Thermomix

I was listening to a cooking talk show on the radio one Saturday morning as I was driving to an appointment and heard about using canned tomatoes to make relish.  I looooove relish and always want to make it, but don’t want to commit myself to a large quantity at one time and always seem to miss the tomato season so when I’m finally ready to get around to making it the tomatoes are too expensive.

Lately I’ve been using my Thermomix to make jams, sweet sauces and homemade butter with success.  I love knowing exactly what is going into them and the taste is far superior to store-bought, mass produced products. So this got me thinking…using canned tomatoes + the Thermomix to make relish…I hunted around for recipes, but didn’t find anything that looked just right, so melded a few together and adjusted the taste once I’d finished cooking and have come up with a delicious Thermomix tomato relish recipe using canned tomatoes!  

Canned tomatoes are mega cheap…for 80c or 90c a can, you can make a few jars of relish for just a few dollars!  It is sooo tasty, we’ve been eating it on ham sandwiches, with crackers and cheese, chips, burgers and homemade sausage rolls.  I’m excited to have a quick, cheap and easy recipe to use now and it makes a great gift too.  This quantity of relish filled about 4 jars – they were all random sizes, but at a guess I’d say it makes just under 2 liters.  You could easily halve the recipe if you didn’t want to make as much.

2 x 400g cans tomatoes
2 large onions, cut into small cubes
1 apple, peeled, cut into small cubes
1 Tbs curry powder
1 Tbs salt
1 dessert spoon mustard
180g white vinegar
80g white sugar
60g brown sugar
1 Tbs cornflour 

Place all ingredients except cornflour into Thermomix bowl.  Cook on 100 degrees, speed 1 for 30 minutes. 
Make a paste with cornflour mixed in a little vinegar.  Add to relish and cook on 100 degrees, speed 1 for a further 1 minute.
Pour relish into sterilised jars and seal. (Relish will be runny, but will thicken on cooling).

(NOTE: Because I only make a small quantity of relish at one time, I’m not too pedantic about my jars.  To sterilise them, I half-fill them with water and place in the microwave for a couple of minutes, until the water comes to a rapid boil.)

This slice is my favourite.  It tastes amazing with a great crunchy texture, is simple to make and lasts for awhile (if you don’t eat it first!) and I guess you could justify this slice as being healthy with all that weetbix, right?!  I used this recipe from Taste, but didn’t make as much icing and sprinkled with 100s and 1000s instead of rainbow choc chips.  A great slice for the lunchbox as it is nice and firm and the icing sets completely so it travels well.

Oscar looooves cheese & bacon scrolls.  When ever I make a batch of these everyone complains because they are gone too fast – they really are super delicious (really, what bread fresh from the oven isn’t delicious?!). I made a batch this week so that they came out of the oven just as Oscar stepped off the school bus…talk about coolest Mum ever!

This is how I make them in the Thermomix – but I’ve been making them by hand or using the bread maker for longer than that.  I used to use the basic bread recipe in the Everyday Cookbook for all of my breads, but a friend shared this bread recipe with me and it’s all I will use now.  It does take a little longer, but the bread is much nicer and lasts way longer.  

This recipe was from my sister (who got it from her friend, but it originated here, apparently).  It makes a truck-load of cookies.  And you don’t have to use your Thermomix for it, but I thought it would be handy to convert it over and give Thermomix instructions for you TM lovers out there.  The finished mixture is WAY too much to fit in the Thermomix, so you’ll need a massive bowl and strong muscles to mix everything together at the end, but the Thermomix does make light work of all of the grinding, creaming and beating.

These are my new favourite chocolate chip cookies.  I have to leave the whole nuts out so that the kids will eat them, and they love them too.  The best part is that I manage to squeeze a few healthier options (nuts, oats) into them and they are non the wiser.

Usually I’ll make up the mixture and bake a couple of trays then freeze the rest of the mixture in balls to bake later.  I always bag them in lots of 15 because that’s how many biscuits I can fit on one tray.  Great for quickly baking when I need something for school lunches or to give to a friend or take somewhere last minute.

The recipe does indeed make a gazillion cookies – About 120, depending on how big you make the balls.  I did have a whole heap of lovely, step-by-step instructions photographs to use in this blog post but accidentally deleted them from my camera (argh!)so you’ll just have to use your imagination!!

490g rolled oats
200g dark chocolate
170g almonds
250g nuts (peanuts or cashews)
480g butter
220g raw sugar
230g brown sugar
4 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
600g plain flour
1 tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp bicarb soda
500g chocolate chips (milk, white or dark – or combination)
2 cups pecans (or other nuts) chopped

Place oats in Thermomix bowl.  Process into powder on speed 9 for 10 seconds.  Pour into big mixing bowl.
Place 200g dark chocolate into Thermomix bowl.  Grate on speed 7 for 4 seconds.  Pour into big mixing bowl.
Place almonds into Thermomix bowl.  Grind on speed 9 for 10 seconds.  Pour into big mixing bowl.
Place 250g nuts into Thermomix bowl.  Make into butter by processing on speed 7 for 10-20 seconds.  Leave in bowl.
Add butter, raw sugar and brown sugar to Thermomix bowl.  Cream together on speed 5 for 2 minutes, using spatula to incorporate.
Add eggs and vanilla.  Mix together on speed 5 for 30 seconds.
Add plain flour, salt, baking powder, bicarb soda, chocolate chips and nuts to big mixing bowl.  Mix dry ingredients together using a large spoon or spatula.
Pour creamed mixture from the Thermomix into the big mixing bowl.  Mix into dry ingredients using a large spoon or spatula.  Continue mixing until everything is well combined.

To bake cookies:
Drop tablespoonfuls of mixture onto baking-paper lined trays.  Allow room for spreading.  Bake in 180 degree celsius oven for 8-10 minutes.

To freeze mixture:
Drop tablespoonfuls of mixture onto baking-paper lined trays.  Fill tray, making sure that balls don’t touch.  Place in freezer for half an hour.  Remove and place balls into snap-lock bags.  Store in freezer.

To bake frozen mixture:
Take frozen balls from freezer and place onto baking-paper lined trays.  Allow room for spreading and sit at room temperature for 15 minutes.  Bake in 180 degree celsius oven for 8-10 minutes.

A lovely friend shared this recipe with me on our last trip to Melbourne.  I can’t believe I’ve waited so long to try it out – it was scrummy!  And super quick and easy to whip up too.  A great crowd pleaser…even the kids were coming back for seconds!

(If you’re making it without a thermo, just use a food processor to make the pastry and melt the ganache over the stove or in the microwave – simple!)

Rich Shortcrust Pastry:
225g plain flour
1/4 tsp salt
1 Tbs sugar
125g butter
1 egg yolk
2 Tbs water
1/4 tsp lemon juice

Ganache Filling:
360g white chocolate
190g cream
+ 450g frozen raspberries (or you can use fresh)

To make Pastry:
Place flour, salt, sugar and butter into Thermomix.  Process on speed 6 for 10 seconds until mixture resembles fine bread crumbs.
Add egg yolk, water and lemon juice.  Knead on interval speed for 40-60 seconds or until mixture forms a ball.
Remove pastry from Thermomix, shape into a flat disc, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 10 minutes.
Roll dough out on a lightly floured surface.
Grease a loose-based flan or tart tin.  Line base and sides of tin with pastry.
Prick pastry with a fork, place a sheet of baking paper into the pastry case and top with dried beans or rice (I use dried chick peas).
Bake in moderate oven for 12 minutes.
Remove beans and baking paper and bake for a further 10 minutes.
Allow to cool.

To make Ganache:
Place white chocolate and cream into clean Thermomix bowl.
Melt together on 50 degrees, speed 2 for 5 minutes.
Pour ganache into pastry case and refrigerate overnight or until cold and set.  (It will not go totally hard, you should be able to make an indent with your fingertip.)

An hour or two before serving, top tart with frozen raspberries to allow time for them to defrost.

And you’re done! A super easy dessert that’s sure to impress 🙂