Friday, February 3, 2012

Thermomix hints and tips

- when chopping ingredients for a salad eg. the coleslaw or beetroot salad in EDC, instead of quickly turning the speed dial to speed 4, slowly take the speed dial up to speed 5 until you see a vortex happening and then turn off, (about 6 seconds), stir with spatula and repeat.  I find that you then have more control over the size of the ingredients.  You can then put in some mayonnaise, sunflower seeds, sultanas, etc and turn onto speed 3 and reverse and these will all be mixed through.
  
- Try these suggestions when making the Bolognaise sauce recipe from the Everyday cookbook:
You can add more tomato puree (or tinned tomatoes) into the sauce  - this helps to prevent the pasta from absorbing all of the sauce and drying out, particularly when cooking lasagne. Preferably use fresh lasagne sheets but if you are using dried, be particularly careful to stop the pasta from drying out.
You can substitute the puree with tinned tomatoes if you are in a rush – but check the consistency this gives the sauce and add more if you need to.
You should only cook the sauce at 100 C not the Varoma setting as the Varoma temperature causes the sauce to boil too much
Try adding fresh (or dried) herbs eg Oregano, Basil or Thyme for a little added flavour
You must add Tomato Paste  - this is not optional!
- When making sorbet, rather than putting the second lot of ice in at once, gradually add a handful every 5 seconds or so, quickly replacing the MC after each addition - this seems to give a smoother sorbet.
- Ensure you use your spatula in a clockwise direction to avoid nicks in the spatula.
- If you notice a smell from the Thermomix after cleaning, this is sometimes present in the lid (I notice it from mine when I have made the veggie stock).  Leave the lid off overnight and soak in water and 1 tsp of vinegar.  Alternatively,  place 500mL of water in the bowl and boil for 5 minutes on Varoma temperature.
- If you enjoy a smooth hommous, try adding two ice cubes in the last step.
- When cooking curries for a crowd, prepare the sauce in the TM bowl, whilst steaming the meat in the Varoma and combine at the end. 
- Don't forget the benefits of the Thermomserver -
  • soup stays warm at the table
  • sorbet and ice cream (keeps it cold at table while serving)
  • yoghurt (acts as an excellent incubator)
  • couscous - simply put couscous in Thermoserver, pour over boiling water, allow to sit for 5 minutes with lid on, then fluff with a fork and allow to sit for another 5 minutes with lid on before serving.
  • keeps crepes warm as you make them
  • also works great as a container for ice
  • helps keeps fruit salads and seafood salads fresh longer
- Use spatula to hold MC in place when blending hot food, to prevent burns.
- When cooking food which escapes out from under the MC, replace MC with steaming basket - this allows the steam to escape and prevents splattering of hot food around kitchen (and fly screens and floor etc etc!!)
- To use the scales whilst cooking is in progress, turn speed dial to closed lid position and press scale button.  When ready to start cooking again, simply turn speed dial to previous speed and the machine will resume cooking - the memory will have retained the set temperature and time.
- To cancel/turn off the heat, press the on/off button
- When milling grains, remove MC and place a piece of paper towel over the hole in the lid.  Replace MC - this eliminates the ground-up "dust" escaping through the MC gap

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