I bought pears a few weeks ago thinking my girls would eat them, but they were hard, and stayed hard, till they started looking beyond their best, so I decided to make a baked pudding with them. I have been trying to use my Varoma more, so thought a steamed pudding would be nice too, specially since this ‘summer’ is hiding behind thick rain clouds today.
I have no idea how you would steam a pudding on the stove top, but if you do, I’m sure this will be easy to make even without a Thermomix.
I also think the flavours in this can easily be adapted – adding cloves, raisins, cardamom as you like. And I like to serve this with home made clotted cream or ice cream.
Steamed Pear Pudding With Orange Butter Sauce
Recipe Type: Dessert
Cuisine: Steamed
Author: Luschka
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
Serves: 4 puddings
Serve with home made [url href=”https://www.keeperofthekitchen.com/2015/08/19/diy-clotted-cream-in-the-slowcooker-or-crockpot/” title=”DIY Clotted Cream In The Slowcooker Or Crockpot”]clotted cream[/url] or ice cream, or just on it’s own
Ingredients
For the fruit
2 pears, cored and chopped in rough cubes
25g butter
20g sugar
teaspoon cinnamon or all-spice
juice of one orange
For the pudding
125g butter
110g caster sugar
2 eggs
130g self-raising flour
zest from 1 orange
Instructions
Chop pears into cubes and place in the Thermomix bowl.
Add butter, sugar and spices and orange juice and cook 5 mins/ Varoma Temp/Speed 1
Spoon into rammekins or heat-proof dishes
In the Thermomix, whisk the butter and sugar together for 50 seconds/speed 4
Add the eggs, self raising flour and zest and beat together for 30 seconds/speed 4
Spoon into rammekins, above the fruit
Place the rammekins into bottom ‘shelf’ of the Varoma and put the lid on
Add water up to the 1l mark in the bowl, place the Varoma on top and steam for 25 mins/Varoma Temp/Speed 3
Turn upside down onto a serving dish and serve with clotted cream or icecream
This week my home schooled kids are learning about France, because we’re heading off to Disneyland Paris in a few weeks. They don’t know this though – they think we’re going to Paris to learn about ‘old stuff’. We will spend a day in Paris too though, just to make sure their learning wasn’t for nothing.
One of the things you learn when learning about France, beyond capital city and population size, is food, and since we have very little by way of groceries at the moment (someone left the car door open, leaving the light on over night and us with a flat battery today. RAC finally reached us well after bed time tonight, so grocery shopping tomorrow!) I was quite literally faced with four onions, two day old bread and some cheese to come up with a dinner idea… you can see where I’m going with this, I’m sure.
One of the books we’re using for our studies at the moment is called France: Food and Celebrations* by Sylvia Goulding, with a bunch of recipes for kids to make, so while I could do this with so much more ease in the Thermomix in 15 minutes, I still feel it’s really important for my kids to learn to cook traditionally first, so that they can understand the basics of cooking – and from there the sky is the limit.
For this French Onion Soup, I didn’t add the traditional Gruyere, so the kids’ just had a strong cheddar on theirs. I added some Chaource to mine. Chaource is a French cheese, originally manufactured in the village of Chaource in the Champagne-Ardenne region. Chaource is a cow’s milk cheese, cylindrical in shape at around 10 cm in diameter and 6 cm in height. It has a soft inside, like an already baked Camembert, and has a beautiful very mild blue cheesy tang to it. It’s really lush, a very unknown cheese in the UK and easily available from Tesco and just works in this soup. (Sorry French traditionalists!)
I had my 5 year old slice the onions (we use this ‘safe’ Pampered Chef slicer) and then stir them on the stove till they were translucent. Meanwhile my 3 year old layered bread and grated cheese in soup dishes. I poured the water in to make the soup, transferred everything to the grill and removed it from there again.
I should add here that this is probably a meal for two, but for one adult and two children it’s ample. Considering you’re eating a slice of bread and an onion with some cheese, it’s incredibly filling, and very rich.
French Onion Soup – Kids In The Kitchen
Author: Recipe adapted from France: Food And Celebrations
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
Serves: 3 soups
The original recipe calls for duck or goose fat. I used regular salted butter.
Ingredients
2 large or 4 small brown onions
large dollop butter (20g)
1 teaspoon sugar
1.5 litres beef stock (reduce to1000g if using TM31 Thermomix and cook without MC)
4 – 8 slices day old bread
100g shredded cheddar cheese
100g other cheese (for kids I leave this one out and use just cheddar as that’s rich enough for them) Gruyere or Chaource
salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
Regular Recipe
Peel and thinly slice onions.
Add butter and onion to a pan and sauté till they are translucent and beginning to brown, about 5 – 8 minutes.
Add stock and simmer for 25 minutes.
Meanwhile, grate the cheese, and layer cheese and bread in an oven proof soup bowl (Individual bowls are better than one serving dish) Start with a thin layer of cheese, top with bread, another layer of cheese, and end with a layer of bread, reserving some cheese for later.
When the soup is cooked, spoon onion and soup into soup bowls and top with remaining cheese.
Place under grill for 5 – 10 minutes, keeping an eye on it till the cheese is browned. The dishes will be hot, so transfer carefully to a counter.
For the Thermomix
Add one or both cheeses to the Thermomix (drop over running blades) speed 5, 10 – 15 seconds.
Clean the bowl and set the cheese aside.
Add the onions and butter to the Thermomix and blend 10 seconds speed 4.
Sauté for 8 mins/100C/spoon speed. (If you can, do this on the stove, I do prefer the flavour)
Add the stock (remember to keep to the limits in the Thermomix, so 2000g for TM31)
Cook reverse speed, Varoma/15 mins, without the MC
Meanwhile in the soup dishes, start with a thin layer of cheese, top with bread, another layer of cheese, and end with a layer of bread, reserving some cheese for later.
When the soup is cooked, spoon onion and soup into soup bowls and top with remaining cheese.
Place under grill for 5 – 10 minutes, keeping an eye on it till the cheese is browned. The dishes will be hot, so transfer carefully to a counter.
I’ve tried to make pull apart breads on, well, more than one occasion, but I’ve never found them to be perfect. They’ve just never been ‘right’ – till today. Today I made a most beautiful garlic & herb pull apart bread. It was light, fluffy, airy and delicious. My kids loved it. I loved it. Now I’m writing it all down step by step so hopefully next time I make it, it’ll be as good! I have a hankering to try this with bacon too. Just saying.
You can make this with or without the cheese, and you can vary the herbs to your preference. The main thing is to make sure you add some of the garlic butter to the bottom of the baking dish so that it seeps through to make these beautiful, fluffy and delicious breadrolls for a tear & share bread.
Garlic & Herb Pull Apart Bread Recipe
Recipe Type: Side Dish, Bread
Cuisine: BBQ, Bread
Author: Luschka
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
Serves: 8 – 10
You can make this bread with any recipe you prefer, really, but this one is adapted from the Bestest Breadrolls recipe on the Thermomix community.
Ingredients
For the bread
10g dry yeast
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon sugar
510 g bakers flour
30 g garlic flavoured olive oil
310 g warm water
For the garlic butter
4 garlic cloves
15g flat leaf parsley
60g parmesan or other cheese
60g butter
Instructions
Add all the ingredients to a clean Thermomix bowl.
Mix at speed 5 for 10 seconds, then knead for 90 seconds using the dough setting.
Oil a glass bowl and place the dough inside. Cover the dough and set aside to rise to double it’s size.
For the butter
Add the garlic, parsley and cheese to the bowl and mix on speed 5 for 8 – 10 seconds.
Add the butter and melt at 50C/Speed 1/2 mins.
Pour a third of the melted butter mix into an oven safe dish..
Take the dough and split it into 8 – 10 balls. Put them on top of the butter mix in the dish, making sure they touch lightly. Drizzle over the remaining butter mix.
Turn the oven on to 180C and put the breadrolls into the oven (while it’s still cold).
Bake bread for 20-30 minutes depending on your oven. It should be golden brown.
Remove from oven dish so the base doesn’t get soggy.
There are a lot of sweet-teeth in my family, so when Father’s day rolled around, it seemed fitting to make a delicious cheesecake filled with a family favourite – marshmallows. I mean, what could possibly go wrong, right!
In retrospect I should have cut the marshmallows in halves or quarters, just to make them more bite-sized, but it didn’t make it taste any the worse.
I love that this cake is no-bake, I love that you can make it a day ahead for the best firmness, and I love that it’s delicious!
This is a very forgiving recipe. So long as you don’t over whip the cream. It’s really easy with two bowls, but I only have one and it’s not a huge faff – just make sure to clean the bowl properly before adding the cream.
Ingredients
10 – 15 Marshmallows (1 cup mini marshmallows)
250g Digestive Biscuits
75g Soft Butter
400g Double Cream
500g Cream Cheese (at room temperature)
100g icing sugar
Instructions
As compared to the picture above, chop the marshmallows into chunks. A regular marshmallow in four pieces or so would be fine. Alternatively, pop them in the Thermomix and chop on speed 4 for 5 seconds.
Clean out the bowl (doesn’t need to be washed)
Add the biscuits and the butter to the bowl and mix till it resembles wet sand. (30 seconds speed 5)
Sprinkle over the base of a cake tray, and press down so that it creates a firm and solid base for your cheesecake.
Put it in the fridge for a couple of hours and make sure to wash and properly dry the bowl.
When the base is ready, whip the double cream to stiff peaks. Keep an eye on it so it doesn’t turn to butter. Add the cream cheese and icing sugar and mix (with the butterfly) (speed 2, 30 seconds).
Put the marshmallows on the base of the cheesecake, then pour over the cheese mix. (If you have a deep dish layer marshmallows, cheese, marshmallows, cheese).
Smooth the top and put in the fridge till you’re ready to serve. You can eat this same day, but next day is even better!
I use a springform tin, gliding a knife around the edges to loosen first, then releasing and serving on the base.
I was given a selection of mixed pices recently, and I’ll be honest and confess that I’d never heard of most of them. The first one I wanted to try and cook with was Baharat. If you Google Baharat you’ll find a number of versions based on area, but this one was from a company called Spice Kitchen and according to their website it’s a blend of cloves, black pepper, cumin seeds, nutmeg, paprika, cardamon & cinnamon.
I spent a whole afternoon perusing Pinterest and the rest of the web trying to learn the best use of this spice, and when I finally sat down to meatballs in a yoghurt and garlic butter sauce at dinner time, I was thrilled with the result. I didn’t find this a spicy dish at all, and the dressing was perfect with plain, fluffy white rice. We also had another dish at the table which was a lot more spicy, and this sauce provided beautiful relief for the tongue.
As someone who didn’t grow up with a lot of spices, and who can’t really handle much more heat that black pepper – or a light wasabi – and who’d never choose to eat at an Indian restaurant, for example, I’d never have considered experimenting with these spice until a few years ago, and sitting eating this meal, I savoured every mouthful
I think my favourite thing about this dish is that it’s not just one flavour all the way through. Each mouthful is different, with hints of mint, crunchy pine nuts yoghurt and the Baharat meatballs coming through in different bites. Hmm… sitting here writing this, I’m salivating – I’m going to have to buy some more lamb mince!
Baharat Meatballs With Yoghurt & Garlic Butter Sauce
Recipe Type: Varoma, Main, Sharing
Cuisine: Arabian
Author: Luschka
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
Serves: 4
This is a delicious recipe that can be used as a single main, or one of many sharing dishes. The yoghurty dish also offsets other spicy dishes on the table, while this isn’t spicy of itself.
Ingredients
For the meatballs
400g ground lamb
salt and pepper for seasoning
1 small onion, halved
15g Baharat Spice (adjust seasoning to taste)
For the dressing
100g (100ml) plain yoghurt ([url href=”https://www.keeperofthekitchen.com/2014/01/20/thick-yoghurt-recipe/” target=”_blank”]try this recipe[/url])
25g butter
1 clove garlic, crushed
For the topping
1 tsp Mint (fresh or dried)
50g pine nuts
Oil for frying
Rice to Serve
Instructions
In the Thermomix
Switch the Thermomix on Speed 4 and drop the onion halves on athe blades for a few seconds.
Open the lid and add the minced lamb, salt and pepper and Baharat Spices. Mix Speed 4/10 seconds.
Oil the Varoma
Form small egg-yolk sized meatballs and place them in the Varoma. (You can also do these the ‘normal’ way on the stove if you prefer them being browned)
Fill the bowl to the 1 litre mark and put the Varoma in place. Cook on Varoma temp, speed 4 for 20 – 25 minutes.
(If you’re having rice with this dish, add it after about 10 minutes. Add the rice in the internal steamer for the remaining 15 minutes.)
Meanwhile, on the stove, heat the pine nuts till they start releasing their aroma. Toast them lightly but watch that they don’t burn – mine in the pictures are a little burned!
Next melt the butter and add the garlic, and finally warm the yoghurt. DO NOT let it boil or split, just warm it.
Move the meatballs into a serving dish.
Pour the yoghurt over them, then drizzle the garlic butter, top with pine nuts and mint.
Serve with rice.
Traditional Cooking
Chop the onions finely, and add the spices, salt and pepper and mince with the onions in a bowl. Mix well till all combined.
Form small egg-yolk sized meatballs and place them in a hot pan. Cook for about 15 minutes, turning ocassionally to get it browned on all sides and cooked through.
In the meantime, cook your rice according to manufacturer instructions.
On a baking tray, or on another plate on the stove, toast the pine nuts but watch that they don’t burn.
Next melt the butter and add the garlic, and finally warm the yoghurt. DO NOT let it boil or split, just warm it.
Move the meatballs into a serving dish.
Pour the yoghurt over them, then drizzle the garlic butter, top with pine nuts and mint.
Serve with rice.
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The inspiration for this recipe came from this original
