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Messages - alioc
1
« on: December 16, 2012, 01:06:40 am »
I often do iced cookies for Christmas. The key to ensuring that they don't lose their shape too much is to make sure that the dough is well chilled at every stage. You need to chill the dough once you've rolled it out, then chill on the trays after cutting. Make sure that the oven is at the correct temperature. Don't bake your cookies on a stinking hot day, as the dough starts to get really soft really quickly.
The problem, especially with sugar cookies or butter based ones is that the butter starts to melt in the hot oven before they begin to bake, so they start to spread. With chilling, the outside of the cookies tends to bake and hold it's shape better.
Yes, it's an extra step, but worth it if you're a perfectionist who won't be satisfied unless they are just right.
2
« on: October 06, 2012, 03:21:54 am »
I've had my TM since May but hadn't quite got around to making CADA. What took me so long?!
It's so delicious and quick to make. I also add a couple of spoonfuls of rolled oats to give me a bit more oomph to make it till lunch time. I also love it with a dollop of yogurt or Quirky Jo's cashew cream. It tastes so decadent...
3
« on: August 04, 2012, 12:44:03 pm »
I made this for dinner tonight, and it was delicious. I think next time I'll add a little more salt and maybe a chilli or two in the curry paste. Hubs hates chicken skin, so I used chicken thighs instead, and also coconut milk instead of coconut cream and forgot the water! Otherwise, strictly to the recipe.
I also didn't wash out the TM bowl after making the paste, and then filled it with water to make the rice and steam the veggies on top. I got every last bit of the paste that way.
Was anyone else's green? It looks very brown in the book and in other's photos, but mine was pale green... No problem, just not what I was expecting! It could have stayed in the oven a bit longer, but it smelled good and we were HUNGRY!
Yum... definitely will be repeated on days when I'm at home and have time to watch the oven.
4
« on: July 26, 2012, 12:16:48 pm »
I find that it rounds out the tomato flavour by mellowing out the acidity, but you could leave it out if you prefer. Let me know how it turns out!
5
« on: July 26, 2012, 11:58:49 am »
Name of recipe: "From the Pantry" Tomato Pasta Sauce
Number of People: 2-3
Ingredients:
4 garlic cloves (we LOVE garlic, reduce to 2 if you prefer)
1/2 tsp dried chilli flakes
1 onion, quartered
20g EVOO
1 440g can diced tomatoes
1 tsp salt
1 tbs brown sugar
Preparation:
Put the garlic, chilli and onion into the TM bowl, and chop for 5 secs/speed 5. Add the olive oil and cook for 5 mins/Varoma/speed 1.
Add the tomatoes, salt and sugar, and cook for 20 mins/Varoma/speed 3. Spoon over pasta.
Tips/Hints:
If you are making gnocchi, you can steam the potatoes for in the Varoma while the sauce is cooking. Add half a can of water with the tomatoes, and increase the cooking time to 25 mins. Place the sauce in the Thermoserver while you continue preparing the gnocchi. If the sauce is too thick by the time you've finished boiling the gnocchi, add a little of the pasta water to loosen it up.
6
« on: July 13, 2012, 12:05:53 am »
Hmmm... I'm not so sure about this book. None of these recipes has blown me away, despite being a reasonably competent cook pre-TMX and now being quite confident with my kitchen buddy. It's making me reluctant to do the more complex and expensive dishes as I don't want to waste ingredients on a mediocre recipe. Is anyone else having similar experiences or is it just me?
I've made the following recipes:
Hainanese Chicken Rice
Okonomiyaki
White Bean Soup (see upthread for disaster story)
Broccoli Pesto
I notice not many people have tried the more complicated ones either... have I just picked the duds from the book? Or is the book in need of some serious editing?
7
« on: July 04, 2012, 08:33:28 am »
I have Mum's copy of In the Mix and my own of For Food's Sake. So far I've made three recipes from ITM, and they've all been a little disappointing. One was a complete failure (see White Bean Truffled Soup review for my experience), the Hainanese chicken rice was nice but not mind-blowing for the time and effort, and the okonomiyaki were very soft and a bit hard to deal with, although tasty. There are a lot of recipes that look spectacular though more dinner party type food, and given my experiences, I would want to test-run a recipe first before trying it out on guests!
From For Food's Sake, I've made the Cinnamon Scrolls, Caramelised Garlic Paste, Citrus Curd, Flavoured Butter, Chorizo Fajitas, Calzone, Chorizo, Lentil and Sweet Potato soup and Cranberry & Almond Granuesli. All the recipes have worked first time and taste great. I wish there were more books like this - I really like Tenina's flavours.
8
« on: July 04, 2012, 08:24:07 am »
I made this yesterday. I agree, they are a bit more dense and bready than I would have liked. I added a couple of tablespoons of milk to the frosting as I thought it looked a bit thick in the picture and the milk made it more of a drizzle.
Also, I think I didn't roll it into a long enough rectangle. Some measurements would be handy - a lot of scroll recipes indicate the approximate measurements of the rectangle.
Nobody was complaining though as we ate them post-rehearsal! Delicious.
9
« on: June 30, 2012, 07:10:51 am »
So delicious! My partner likes Carman's cranberry cluster cereal but ran out today so I offered to make Tenina's. The smell while it was cooking was so good, that I couldn't resist and just had a small bowl for afternoon tea. Brilliant. I may even abandon porridge one day this week so that I can have a bowl. There may be a fight over the last serve!
10
« on: June 30, 2012, 02:35:17 am »
I made this recipe with a few variations. I swapped out the mushroom mix for leftover diced roast pumpkin that needed to be used up.
I also made individual small calzone instead of a large one. I divided the pizza dough into 8 pieces, which I rolled out into circles. I put the filling ingredients over half of each round, then folded it over and folded the edges like a pastie. I ended up using much less of the ricotta and grated cheese than the recipe suggested.
The result - very good! Excellent for my lunch at work the next day, and the rest are now in the freezer. I do wish I seasoned each of them a little better - maybe the mushroom mix had a bit more salt and pepper.
11
« on: May 29, 2012, 12:26:48 am »
I think I figured out the problem.
In the original version of the recipe, it calls for dried beans and 1.5kg of water. In the variation, it says you can use 3 cans of cannellini beans with no adjustment to the water amount. Surely, canned beans are not going to absorb the same amount of water, so you need to add less. I think if the recipe was adjusted to 1kg of water, it would have some flavour. Even so, there was only half an onion and one clove of garlic, so not a lot of flavour to start with.
I showed my partner and he agreed that it looked like the water that we pour out of Thermi when we've done a cleaning "cycle".
12
« on: May 28, 2012, 11:17:21 am »
Has anyone tried the White Bean & Truffle Soup?
I came home at 6:45pm, starving hungry and realised that I could cook this soup with its variations in 15 mins with lots of leftovers for lunch tomorrow and to freeze.
I followed the recipe variations to the letter, using 3 cans of cannellini beans instead of dried beans, and 20g of truffle oil. The soup is thin, and it's subtle flavour is VERY subtle to the point of non-existence. It's a bit like dishwater to be honest. The description says that it's "surprisingly hearty" but to even approximate a meal, I've had to use the rest of my expensive cheese to make cheese on toast to go with it.
I'm so disappointed I could cry... what went wrong?!
13
« on: May 27, 2012, 01:41:44 pm »
We made these for dinner tonight, hubby's first attempt at making a full meal in TMX, with some coaching from the sidelines. It was absolutely delicious and very simple.
14
« on: May 26, 2012, 08:12:39 am »
This is my tweak to Porridge for 1. While deliciously creamy, I found that the original recipe was too runny for my taste. Raspberry & lemon porridge30g rolled oats 200g milk 1tsp sugar 1 pinch salt 1 handful frozen raspberries 2 tsp lemon curd Place rolled oats, milk, sugar and salt in the TM bowl. Cook at 100C on  at speed 3 for 5 mins. When there is still 10 secs to go, drop the raspberries through the lid. Once cooked, pour into a bowl and allow to sit for a minute or two. Add extra milk if desired and stir through a dollop of lemon curd. Absolutely delicious.
15
« on: May 15, 2012, 01:16:22 pm »
I made these for lunch today, but instead of the topping in the recipe, used a bit of extra cheese (about 50g), 2 spring onions and a little butter (maybe 1.5 tbs) whizzed together. Delicious.
I was worried that I'd done something wrong at first as the dough was a lot stickier than the EDC bread I made. It was tricky to get out and had to soak the bowl later. The scrolls, once baked, were fluffy and soft, and were eaten hot from the oven! A girlfriend dropped around for a coffee and was also very impressed with the two I saved for her. She hadn't seen Mr T yet either, so was pretty amazed at what it could do.
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