermomix hero & she is coming to Tasmania next week & will be in Hobart for her Entertaining with Dani Valent Cooking Class on Wed 18th Oct at 6.30pm. It will be the best $70 you will spend in a long time – trust me!! Book here there only a few spots are left 🙂 (Did I mention the Entertaining with Dani Valent Cookbook is my favourite Thermomix Cookbook?!) If you can’t make it to the class, I recommend signing up to Dani Valent Cooking, Dani’s awesome online video subscription site for amazing Thermomix recipes, tips & tricks.
FAMOUS THERMOFIVE
1. What do you love about your Thermomix?
I love the fact my Thermomix is there to help me with whatever I want to do. When I’m in a rush and just need to get dinner on the table, there it is! When I’m feeling creative and want to try new techniques or ingredients, there it is! When I need to replenish my basics – stock, pesto, flours, yoghurt, dips – there it is again. And, of course, when I need an emergency cocktail or cheesecake, there it is again!Â
2. What is your favourite Thermomix Cookbook or Thermomix recipe?
I’ll always have a soft spot for vegetable stock paste. It’s one of the first things I made in my Thermomix when I got my first one in 2008 and there’s barely been a day that I haven’t had some on hand since. I feel honestly unequipped to go forth through life without it! And fave book…well, I’m very fond of this lovely Entertaining book right now 😉
3. What is your top Thermomix tip?
Trust it! Your Thermomix is your best friend in the kitchen: reliable and always there for you. Let it be the confidence boost that allows you to try new dishes, flavours and experiences. I love hearing that people have made their first curry paste, or tried bread making for the first time, or felt equipped and inspired to host a dinner party – that’s what my cookbooks and videos are all about!
4. What is your quick & easy go to meal?
I’m a sucker for a grain salad – steamed grains in the Thermomix, perhaps with steamed vegies or vegies that I roast in the oven. It’s endlessly adaptable and even if I’m having a ‘oh my goodness there’s no food in the house!’ day I can still scrape together something delicious and nourishing. My secret is to always have condiments on hand – kimchi, vadouvan curry powder, furikake, chutney, for example – and then you can turn any basic meal into something special.
5. Which Thermomix recipe/s do you want to try next?
I’m thinking new cocktails for summer – my mind is buzzing with ideas. I can tell this is going to be pretty tough research!Â
Thanks so much Dani Valent, we are all so excited about your upcoming cooking class.
Hooray for truffle season!! I am in love with truffles, the aroma makes my head spin & my taste buds salivate. So what should you do with your truffle to get the most out of it? I just love truffle infused eggs for making the most delicious & decadent scrambled egg, it’s actually one of the only scrambled egg recipes I really enjoy 🙂
To infuse the eggs, place them together with the truffle in the fridge in a large glass jar with a lid & some paper towel. you should change the paper towel every day or so. I love this job because you get to smell the truffle again!! Aromatherapy to the max!! Truffles also go well with fresh pasta & I love making truffle butter to just simply spread on a piece of toasted sourdough bread!! This year i used some of my truffle infused eggs to make a steamed omelette!! Only the best omelette I’ve ever eaten!!
A few of the recipes I made this year are from The Truffle Cookbook. (The launch lunch of this cookbook is definitely in my top 3 meals of my life!! It was a truffle feast where I went into a truffle induced coma & had truffle oozing from my pores for the next day!!) I buy the 2nd’s truffles to keep the cost down & thankfully this year there was a 15% special due to them having such a good season!! Happy Days for me!! This truffle cost me $100 delivered (delivery was $20).
Scrambled eggs with truffle infused eggs & truffle butter.
Thanks so much to Sally for letting me share her soup recipe & I have converted it to the Thermomix of course. Sally does Chinese cooking classes from her gorgeous home in Lymington, (just past Cygnet) Tasmania. They are great value & so much delicious fun! To find out about Sally’s classes you can email her [email protected]
Sally’s Hot & Sour Soup recipe -in the foreground you can see the the ingredients used in the soup- sichuan pepper, dried wood ear mushrooms & dried shitake mushrooms & Chinese style knife all purchased at our local Asian grocers.
Sally's original recipe is made using a wok not a Thermomix 🙂
Ingredients
Cooking Oil
20 schichuan peppercorns
1 - 2 Spring onions finely chopped
A few slices of ginger
a few dried shitake mushrooms soaked, strained, stems removed (keep the soaking water)
optional - a few dried black fungus/wood ears, soaked, strained & thinly sliced
400g fresh, frozen or bottled tomatoes roughly chopped
2- 3 tbs soy sauce
1 litre of stock/water include the mushroom straining water into this (you can use 1 tbs of stock paste & water)
ground white pepper to taste
Chinese black vinegar to taste
Salt to taste
400g medium firm tofu sliced
2 eggs
sesame oil
fresh coriander & extra sliced spring onions to serve
Instructions
Add Sichuan pepper to a dry wok & roast till it starts to smoke, add about 1 tablespoon of oil (Sally uses rice bran oil) allow the pepper to turn black. Turn off the heat.
Add the ginger to the TM bowl & chop 3 secs, speed 7.
Add Shitake mushrooms & chop 3 secs, speed 7, scrape down the TM bowl.
Add the oil & Sichuan pepper along with the spring onions, shitake mushrooms & wood ear mushrooms & cook for 3 mins, varoma temperature, reverse, speed 1.
Add the tomatoes & soy sauce & cook for 5 mins, 100 degrees, reverse, speed 1.
Add the liquid/stock & black vinegar & white pepper to taste keep adding & then tasting until you are happy with the flavour.
Mix cornflour with a little water & add to the soup, bring it up to the boil again, 2 mins 100 degrees, reverse speed 1.
Add simmering basket & place tofu into the basket & cook for 2 mins, 100 degrees, speed soft reverse. Remove tofu & basket & keep warm in a Thermoserver.
Whisk the 2 eggs together in a bowl. Set the TM for 1 min, 100 degrees, reverse speed 2 & slowly pour in the egg mixture.
Serve with the warm tofu placed into each bowl & pour hot soup on top & garnish with spring onion & or fresh coriander.
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