An odd side effect of growing your own food is that sometimes you have very small amounts of produce. For example, we harvested a handful of carrots this week, thinning out space for the other carrots to grow bigger. This gave us about 8 small carrots which is barely a snack of one person, never mind a side for three, so I had to think of something we could make that use the carrots to best effect.
Carrot and Cheese Shortbread served with Carrot Top Hummus
I decided a good snack for a picnic we were attending would be Carrot and Cheese Shortbread. I know shortbread is normally a sweet treat, but why should it be!?
This recipe was a bit trial and error, but it worked out so well, I’m really pleased with it. And if we have another small batch of carrots I intend to do the same again, but freeze the dough so that we have ready shortbread whenever we want – I think it’s a great way of saving summer produce too! I’ll let you know how I get on with that.
In the meantime, here’s the carrot and cheddar shortbread recipe.
In the Thermomix® this just takes a few minutes, then there's a 30 minute chill time. After chilling you need to slice the cookies or you can roll them out to make shapes.
Author: Keeper of the Kitchen
Recipe type: Snack
Serves: 20 biscuits
Ingredients
115g (4oz) salted butter
90g (3oz) carrot and cheese*
¼ tsp salt
½ tsp pepper
½ tsp thyme
½ tsp rosemary
220g (1¼ cups) plain flour
1 tbs water (a bit more if your flour is organic)
Instructions
(If you're not using a Thermomix®, grate the carrot first)
Add room temperature butter to a mixing bowl and using an electric beater whisk it till it's light and fluffy
(Thermomix®: add the butterfly and mix on speed 3 for 30 - 40 seconds)
Add a mixture of carrot and cheese to add up to 90g. In this case I used 45g of each, but more or less of whichever you have, to add up to 90g.
Add the rest of the ingredients, except the water and mix until combined
(speed 6 for 1 minute)
Add the water and mix till it combines and pulls away from the sides
Tip out onto greaseproof paper, and shape into a sausage. Chill for 30 minutes in the fridge.
After 30 minutes, turn the oven on to 180C/350F. Slice the sausage into 1cm thick slices and place on a baking tray. Bake for 20 -25 minutes.
I love Basil. It’s such a sensory herb, with the ability to transport you to just about anywhere – usually in Italy.
I also love chocolate, and one of my favourite memories is from my honeymoon, some 10 and a bit years ago, where we spent time backpacking through Italy, from Sorento through to Bergamo. Our last night was in a hotel in Turin, and by the time we got there we were pretty worn out. The 4-star hotel had an amazing jacuzzi in the bathroom, and with promises to return one day, we didn’t venture further than the cafe on the corner.
This particular cafe, however, had a delicious selection of home made chocolates and ice cream, and I fell in love with the combination of Basil and Chocolate. No, it’s not one you come across often, but it works – trust me, it works.
I recently agreed to participate in a challenge where I had to come up with a recipe that speaks to the taste of Italy, and I can’t think of much that speaks of Italy like Basil does, so here is my contribution: Chocolate Mousse with Basil Cream – and here is my advice: don’t knock it till you try it!
This is an incredibly rich mousse. We had two people (including two children) sharing the two ice cream bowls of mousse & cream in the pictures, and it was still a lot. So it’s a great sharers dish.
We hope you love the Chocolate Mousse & Basil Cream as much as we do!
Easy French Chocolate Mousse - Kids In The Kitchen
Serve with home made clotted cream, strawberries & mint leaves!
Author: Luschka
Recipe type: Dessert
Cuisine: French
Serves: 2-3
Ingredients
335g double cream
10 fresh basil leaves
15g icing sugar
150g chocolate
2 large eggs, separated
2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
For the Basil Cream
In a sealable container, add 200g cream and whole basil leaves together.
Cover and put in the fridge for 5 hours. After that time, remove the basil leaves and discard
Add the icing sugar to the cream and whisk to stiff peaks. (I find it easiest here to transfer into a piping bag, and set aside.
Regular Instructions
Melt the chocolate in the microwave, on a double boiler, in a bowl nestled inside a pot on the stove top (making sure not to get any water in) or however you normally melt chocolate.
While it's melting, whisk the egg whites to stiff peaks, adding the sugar slowly as you whisk, then put the egg whites in the fridge.
Next, whisk the cream to stiff peaks, and place in the fridge.
Finally, in a large bowl add the vanilla extract to the egg yolks and mix until smooth. Pour the melted chocolate slowly in to the egg yolks, stirring all the time.
Next, add the cream to the egg and chocolate mix, and stir till it's all combined.
Finally fold in the egg whites. Do not beat, whisk or over stir this as doing so will cause the mousse to collapse. Follow instructions below for combining.
Thermomix® Instructions
These instructions are for one bowl. If you have two, melt the chocolate in one and do the whisking in the other.
Place the egg whites and sugar in the Thermomix® bowl and whisk with the butterfly speed 4 about 1 minute. Keep an eye on it - the freshness of your eggs and the temperature will affect how long you need to whisk this for, and you don't want it to collapse again, so just stop when you reach stiff peaks.
Scoop into a bowl and set aside in the fridge
Wash out the bowl and dry thoroughly.
Pour the cream in and add the butterfly again. Whisk the cream for about 30 seconds/speed 4. Again, keep an eye on it - freshness of cream and starting temperature of cream will affect how long it needs to be whisked for. You don't want butter!
Set aside the cream, and wash and dry the bowl.
Add the chocolate to the Thermomix® bowl and chop speed 5, 10 seconds.
Heat to 50C/Speed 2/ 3 minutes. Meanwhile in a large bowl, mix the egg yolk and vanilla extract and stir to combine. When the chocolate is melted pour in a thin stream whisking together. (Don't pour the egg into the hot chocolate or you'll end up with scrambled eggs.)
Add the cream to the bowl, whisking to combine.
Finally, add the egg whites and gently fold them in. If you whisk or stir too vigorously you'll knock all the air out of the egg whites and your mousse will fall flat.
To Finish
Smaller ramekins or glasses are better for this desert as it is very rich.
Place a layer of chocolate mousse in your serving dish and flatten out.
Next you need a layer of basil. I find piping it around the edges first then in through the centre the easiest, before adding a final layer of chocolate. If you're confident in your piping skills, pipe a pattern of the basil cream on top - I messed it up first time, so scooped it up again, hence mine looks a bit chocolatey.
You can serve it immediately for a light and fluffy mousse, but it's equally delicious, if a bit denser and less airy a few hours later.
I know you’re wondering what on earth I’m doing posting a Christmas recipe in August, but since I’m in the Northern Hemisphere, and it’s summer here, now’s the right time for me to test something I’ve been toying with in my mind for ages.
We spent last Christmas in Australia, and Christmas day was really very hot, as Perth is wont to be late December. I bought the Christmas pudding my mum used to buy and made her special brandy sauce and we ate our Christmas pudding – but we ate it because my mum used to make it and she wasn’t there anymore, but it lead me to thinking that it would be great to have the same flavours, but in a more seasonally appropriate fashion.
A quick Google showed me that my genius idea of brandy butter ice cream isn’t original (isn’t it sad when that happens 😉 ) but I looked at a few recipes, made some adjustments and came up with this below.
I don’t have an ice cream maker either – just to add to the complication, so you can make this recipe with any and all or absolutely no gadgets. As it happened, I also didn’t have butter, so had to first make that from some extra cream!
Melt the butter on a stove till it's just browning, then remove it so it doesn't burn.
Add the brandy and set aside to cool.
Warm the milk in a pan, while you whisk the yolk and sugar till it is lighter in colour. Don't let the milk boil.
On the stove
Pour the hot milk over the sugar mixture, whisking continuously, then return to the saucepan set over a low heat. Cook for 3-4 mins, stirring the whole time until the custard thickens enough to coat the back of the spoon.
In the Thermomix®
If you've whisked the sugar mixture in the Thermomix®, add the hot milk to the sugar mixture and cook on 60C/3:30mins/speed1. This should make a custard, thick enough to coat the spoon.
Once all the sauces are cooled:
Whisk the double cream to stiff peaks. Mix the brandy butter with the custard then mix in to the cream. Make sure it's all combined well, then put it in the freezer.
Making the ice cream
If you have an ice cream maker, follow the instructions to make ice cream. If you don't, add it to your Thermomserver or any other dish and remove from the freezer every half hour to stir and break down all the crystals.
After 5 times - about 2.5 hours - crumble the Christmas pudding into the ice cream mix together, and leave to set till you're ready to serve. (If you're using an ice cream maker, follow their instructions on adding bits.)
Remove 10 - 15 minutes before serving, depending on your outside temperature, and enjoy.
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This recipe features in A Very Thermie Christmas, where you can find it and 50 other recipes perfect for a Thermomix® assisted Christmas. Read more about it here.
It’s an ice-cream time of the year, and my kids seem to want some every single day at the moment – one of those side effects of living in a sea side town too: whenever we go to the beach, they think they’re in for a treat. It’s hard to say no too, when all around us holiday-makers are enjoying one of the rich and creamy Isle of Wight ice creams.
I decided it was time to break out the ice lollies again, and get some yoghurt made up. My girls are perfectly happy with frozen yoghurt as ‘ice cream’ so it works out well for all of us – they could even have them for breakfast.
I have these NUK ice lollies that I use for the kids because they take about two tablespoons of yoghurt, which makes a perfectly sized ice lolly. After one, they’re satisfied, making it an all round healthier treat than anything from a box or even a normally bigger than they they can eat soft serve.
The flavours are forgiving – you can pretty much do anything you like, but here are some of our favourites.
Mint & Chocolate Chip is always a good flavour combination, you can add cacao or cocoa to make it a chocolate flavoured frozen yoghurt, but even without that, it’s tasty, and by the time the fro-yo has frozen, the mint permeates through. Delicious. A few hits of choc-chips throughout and there’s nothing not to love.
See how good these look? But they’re only two tablespoons worth of yoghurt and yet sufficient to end a craving.
I thought the mint and chocolate might settle at the bottom, but was pleasantly surprised that it didn’t.
5g of mint leaves is a lot - on a TM31 it doesn't even register - hence the ingredients say up to 5g. It's a pretty forgiving recipe, so if you need to add a bit more or less of any ingredient, it won't cause any problems.
Add the chocolate chips and the yoghurt and mix well.
Transfer into icepop moulds or into a shallow dish, wait till it's frozen, then serve.
Thermomix® Instructions
Add up to 5g mint leaves to the Thermomix® bowl and mix speed 5/10seconds.
Add the butterfly, the chocolate chips and the yoghurt and mix 30 seconds, speed 3, scraping down the sides if necessary.
Transfer into icepop moulds or into a shallow dish, wait till it's frozen, then serve.
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These flat peaches were incredibly juicy. The flavour from them was exceptional, but the problem with that is that they have a higher water content, which makes them freeze a little more ‘icy’ rather than ‘creamy’ which is what you’d get from a higher fat content in the yoghurt. In a ice pop it (like in the moulds above) it doesn’t really make much of a difference, but if you were hoping for a cone-style scoop it needs a longer thaw time.
The recipe for a hard fruit – apples, hard nectarines, and anything else that you would normally have to bake first – is the same as for a soft fruit, with the difference that you’d have to sauté the hard fruit first.
While honey makes the frozen yoghurt sweeter, especially if you’ve opted for natural yoghurt, it also helps emulsify it a little.
My nectarines were still hard even though the skin was going wrinkly. I decided to saute them for a few minutes in some honey, which made all the difference. This works for all hard fruits, like apples.
Author: Luschka
Recipe type: Dessert, Yoghurt, Frozen Yoghurt
Serves: 400g
Ingredients
3 Hard Nectarines (or other fruit)
1tbs (15g) Honey
300g Natural Yoghurt
Instructions
Regular Instructions
Chop the nectarines roughly, making sure to remove the pip.
Place in a pot on the stove with the honey and saute for 5 - 10 mins until it's soft.
If you want the fruit chunky, leave it as is, but if you want it smoother, mash or purée the fruit.
Add the yoghurt and stir to combine.
Transfer into icepop moulds or into a shallow dish, wait till it's frozen.
You'll need to leave the fro-yo for a few minutes to soften up before serving.
Thermomix® Instructions
Add the nectarines to the Thermomix®, making sure to remove the pip.
Add the honey and sauté for 3 mins/ Speed 2/ Varoma until it's soft.
If you want the fruit chunky, leave it as is, but if you want it smoother, mix Speed 5/30 seconds.
Add the yoghurt and the butterfly and stir to combine (speed 3/20 seconds)
Transfer into icepop moulds or into a shallow dish, wait till it's frozen.
You'll need to leave the fro-yo for a few minutes to soften up before serving.
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We serve these in one of three ways:
Either in an ice lolly like in the first picture
Or in a flat container you can scoop from. We live the chocolate covered waffles for serving too.
Or mix two flavours together by pouring the first ‘batch’ into a container and putting it in the freezer for 10 minutes while preparing the second batch, then pouring it over or creating a swirl. It’s a really tasty way to enjoy two flavours together.
It's hard to give exact figures here, since the recipe is very forgiving, and since the point of it is to use up extra fruit and avoid wastage. Cook time is freezing time, but obviously depends on the size of your container.
Author: Luschka
Recipe type: Dessert, Ice Cream, Frozen Yoghurt
Serves: 400g
Ingredients
3 Soft Fruits (the amount of fruit doesn't 'really' matter. Add what you have.)
1tbs (15g) Honey
300g Natural Yoghurt
Instructions
Regular Instructions
Chop the nectarines roughly, making sure to remove the pip.
Place in a pot on the stove with the honey and saute for 5 - 10 mins until it's soft.
If you want the fruit chunky, leave it as is, but if you want it smoother, mash or purée the fruit.
Add the yoghurt and stir to combine.
Transfer into icepop moulds or into a shallow dish, wait till it's frozen.
You'll need to leave the fro-yo for a few minutes to soften up before serving.
Thermomix® Instructions
Add the fruit to the Thermomix®, making sure to remove any pips. Chop speed 4/10 seconds.
If it's very juicy, reduce some of the juice.
If you want the fruit chunky, leave it as is, but if you want it smoother, mix Speed 5/30 seconds.
Add the yoghurt and the butterfly and stir to combine (speed 3/20 seconds)
Transfer into icepop moulds or into a shallow dish, wait till it's frozen.
You'll need to leave the fro-yo for a few minutes to soften up before serving if you want it scoop-able.
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Play around with the flavours and see what your favourite combinations are!
Granita, despite my children calling it ice cream, is actually a semi-frozen dessert made from sugar, water and various flavourings. It is related to sorbet and Italian ice; but in Sicily it has a coarser, more crystalline texture – a bit like this recipe below.
Watermelon is a childhood memory for me. It reminds me of hot days, living in a hot, hot place, and my mother deciding to to make dinner, because who wants to cook when it’s 42C outside?! It reminds me of sweet sticky nectar running down my arms, of getting hosed down in the garden. It’s a good memory, and while we now live on – quite literally – the opposite side of the world, and the watermelons are round and have softer skins, but I love that I’m able to pass this same memory on to my own little girls now too.
When there’s left over watermelon – and sometimes there is – I like to make a watermelon and rose water granita. It keeps the watermelon going for a few days more and it is just so refreshing.
Add 80g caster sugar to a saucepan with 125ml water and bring it to boil. Allow it to boil for 3 minutes, then put aside to cool down completely.
Liquidise the watermelon - a couple of minutes in a food processor should do it - and add the rose water. Place in the fridge.
Once the sugar syrup is cool, mix the two together and place in the freezer. I use a metal bowl.
Remove from the freezer every 30 mins to stir, making sure to break up all the lumps. After 90 minutes and three stirs, the granita should be ready to eat.
Decorate with washed rose petals if you have any, and enjoy.
Thermomix® Instructions
Add 80g sugar to the Thermomix® and pulse 3 or 4 times.
Add water and boil Varoma/Speed ⅔ mins.
Put aside to cool down completely.
Add the watermelon to the Thermomix® and add the rose water, then speed 5/2 mins.
Once the sugar syrup is cool, mix the two together and place in the freezer. I use the ThermoServer.
Remove from the freezer every 30 mins to stir, making sure to break up all the lumps. After 90 minutes and three stirs, the granita should be ready to eat.
Decorate with washed rose petals if you have any, and enjoy.
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.
Author: Luschka
Recipe type: Desert, Special Occasion, Make Ahead
Serves: 8 servings
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.
Our family had some pretty amazing travel plans for this year, and if things hadn’t gone as they did, we’d be setting off from Sintra near Lisbon in Portugal roundabout now, for Spain. One of the things I remember from a previous visit to Portugal is Pastel de Nata – Custard Tarts – which are delicious sweet baked custard tarts in a puff pastry shell. If you’re a fan of the Nando’s restaurant chain, you may recognise these as one of the only desert options on the menu, but I’ve never been a fan of them! There’s nothing quite like fresh, home made tarts. It just wins out. No surprises there, I suppose.
I’d like to be all holier-than-though, but I actually bought this puff pastry, because as Lorraine Pascale, James Martin and Jamie Oliver all say – there’s no reason not to! Especially if you buy the all butter pastry. It’s about £1 more than the ‘normal’ one, but it’s so much better, with a much nicer taste and no bitter aftertaste. It’s well worth paying that bit extra.
If you are going to make it, have a look at this easy puff pastry recipefrom Jane at Why Is There Air?
Sprinkle the icing sugar before you’re going to serve, as it will be absorbed and you won’t see it and if you keep adding sugar it becomes terribly sweet. My five year old was the icing sugar distributor in these photos and she was, shall we say, liberal in her application 😉
The cooking time here does not include the cooling time once the custard is cooked before it is baked. Add at least another 30 - 50 minutes depending on your temperature. If you cover the custard with plastic while it's cooling it shouldn't form a skin, but if it does just mix it up - you won't notice it in the final product.
Author: Luschka
Recipe type: Desert
Cuisine: Portuguese, European
Serves: 12 pies
Ingredients
115g White Sugar
1 Egg
2 Egg Yolks
10g Cornflour
400g Full Fat Milk
2 tsp Vanilla Extract
300g All Butter Puff Pastry
Instructions
Thermomix® Recipe
Weigh out the milk and set aside.
Place the white sugar into the Thermomix® Bowl and mix at Speed 5 / 10 Seconds
Add one egg and two yolks to the bowl. (don't bang against the Thermomix® bowl as that tends to upset the scales)
Add 10g cornflour and mix it all together, Speed 5 / 2 Seconds
Set the Thermomix® to 90C/Speed 5/ 7 minutes and start it running
Add the milk slowly in a steady stream - it should take about 30 seconds to add.
When it's finished, add the vanilla extract and do a quick speed 5/ 1 second to mix it in.
Remove the lid and leave to cool.
If you're making the pastry, now's a good time to do that. Role out the pastry and use a cutter to cut 12 circles big enough to cover your muffin pans.
Spray the pans, add the pastry and press down to make the 'cases'.
Once the custard is cooled all the way down, heat the oven to about 180C
Add a tablespoon or two of the custard to each muffin case - don't fill it all the way to the top.
Cook for 20 - 25 minutes. The custard will puff up and look pillowy and like it's going to overflow but when you take it out of the oven it'll collapse down again.
Bake until the tops are brown - I don't like them blackened, but I'll leave it to your personal preferences on that.
Remove from the oven and set aside to cool down thoroughly. They can be eaten warm, but are just as delicious cold.
When I was living out in Australia a few years ago, my brother had a friend who brought scones round one day. They were the lightest scones I had ever had, and I had to have the recipe. I’ve made these hundreds of times and recently a friend asked me if I had the recipe on the blog. I realised I didn’t, so here it is Sam, just for you.
This is a 3-ingredients scone – okay, four, but salt doesn’t count. The self raising flour and salt are the dry ingredients, and the cream provides the fat you’d normally get from crumbling butter into the mix. The lemonade gives you the rise, since it reacts to the baking powder in the flour, and the bubbles airate the whole mixture, I guess.
You must not overmix this recipe, or you completely knock the air right out of it and end up with flat cakes – still tasty, but not quite afternoon tea quality.
Whether you a jam first or cream first scone eater , you’re bound to love how light and fluffy these scones are.
It’s a ‘balmy’ 39 degrees Celsius in Perth today (that’s 102.2 F) and just thinking about cooking is enough to make me cry. I won’t be switching the oven or stove on today! Yesterday, however, was a much more manageable 32C, and having spent some time in the sea, I felt inspired to make a Spanish dish we enjoyed in Barcelona some years back – but adapted a fair bit to stretch it, and use what we have in the house too.
The original was a Chorizo and calamari in red wine tapas dish, but this summerified recipe includes Halloumi – you could probably use Feta too or leave out the Halloumi, but it adds saltiness, texture and flavour to the meal. And I’d include Halloumi in everything if my family allowed it!
The amounts in this recipe are a guide, really, and there’s no wrong or right. You can add ingredients – tomatoes would be nice, capers would be lovely too – or remove elements. It all works together beautifully, but none of it is essential.
The Chorizo in our local butcher isn’t very fatty. If it was I would have added the butter for the dressing to it, but as it didn’t leave any drippings, I added olive oil.
A versatile, adaptable, easy recipe that can stand the changes you might want to make to it. Feel free to personalise it. Amounts are an estimate and can be changed.
Author: Luschka
Recipe type: Salad, Lunch, Summer
Cuisine: Spanish-ish
Serves: 4 - 6
Ingredients
1 red onion, sliced
90g (1 bag) Rocket leaves
15g parsley, roughly chopped
250g chorizo, sliced
250g Halloumi, cubed
500g calamari, cleaned and cut into rings
60ml Red wine vinegar (1/4 cup)
For the dressing
50g butter
1 clove garlic
Instructions
Thinly slice one red onion, and pour over 30ml red wine vinegar. Set aside.
Heat up a frying pan to medium to high heat and add a dash of oil, just to prevent the food from sticking to it.
Empty salad leaves into a bowl, add the chopped parsley and set aside. Add any 'extras' you might want to use.
When the frying pan is hot, add the Halloumi and keep an eye on it so that it doesn't burn, but browns on both sides. When it's ready, remove from the heat and tip out onto the salad leaves.
Add the Chorizo, and the remaining red wine vinegar, and cook for about 3 - 4 minutes: just long enough to render the fat, but not so long as to make it hard and tough.
Remove from the heat into the salad bowl.
If the Chorizo left some fatty residue, use it, but if not, add some olive oil to the pan again. This time fry the calamari till it is soft and tender - about 3-5 minutes, depending on the quality and size of the calamari rings.
While the calamari is cooking, add about 50g butter and 1 chopped clove of garlic to a small pan (I chop the garlic in the Thermomix®, then add butter, and melt for 90 seconds 50C) to melt the butter.
Add the calamari to the salad, and pour over the butter dressing. Toss the salad, serve & enjoy.
During my pregnancies I became very aware of what I called my Food DNA. It may have been mid-winter with snow falling around our home in the UK, but I was craving mangoes, litchis, kiwi fruit: seasonally appropriate for my Southern Hemisphere DNA. I find myself here again – not pregnant, thankfully – but wrapped and bundled in scarves and gloves, but craving salads and light suppers. I came across this salmon & egg salad recipe, designed by Sunrise’s award winning chefs, among a bunch of others regularly served in their care homes and it really appealed to me, but I’ve made a few minor changes to adapt it for the Thermomix®. You can find the original recipe here, and you certainly don’t need any fancy kitchen machinery to make it. I’ll be in Australia for a while next month. I’m looking forward to a lot more salads and fresh, sun-kissed fruit – and will certainly be revisiting this one again.
A delicious recipe adapted from the Sunrise Care website for the Thermomix®
Author: Sunrise chefs
Recipe type: Lunch, Light Supper
Cuisine: Salad, Healthy
Serves: 4
Ingredients
4 eggs (hard boiled)
Small bunch of parsley
Pinch of salt
Pinch of ground black pepper
4 table spoons olive oil
¼ tsp French mustard
2 table spoons white wine vinegar
1 tomato – quartered
1 red pepper – seeded and halved
½ red onion – peeled and halved
¼ cucumber – cut in four
50g watercress
160g smoked salmon pieces
½ lemon
Instructions
In the Thermomix® bowl, add 1 litre warm water and add the whole eggs in the internat steamer. Boil for 14 minutes/speed 2/ Varoma temp.
When it's done, remove the basket and empty out the water.
In the bowl, add parsley , salt, pepper, olive oil, mustard, vinegar and stir for 10 seconds on speed 5.
Add the tomato, red pepper, onion and cucumber and mix speed 4 for 10 - 15 seconds. Keep an eye on it to see the size. You don't want to end up with a smoothie.
Peel the eggs and halve.
Pour the salsa in a mixing bowl, a glass bowl is nice. Put the watercress on top, then add the strips of smoked salmon.
Dot the eggs around the top, and drizzle the lemon juice over the top.
When you're ready to serve, mix the ingredients well, and make sure every plate gets a bit of everything.
A quick Google showed me that my genius idea of brandy butter ice cream isn’t original (isn’t it sad when that happens 😉 ) but I looked at a few recipes, made some adjustments and came up with this below.
See how good these look? But they’re only two tablespoons worth of yoghurt and yet sufficient to end a craving.
