added by brazen
500 g of stock
500g potatoes
500g chicken breasts
500g of vegies
100g cream cheese
20g flourPut say half litre of stock in the TM bowl, (water and stock concentrate if you are making the stock yourself).
Potatoes chopped up in the steamer basket
Chicken breast cut into strips in the Varoma dish (bottom layer), sprinkle with some Herbamore or other seasoning
Vegies on the top layer of the Varoma dish (whatever vegies you like, fill it up!)
Cook potatoes on Varoma temp for 10mins speed 4, then put the Varoma on the top for a further 20mins
If all are cooked, remove Varoma and potatoes, set aside and keep warm.
To the liquid remaining in the TM bowl, add 100g block of Philly cream cheese and about 30g of flour, cook for 2 mins on speed 4, 100C
That then becomes the cheesy sauce to pour over the chicken, vegies and potatoes-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Thanks to CP & Cookie, here are some of the alternatives compiled from all the comments following this recipe. Individual members' comments will follow on from this list.Thanks CP63 & cookie .. This recipe has been adapted to suit the taste buds of our forum members, and some of the variations are:
In TM jug: with Potatoes in Steamer Basket
a) Vermouth, sage or thyme herbs
b) Substitute 100g of stock with wine, 1 clove garlic, 1 onion sautéed in butter
c) honey, mustard, Maggie Beer Verjuice, garlic
d) Substitute Potatoes with 200g dry Pasta shells/macaroni – no need for flour/cornflour (will need to increase stock to 1 litre, if too much at end just reduce on Varoma before adding cream cheese and cornflour)
e) Lemon/Basil Sauce (
http://www.forumthermomix.com/index.php?topic=1063.30)
f) Sauté onion & curry powder/paste in TM before adding stock. Reduce stock & thicken with Gravox or rice flour. Saute chilli, ginger and garlic & make a Chinese stock thickening with rice or cornflour.
g) 440g stock, 100g cream cheese, 30g cornflour
h) Saute a diced leek in butter first; add white wine/stock and mustard. Cook 200g macaroni for approx 20 minutes.
i) Substitute cream cheese with goats cheese
j) Dairy free: add some coconut cream and a little more cornflour
k) Tomato, Mushroom & Onion based sauce (
http://www.forumthermomix.com/index.php?topic=1063.90)
Diced Chicken in Bottom Varoma: (Spray dish with cooking spray before adding chicken)
a) Marinate Chicken first with 1 tablespoon chilli jam stir fry paste
b) Sprinkle both sides of chicken fillets with Dukkah
c) Sprinkle with Lemon Herb salt
d) Sprinkle thyme on chicken
individual members' comments & ideasJD - I had a packet of 3 of those chicken breast steaks from Foodland (I think it is 1 chicken fillet sliced through thinly to get 3 pieces). I marinated it for 1/2 hour in 1 tablespoon chilli jam stir fry paste. Because they were so thin I only put them in the bottom of the varoma dish for the last 10 minutes of the total cooking time of the vegies. I cut the potatoes into quite large chunks, did cauli, broccoli, thin slices carrot and pumpkin and whole beans and they were all cooked to perfection in the time given. I think the chicken steaks would have only needed 8 minutes though. The cheese sauce was very thin at the end so I had to add more cornflour but it was still too thin (delicious though) so next time I will tip some of the stock out and just leave 500g of liquid in there.
With a bit of tweaking we found this to be a quick, delicious meal. Thanks baf65.
brazen - it was a very mild tasting meal which grew on me (I rarely eat mild tasting food). I would have loved it with a splash of white wine and a sprinkle of herbs such as sage or thyme. Will do it again though (though the quantities weren't quite enough for our family of 2 adults, 3 children)
Made this again and added 40g of vermouth to the sauce, yummo!
I've been chopping my veg too small though - about 15mm and they are overdone - but the size is great for us, so I think I'll cut the cooking time down a little next time.
riv mum - Love this! So quick and easy and exactly what thermomix cooking is all about. I use white wine in the sauce and it was delicious. You could also add some mustard or honey to make a honey mustard type sauce which I will try next time.
mel81q - This is the first meal I have made in the Thermomix and my goodness - my husband and I are totally rapt with "investment". Hope everything cooks as good as this!!!
LA Mummy - vegies a bit thin on the ground so had sweet potato, beans, peas and corn. So yummy, even the offspring were looking for seconds. Fantastic the way TM can get such great flavour from such simple ingredients. Call me backward but this was the first time I'd used the Varoma. Soo easy!!
Michp - very nice. We had some left over sauce and used that on pasta the following night, also tasted really nice.
cookie - It is a great recipe isn't it? I think that was my first all in one recipe and made me brave enough to experiment a bit.
cathy 79 - Delicious. Cooked with cauliflower and zucchini. The potatoes were so creamy and had a beautiful seasoned flavour from the stock. Would probably work really well for fish too. Thanks Baf!
KL inTheMix - Yumo!! Chopped some garlic and onion before putting the stock in. Added a splash of Maggie Beer Verjuice too.
Dusted the chook in some random pantry seasoning.... honestly.. have no idea what it was, got it bulk from DFIL ages ago..... full tray of broc, cauli, carrots on the top. 20minutes later a lovely dinner. Added some cream cheese and flour at the end as suggested too. Heaps of sauce left for tomorrows homemade pasta!!! Thanks baf65 for a fantastic recipe. SO EASY.
Nay-nay - So easy and delish - it will be a weekly! I diced the chicken (1kg) and had potato, carrots, zucchini, celery, red capsicum. I added garlic, honey and mustard to sauce (thanks that was such a good idea) added 200g of rice pasta shells to the sauce for 15min. Combined the lot to feed 5 adults, 2 big kids and 1 littlee (I pretty much had double mixture) Thanks heaps! Such a good recipe - you could make changes to it for every day of the week and the family would think they were eating a new dish.
JD - had it again. I very lightly sprinkled some dukkah on one side of the chicken fillets, added a glug of vermouth and 1 tspn seeded mustard to the stock, put halved baby potatoes, carrots and pumpkin in the basket with cabbage and cauliflower on the tray. Lovely meal with some leftover sauce now frozen for another day. Great recipe to play with.
cathy79 - I made a Tuna version of this. Basically, halve the vegetable stock concentrate (as tuna is quite salty). Steam all the vegies as per usual and set aside to make the sauce. I used 100g of cheddar instead of cream cheese. Once the sauce was made, I added a drained large tin of tuna, mixed and heated through. Serve the tuna sauce on top of the steamed vegies. Similar to Tuna Mornay but with lots of steamed vegies instead of pasta or rice.
RoxyS - Have made this and loved the sauce. Have since used the sauce as the basis for macaroni cheese as it is so tasty and easy. Being that bit thinner than a bechamel sauce it goes very well with the macaroni and with the vegie stock concentrate it tasted wonderful and all the family enjoyed it.
maddy - tried baf's dish with a lemon pepper sauce. First I made part 1. of the sauce, which was a tweaked version of the basil/lemon dressing in the festive book.
lemon/basil sauce (part 1.)
zest and juice of 1 lemon
50g parmesan cubed
2 cloves garlic
100 cashew nuts
handful basil leaves
1 tsp sugar
sea salt to taste
20g olive oil
Add the lemon peel, garlic, parmesan and cashews into locked Mill for 8 seconds - speed 9.
Add juice, basil, sugar and salt and mix for 6 seconds - speed 9
Add the oil on rotating blades, speed 3
Set this aside.
I then placed 500g large chopped potatoes into basket, with the 500g warm water mixed with 1 tsp. TM stock.
Cooked 10 minutes, varoma temp - speed 4.
I then placed broccoli, red capsicum strips and thin sliced carrots into top tray of varoma.
Cooked 10 minutes, varoma temp, speed 4.
Meanwhile I chopped 550g chicken breasts into medium chunks, and sprinkled with lemon pepper seasoning, and placed in the bottom of varoma.
Once the vegetables had finished cooking for their first 10 minutes, I added the chicken.
Cooked a further 12 minutes, varoma temp - speed 4.
Placed all in thermoserver.
I left all the stock in the jug, and added the 100g of cream cheese, and also added the lemon/basil/cashew mix (no need to add the flour).
Followed Bafs instructions of cooking that for 2 minutes - 100c - speed 4. then drizzled over the plated veg and chicken.
The sauce was delicious lemony-pepper flavour, and a lovely consistency. Kids were looking for some more so will make sure to add more chicken and veg next time.
Nay-nay - I made this with Hoki last night keeping the sauce thin (doubled the stock) to make a fish soup adding a tbsp of chili sauce and 200g of shell rice pasta. I call it soup as I served it in bowls and ate it with soup spoons. Garnished the top with fresh parsley - sooooo wish I took a photo - it was very MasterChef - LOL
Not sure if this has already been said but I have found it is far better dicing chicken after it is cooked especially the breast chicken - it gets a bit too dry if cooked the 20min. I put the whole chunks of breast in and cooked it on the 20min then diced it after and it was very 'noice'! Also I am a bit slow - most of you probably already do this but I found tonight if I put my rice pasta in the thermoserver with boiling water it is cooked by the time this dish is finished (30min) that saves me the extra 15 min at the end when I want to add pasta in. This really does make a huge meal.
rainbow - another winner. I used 30g cornflour in the sauce and it was just the right thickness. I did feel that the veg and chicken could be cooked for 15 mins rather than 20 mins but that was because of the size I chopped everything. Beautiful sauce we all thought.
versaceyoyo - yes I liked it - added wine to the sauce and loved the consistency of the sauce. Great all in one recipe.
farfallina - Thanks a lot for the recipe. It was one of the best chicken dishes I ever had!!! I've used 150g of philadelphia instead of 100g and 40g flour instead of 20! As for vegies, I used julienned eggplant, carrot, mushroom, red pepper and zucchini. I sprinkled chicken with some thyme. It was a great success!
MJ - This was soooo good! I marinated my chicken in lemon rind, lemon juice and some lemon and herb seasoning.
Used chicken stock powder and wine in the stock and used frozen chunky mixed vegies as I got home late. I did a double quantity and just put everything into a casserole dish in the oven on low to keep warm. Thanks, baf! I'll be doing this again and again. I think I would also leave the chicken breasts whole and cut up afterwards too.
You know, the possibilities are endless with this concept....
You can sauté onion and curry powder or paste in bowl before adding stock and make it a creamy curry; reduce the stock and simply thicken with gravox or rice flour; sauté chilli, ginger and garlic and make a chinese stock, thickening with rice or cornflour.
rainbow - Love the sauce in this recipe. Has anyone just made the sauce? If so how did they go about it, ratio of cheese to stock etc.
CC - rainbow my chicken did defrost and I made this tonight. After 20 minutes final cooking of this dish I weighed the stock and it was 440grms. I weighed the finished sauce before I poured it over the Chicken and veggies and it weighed 570 grms. I hope this helps or it could be totally useless!! It was delicious.
Rainbow - I made just the sauce using 440g of stock, 100g cream cheese, and 30g cornflour. I heated the stock for about 4 mins on varoma and then added the cream cheese and cornflour and cooked as per recipe, it made a lovely sauce, thanks for measuring the stock cornish cream.
rubyslippers - This was a winner here too! I used thighs instead of breast. For the veggies we had carrot, zucchini, broccoli, cauliflower & corn (frozen kernels). 1/2 a large block of Philly and 35g flour. Our chicken sprinkles were granulated garlic. This could also be great in a oven proof dish and sprinkled with grated cheese and baked! Will be making this again. Thank you baf65 + all the tweakers.
Carrie - such a great recipe. I freeze my chicken in 500g diced lots so had everything in the TMX cooking in 5 mins. Perfect, easy dinner for getting home late. I did chicken with honey and mustard sauce, delicious. Going to try it again this week with pork fillets and the same sauce.
MJ - Well, I'm trying it with macaroni. I know there'll be the starch from the pasta, but that just means I won't have to add any other starch, as in cornflour, I'm hoping! It's cooking as I type and I've sliced the chicken rather than dicing as I have a bit more than 500g. Sprinkled with lemon herb salt that I made by drying lemon peel and herbs. I sautéed a diced leek in butter first, then added white wine and home made chicken stock. Put macaroni on the same time and will probably remove 5 minutes prior to everything else. I'm going to add mustard to the stock as well. So it's Lemony Mustard Creamy Chicken & Veggies!
OK, update - Yum, Yum, Yum!!! Fantastic recipe, why did I wait so long to make it? The macaroni took the full 20 minutes. I put carrot in the top tray and added broccoli after 10 minutes, then beans and sugar snap peas after another 5 minutes.
When cooking pasta instead of potato, use only 200g dry pasta and use around 1 L of stock. Stock reduces a great deal as it's absorbed into the pasta. If you do use too much, just cook on Varoma to reduce before adding cream cheese and cornflour. My stock was so flavoursome! I used 125g of cream cheese and 35g cornflour as it still needed thickening.
SueJen - Well, had this tonight, (haven't had Varoma demo yet, so wasn't really too sure) It was wonderful. 1 clove garlic and 1 onion chopped and cooked with a little butter first in THX bowl. Substituted 100g of stock for 100g white wine. Used thighs mixed with a heaped teaspoon of Italian mixed herbs. Potatoes and sweet potatoes in basket and on top of Varoma carrots, mushrooms and after 10mins cooking, peas. So easy, tasted so good. Varoma will be a lot easier than I thought.
al - I did this with the vermouth and seeded mustard in the sauce ... and it was a roaring success ... DH full of praise and said he could now see the potential!!!
Ferral Family - Thanks this was super yummy. As I am on a dairy free diet at the moment I added some coconut cream and a little more cornfour to make the sauce.
opi2kenopi - Thanks for posting this recipe baf65. And to all the tweakers. I made it last night with chicken, veggies, potatoes in the basket which I then mashed and had garlic, onion and stock in the bowl to which I added cream cheese and seeded mustard for the sauce. A great success. It was so easy to do, even for a newbie who hasn't had a varoma demo yet. The mind boggles at the possibilities.
lindy - made it tonight and very happy with it! How cool to be using the steamer basket and the varoma - I hardly ever get them out of the cupboard. Thanks for sharing.
Cldy - Thanks for sharing this recipe! I added honey, mustard and garlic to the stock and loved the eventual gravy. However I do find it quite troublesome cleaning the varoma after steaming the chicken. The meat juices make the "holes" in the varoma quite oily and I always have to wash it ~3 times to fully get rid of the oil stains. Anyone encounter this?
maddy - I usually spray the varoma dish with cooking spray before placing chicken in to cook. Then once all finished, I soak it soapy water immediately after serving up and it all cleans off easily.
Merlin - I spray the Varoma with olive oil spray before placing the chicken and vegetables in. I also rinse the Varoma straight after cooking and then put it in the dishwasher. Varoma comes out good as new afterwards.
bigTcup - I made this last night...YUMM.
500gms water
2 cloves garlic
2 tomatoes
2 spoons vegi stock
1 large field mushroom
3 spring onions - all in the bowl
Chicken in varoma, broccoli, zucchini & capsicum in the top of the varoma.
Added 125 (half a block of Philly cheese) to the sauce at the end and blitzed to make a smoother gravy.
Mixed with pasta that I cooked on the stove. Yumm - very moreish.
sue h - My DS9 did a great job of this last night. Heaps of vegetables. I used some leftover herb and garlic dip that I'd made. Also added some white wine. I did the 10 minutes potatoes, add vegetables, 10 minutes later add chicken, 10 minutes later it's all done. We couldn't believe how easy it was and how yummy it was. Not many left overs last night.
