Ask me how to pronounce quinoa

It's pronounced keen wa. It is not a widely known product but it should be. From the wiki on this:

...a species of goosefoot (Chenopodium), is a grain-like crop grown primarily for its edible seeds. It is a pseudocereal rather than a true cereal, or grain, as it is not a member of the grass family. As a chenopod, quinoa is closely related to species such as beets, spinach, and tumbleweeds.

Quinoa was of great nutritional importance in pre-Columbian Andean civilizations, being secondary only to the potato, and was followed in importance by maize. In contemporary times, this crop has become highly appreciated for its nutritional value, as its protein content is very high (12%–18%). Unlike wheat or rice (which are low in lysine), and like oats, quinoa contains a balanced set of essential amino acids for humans, making it an unusually complete protein source among plant foods.[9] It is a good source of dietary fiber and phosphorus and is high in magnesium and iron. Quinoa is gluten-free and considered easy to digest. 

It is a brilliant product. It looks fabulous and unfurls its little tale when it's cooked. It is so lovely to make a salad from and here's a recipe that is fabulous for Christmas or entertaining.

Festive salad
1/2C quinoa
900g water
1 cucumber, cut into pieces 2" long
1 tomato, halved
1 bunch of herbs (mixed is good but parsley, dill, oregano, mint or other fine-leaved herbs are lovely)
Zest of one lemon
Juice of lemon
20g olive oil
Pinch of salt

Put the water into the Tmx bowl. Add the basket and the quinoa into the basket. Cook for 12 minutes on Varoma temperature at speed 3. Remove and set aside in a large bowl to cool. Dry the bowl well! Add the zest and process for 5 seconds at speed 8. Add the herbs, tomato and cucumber, lemon juice and olive oil. Process for 2 seconds at speed 5. Yes that short - you don't want a cucumber/tomato dip! Add to the quinoa, taste and adjust seasoning. Serve - I like eating quinoa salad warm.

Salad days

While I mean it in the literal sense of the word, salad days means something completely different:

"Salad days" is an idiomatic  expression, referring to a youthful time, accompanied by the inexperience, enthusiasm, idealism, innocence, or indiscretion that one associates with a young person. More modern use, especially in the United States, refers to a person's heyday when somebody was at the peak of his/her abilities—not necessarily in that person's youth.

I mean it literally - it's been hot and strangely muggy here in Adelaide this week, and now it's damp, a little rainy and cool again. I did take the opportunity this morning to make guacemole from the EDC and then the beetroot salad which is (a) a mainstay of an demo and (b) absofreakingdelicious and (c) perfect for using some of my FoodConnect box which was positively flush with beetroot this week!

Beetroot is so amazing and fabulous to eat raw but there are so few easy ways to do so. Beetroot is a pain to work with but the Thermomix makes short work of it. Perhaps that's the best thing about the Thermomix - it makes food that is otherwise inaccessible much more accessible!

Cake! Stunning cake! Lemon poppyseed in this case.

I made a cake this morning before an Australian Breastfeeding Association meeting. I made a lemon-poppyseed cake (thin-skinned lemons with lots of juice) which was delicious and still warm when I got to the meeting. I didn't make the icing in the Tmx but it was so.good. that I licked the bowl out.

Lemon-poppyseed cake
Rind of one lemon - dry it on paper towel so it doesn't just stick to the edges
250g raw sugar
1/2tsp of the best vanilla extract you can get your hands on
175g butter
4 bantam eggs and 1 humungous egg (or else 3 normal-sized eggs)
60g milk
Juice of the lemon
250g selfraising flour
30g poppyseeds
A pinch of cinnamon

Icing
75g white chocolate dots
1T sour cream
A drop or two of vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 175C. Spray a cake tin - I used a circular one from Ikea with hearts on it! Place the rind and sugar in the Tmx and process for 5-10 seconds at speed 7. Add the butter and eggs and process for 15 seconds at speed 6 if the butter is straight out of the fridge. You should cut it into small pieces if this is the case so it processes easily. Add the juice by squeezing the lemon onto the top of the Tmx lid when the MC is in place - this catches the seeds! Sweep the seeds off before you open the lid though. Add the flour and cinnamon, and mix for 30 seconds at speed 4. Add the poppyseeds and mix for an extra few seconds to incorporate. Pour into cake tin and bake for 45 minutes. Check that it's cooked then cool before icing.

To make the icing - melt the buttons in the microwave (takes about a minute). Add the sour cream and the vanilla, stir well and drizzle over the cooled cake. I did it over still-warm cake and it was fine.

This was inspired by the EDC book but is not quite the same as I'd heard the crumb wasn't particularly fabulous with that recipe (it used plain flour and baking powder, and I also adjusted the process to reduce the speed as the recipe goes on).

Keeps for a few days if it lasts that long. Lem

Whole egg mayonaise

My family recipe for mayonaise I have down pat in my teeny little food processor. It is based on a per egg calculation and for potato salad you use the proceeds of 1/2 an egg per person to give you an idea of how much to make. I usually make it 1-2 eggs at a time as there's only 2 of us eating it but it wouldn't be hard to make it with 3 or 4 but at a cup of oil per egg you are making a LOT of mayonaise each time so don't go crazy with quantities.

My best advice - eggs have to be at room temperature before making! It's weird when they're not at room temperature. It stores in a clean jar in the fridge for about 2 weeks before separating which is when you should bin it, but if it's been on the table for a few hours, dipped in to, I'd personally chuck it.

I like using sunflower or canola, cold pressed and organic if possible. Olive doesn't really work unless it's a "light" one and then it's uber processed so I'd rather just use a light oil. You can add up to 1T of mustard or condiment of choice of a similar texture - I've used apple sauce, most mustards, mint sauce, honey, gerkins, herb pastes, tomato paste, quince paste and so on. You might need more oil if that's the case! The more oil you add the thicker it gets so if it's not the right consistency (ie is too thin) add some more oil.

Ingredients
1 egg (60g so 2 bantam eggs)
pinch of salt
pinch of white pepper
pinch curry powder
1T white wine vinegarabout a cup of a light oil

Method
By hand it's easy - combine everything but the oil, whisk together, then add the oil really slowly. Really, really slowly. If it splits, google how to fix it or start again.

TMX method
Put the ingredients into the very clean tmx bowl except for the oil. Turn on to speed 9. Put the mc in place on the lid and pour a third of the oil into the lid - it will drip in at a good rate! Scrape it all together again. Add another third of the oil to the lid and let it dribble in. Now check for consistency - it should be quite thin! You can just lift the mc to check. Add the remainder of the oil to the lid. Taste and adjust then serve.

Wow that's a lot of gremolata...

So what's a woman to do? Turn it into a dip it seems!

Easy dip
Leftover gremolata (or else a bunch of herbs, some garlic, some lemon zest etc etc)
250g cream cheese
2T sour cream

Break up the cream cheese. Put it into the Tmx bowl. Add the gremolata. Close lid and slowly, over 15 seconds, increase the speed to 8. Leave it there for 5 seconds. Turn off. Eat.

It was delicious instead of butter on sandwiches, eaten with good bread and good company, and also on a roll in the oven as sortof garlic bread.

The good thing about making a feast...

Is that even when guests don't turn up, it's still a feast.

I made risotto with a few springs of asparagus and some amazing organic tomatoes from Food Connect Adelaide. From the EDC so nothing exciting there. I made, before that, a gremolata - amazing garnish that is parsley and lemon inspired:

Gremolata
Zest of 1/2 a lemon
1 clove of garlic
A small bunch of parsley, with the stalks cut off
Olive oil
Salt

Put the zest and garlic in the TMX and process for 3 seconds on 8. Scrape down the edges, fish out the biggest bits of zest and put aside for something else. Like a risotto - it is fabulous! Add the parsley and a dash of oil and process for 3 seconds on 5. Add a tablespoon of olive oil and a pinch of salt. On reverse, mix together for a few seconds. Scrape out and use as a garnish on whatever you like! Also great on flatbreads after baking, with more olive oil, or through pasta as a quick and easy dinner.

And toasted some pine nuts, fried some veal/pork mince with fresh ginger and some chilli sauce, and made bread.

Yellow chicken curry

Oh yum! This was dinner last night and was lovely and yummy. It was very soupy but that's how I like my curry.

Yellow chicken curry20g oil
1 onion
6 small chillis, frozen so not very hot!
Thumbsized piece of ginger, cut into 5
1 zucchini, diced
1 carrot, diced
1/2 capsicum, cut into chunks
2tsp dried cumin
2tsp curry powder mix
2T vege stock paste
200g pasata or tomatoes
100g water
200g chicken
200g Greek yoghurt

Put the onion, chillis and ginger into the bowl and process for 10 seconds on 6 to break up. Scrape down the sides, add the oil and cook at Varoma temperature on reverse on speed 2 for 3 minutes. Add the spices and continue to cook for another 2 (so set the clock for 5 minutes and keep an eye on it, adding the spices at the end). Add the vegetables and cook for another 5 minutes. Add the chicken, then the rest of the ingredients. Cook for 20 minutes at 100C at speed 1. Let it sit while you make the rice and then eat!

I have decided to cook, as much as possible, on reverse or else you end up with very finely textured food!

Chai tea for one for breakfast

I love chai masala so much that the first thing I did with my new Thermomix cookbook (Fast and Easy Indian Cooking) was to make the chai masala.
Except that the recipe made 6 cups and there's only me.
And I like it spicy.
And not sweet.
And I hate heated milk with a skin.
And to reduce the volume of liquid meant I couldn't put the tea in the basket.
So here's my adaptation:

Chai tea for one
7 cardamom seeds or 2 pods
3 cloves
4 peppercorns
2cm cinnamon quill
350g water
250g milk
3tsp black loose leaf tea
1tsp raw sugar
2mm slice of ginger
1/4tsp vanilla
Nutmug + grater

Put the first 4 things into the bowl. Process on speed 8 for 10 seconds. Add the tea, sugar, ginger, water and milk to the bowl, and process at 80C for 9 minutes at speed 4 on reverse (cause this bruises the ginger but doesn't shred it - this'd make it way hotter though!). Add in a grind of nutmeg and some vanilla at the last minute. Strain to serve.

 Was enough for 2 generous mugs of hot spicy tea for me! A great way to start the day.