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!
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!
Thanks so much Dani Valent, we are all so excited about your upcoming cooking class.
Thanks so much Sylvia for giving me this recipe to share, you can meet Sylvia at the Italian Pantry, which is where you can buy the cherries for this recipe.
Thanks to Sylvia for letting me share her delicious & easy recipe.
Ingredients
500g Blanched Almonds into almond meal
500g caster sugar into icing sugar
6 egg whites
Amarena cherries in syrup 250g
Almond flakes or pistachios to roll into the biscuits
Instructions
Mix the almond meal, icing sugar & egg whites in the Thermomix to form a marzipan like consistency low and slow. (I did it at speed 4 for about 30 secs.)
Form the biscuits into balls and put a cherry in the centre. Roll in almond flakes and let them sit for 4-6 hours the longer the better, at room temperature.
Cook until golden on 160 degrees.
Notes
Sylvia normally makes a half batch. You can make your own almond meal & icing sugar in the Thermomix on speed 10 for about 10 secs.
I used sweet potato instead of potato for this version.
Click here for Helen’s Massaman Curry Paste Recipe -Thanks so much Helen for letting me post your delicious recipe, it’s a regular in our house now & a family favourite 🙂
I have made this recipe in the Thermomix too you just need to make sure you don't go above the max line so you may need to adjust the quantities. Also cook on 90 degrees on speed soft & keep checking it to see if it is tender, the time will depend on the type of meat you have used & how large you have chopped it up - don't forget to use reverse.
Ingredients
1 kg meat (*see note below)
½ kg potatoes (approx)
1 onion, medium sized
2 cinnamon sticks
6 star anise
4 cardamom pods
1 tablespoon tamarind block/paste
25 ml fish sauce
25 ml palm sugar
1 can coconut milk (might need extra)
1 small can Maesri (114 gm) massaman paste or ⅓ cup of massaman paste (see previous post)
HINT Buy palm sugar in the round blocks, then break up into lumps with pestle and chopper, and keep in an airtight glass jar
HINT Buy the 1 ltr cartons of coconut milk. The oil separates much better in carton coconut milk.
*Can be chicken, beef, lamb….whatever you want it to be. On the bone is best, chicken marylands can be halved. Chicken thighs are fine, halved too, or chuck steak or leg of lamb with the lamb cut off.
Slurry Mix
For 1 kg of meat, use a ratio of the ingredients below to make a slurry mix (to be added to the massaman at the start of the cook):
25 ml fish sauce
25 g palm sugar
25 g tamarind block
Dry Spice Mix
2 cinnamon sticks
1 tablespoon coriander seeds
2 star anise
2 candlenuts
Instructions
NOTE This recipe may seem complex. It’s not. But there are a series of separate different things that need to be done to ultimately lead to the finished product.
Slurry Mix - Blend with enough water to make a slurry, then set aside
Dry Spice Mix - After dry roasting the ingredients for about 5 mins, add all except the cinnamon sticks into muslin or a chux wipe, tie up with kitchen string, and set aside, so then that little muslin bag too can be added to the massaman at cooking time.
Chop up dutch cream potatoes (approx 1 kg) into large chunks
Chop meat into large chunks
Quarter a medium sized onion
Pour approx ½ cup coconut milk into your large saucepan.
Add massaman paste, and stir fry mix till the oil in the coconut milk separates (approx 10 mins)
Then add to the saucepan: the tamarind slurry, chicken pieces (or beef, or whatever meat you’re using) the muslin bag containing the dry roasted spices, the cinnamon sticks, the quartered onion & approx half cup water.
Let the onion cook for approx 5 mins in this mixture, then add the chopped potatoes, ½ cup coconut milk (can add more if required later too)
Cook on a low heat for approx 45 mins. (For a beef massaman, if using a cheaper cut of beef, like chuck steak, you'll need to cook longer till it reaches the pull apart, fork tender stage). Obviously, the cooking time is also dictated by the size you have cut your meat pieces.
You want the onion and meat to be slow cooked, and for the sweetness of the onion flavour to come out into the massaman.
I have Thermofied Helen's by making the paste in the Thermomix pureeing the paste ingredients on speed 10 for 10 secs.
Ingredients
10g dried red chillies, soaked in boiling hot water for 30 mins.
2 cardamom pods, roasted
1¼ teaspoons cumin seeds, roasted
1½ teaspoons coriander seeds, roasted
1½ teaspoons shrimp paste,
¼ teaspoon whole black peppercorns
2 cloves
¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 stalk lemongrass, finely sliced
1 tablespoon galangal, peeled and finely chopped
¼ cup garlic, finely chopped
½ cup red onion, finely chopped
Instructions
Roast the shrimp paste, wrapped in foil and roasted in 200C oven for 15 mins
Roast dry spices as noted above (except for dried chillies and shrimp paste), in dry pan stirring constantly, till pungent, then put aside.
Combine roasted dry spices, peppercorns, cloves and cinnamon into the Thermomix Bowl for 1 min/ speed 10.
Remove chillies from water (keep the water) and chop finely & add to the dry spices.
Add all remaining paste ingredients and process 30 secs to a min on speed 9 to a form a paste, using some of the chilli soaking water if the paste needs to be moistened during this process.
Makes approx 1 cup of paste. Paste can be kept frozen in an ice cube container, or will keep in the fridge for approx 2 weeks.
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.
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