STEAMOVENCOOKING with Tenina

Absolutely nothing is better for morning tea on a coolish morning (after so much heat) than some nice savoury scones with a pizza filling. (All you Americans read ‘biscuits’ for scones!) My cream cheese scone dough is of course, supreme and so there you have the perfect pairing…so what are you waiting for, get your cooks Apron on and heat up the oven and you’ll be smacking your lips in no time!

NEED:

125 grams Cream cheese

75 grams Parmesan grated with Microplane

2 cups SR flour

pinch salt

soda water to mix

FILLING:
cherry tomatoes
1 small jar pizza sauce
1 small jar pesto (or make your own)
finely chopped garlic
1/2 diced onion
fresh basil leaves
Extra grated Parmesan

DO:
Preheat oven to 160 degrees.
Make dough by putting Cream cheese, flour and soda water into Thermomix bowl and using the ‘knead’ button for about 1-2 minutes to bring the dough to a workable consistency.
Using extra flour, and a Rolling pin, roll dough into a rectangle.
Spread dough with pizza paste, and then pesto to taste,
Sprinkle with onion, garlic and basil.
Roll dough over on itself.
Cut into rounds, turn scroll side up and put into buttered ceramic dish.
Push a cherry tomato or two into the middle of each scone.
Sprinkle with Parmesan.
Cook for 20-25 minutes until golden.

USED:

 

As promised, the Chicken Pad Thai recipe!  And FYI I have been taking lots of photos of other stuff that is on it’s way…maybe I should call this blog “Get Stuffed”! Any thoughts?

NEED:

1/2 chicken breast per person

4 tablespoons commerical Pad Thai paste (available most Asian supermarkets)

5 cloves garlic peeled and chopped finely

1 brown onion chopped

2 cups bean sprouts

handful rice noodles per person

1 egg per person, beaten lightly

1 cup salted peanuts, re-roasted until fragrant

LOTS of fresh lime juice (Do not be tempted to use the ready made product…NOT THE SAME)

Fish sauce to taste (I use around 1/4 cup for about 6 servings)

Chilli paste or 1 red chilli chopped finely including seeds

handful coriander chopped (cilantro)

Lime wedges

DO:

Heat a little oil in Demeyere Multifunctional Pan with Lid
Roast peanuts and set aside.
Fry off garlic, onions, pad thai paste, chicken, and toss until browned.
Meanwhile soak noodles as package directs.
Beat eggs and stir through mix.
Toss in noodles, bean sprouts and any other vegies of choice.
Add a little stock in necessary and lime juice.
Stir through chopped coriander, garnish with roasted peanuts and serve with lime wedges immediately.
USED:

Well I had a Thai cooking class last night and had requests to post the recipes…so here is one at least (the best one!) Also a photo of my work kitchen before the excitement began!

I will post the other recipes in later posts…so y’all come back now y’hear?

NEED:

3/4 cup jasmine rice

3/4 cup caster sugar

1  cup water

1 400 mls tin coconut cream

1 teaspoon salt

SYRUP:

1-2 400 mls cans coconut cream

1 cup caster sugar

2 teaspoons salt.

DO:

Combine rice in water and coconut cream with sugar and salt.

Cook on Induction 6 bringing to the boil and then continue to cook until all liquid is absorbed.

Keep adding water if necessary.

You want to have a nice sticky consistency.

Set aside or keep warm on Induction 2 until ready to serve.

SYRUP:

Combine all ingredients and cook on Induction 3 (low heat) until thickened.

Taste test. The syrup should be quite salty.

SERVE:

Scoop rice mix into bowls.

Drizzle generously with syrup and decorate with fruit of choice. In Thailand they will usually serve this with fresh sliced mango. In the absence of mango on the shelf, I chose Kiwi fruit with passionfruit pulp.

To be more authentic you can use glutinous rice instead of jasmine rice, but it absorbs a lot more liquid and may need soaking overnight. You can purchase glutinous rice at most Asian supermarkets.

OK, you ready???

BASIC RECIPE

NEED:

2 eggs

1 cup milk

1/4 cup sour cream

1 & 1/2 cups Plain flour (unless specified otherwise)

Spray oil

Demeyere Fry Pan

DO:

Whisk eggs, milk and sour cream together until frothy.

Add flour bit at a time and keep beating until smooth.

If you need either more liquid or more flour, add at this point.

Consistency should be like a runny custard.

Spray pan and heat until smoking.

Using 1/4 cup measure, (see the cute ones I found today?) Reversible Measuring Cups Set, pour batter into pan and swirl around until spread evenly.

Cook until it releases itself from the pan. (This is where a good pan is important!)

Flip and cook very quickly on other side. SERVE!

ONE: Holy Crepes! (Sweet)

Add 1 tablespoon icing sugar and 1 extra tablespoon of sour cream to mixture. Eliminate spray oil and use a generous amount of butter to cook in.

Serve with choice of whipped cream or vanilla yoghurt, maple syrup, honey, chocolate syrup, (homemade of course) lemon butter (also homemade) jam, or preserves.

TWO: Capricious Citrus.

Well lemon actually…just as I remember as a kid…but tweaked!

Add 1 tablespoon icing sugar, the zest (Stainless Steel Zester Grater) of a lemon/lime/orange or zest of all 3, and 1 extra tablespoon of sour cream to mixture. Eliminate spray oil and use a generous amount of butter to cook in.

Cook pancakes and serve with zested castor sugar and the juices of any capricious citrus! Enjoy!

THREE: Chicken Caesar.

Of course you knew savoury was on the list right?

Cook pancakes as directed.

Serve with cooked bacon, diced hard boiled egg, diced tomato, shredded chicken, parmesan, all drizzled with caesar salad dressing.

FOUR: Toad in the Hole!

Add 2 more eggs to batter mix. Add 1/2 cup extra SR flour. Let mix stand for up to 3 hours, minimum of 1 hour. Beat again.

Pierce and place one sausage per person into a Large Roasting Pan Put into hot oven, cooking until the fat has come out of the sausages and they are almost done. Now for those of you who are not Anglophiles, this may seem a little gross, but it is important. There must be at least 1/2 cup of fat in the bottom of the pan before you can cook the batter successfully! So if you need to ADD MORE…olive oil is my choice.

Turn the oven up to top temperature. Let the pan get as hot as you can whilst you add 1/2 cup ICE COLD water to the batter mix. As quickly as possible, add batter to hot pan. It will spit! Put straight back into the oven and cook until it puffs up and is a light brown color. Cut into wedges and serve immediately with gravy and steamed or roasted veggies.

FIVE: Yorkshire puds.

Whilst we’re on the whole English thing…same as above, no sausages and use a Muffin Pan. Pour at least 2 teaspoons of oil per muffin hole and heat in hot oven until fat is smoking. (I know, I know, over 240 degrees and we’re all going to die of cancer…just don’t do it too often!) As with FOUR, add the ice cold water just as you are about to cook the batter. These will puff up and hit the top of your oven if you have it right! My father is a Yorkshireman and he has grudgingly admitted that I have inherited the Yorkshire Pudding gene! These can be served as tradition requires with roast beef and all the trimmings, or you can serve them with jam or syrup and fresh vanilla icecream for a lovely hot dessert!

SIX: Piklets!

Eliminate the sour cream, add more flour and make it all SR flour. Add 1 teaspoon bicarb soda as well as 1/4 cup melted butter to the mix. Cook on a hot griddle and serve hot or cold with toppings of choice! These are a great after school snack and so easy to do…you really don’t even need an electric mixer…but add liquid to dry ingredients if not using a mixer and not the other way around!
A big griddle plate is a great idea and as usual my fave is the Demeyere one which also has a glass dome available with it and makes a great serving tray when not being used for cooking!
Demeyere Round Maxigrill

SEVEN: Banana pancakes.

Ahhh, these bring back such fond memories trips to Bali, that when I am needing a ray of sunshine, this is what I cook for breakfast.

Add a generous teaspoon of vanilla essence to the batter. When cooking each pancake, quickly slice 1/2 a small banana onto the sticky uncooked side of the batter as it is in the pan. As you flip, (Large Flexible Turner) the bananas should stay in place and caramelize a little in the pan. Even if they do not look perfect, believe me the taste will keep you coming back for more. Just serve with a little more butter, maple syrup and a dusting of icing sugar if you are going for presentation!

EIGHT: Savoury Again.

Of course any variations on a theme are great, but try using pancakes instead of canneloni shells. Cook all the batter and keep pancakes on a plate with a damp tea towel covering them. Make a rich tomato sauce. Use all your faves for Italian sauce, mushrooms, garlic, onions, basil etc.. Fill each pancake with a ricotta and spinach mix, rolling and placing seam side down in a Large Roasting Pan . Smother with tomato sauce and sprinkle with mozzarella and parmesan. Cook in hot oven for around 25 minutes. Serve with crusty bread, and fresh salad. Easier than canneloni and more filling!

NINE: Mexican Capers!

Eliminate 1/2 cup of the flour and replace it with 1/2 cup of yellow polenta meal. Cook each pancake only on one side and keep on plate with damp tea towel over the top.

Make filling of choice…I suggest cooked shredded chicken, sour cream, sliced spring onions, jar of sliced black olives and a jar Mexican Salsa. Stuff and roll each pancake, placing seam side down in Large Roasting Pan . Top with diced tomatoes and as much cheese as you can take! Cook very quickly in a hot oven and once again, serve with a salad and lashings of guacamole! Arriba, arriba!

And last but not least TEN: Crepes.

What would a Top Ten list be without a Crepe recipe? The difference between crepes and pancakes is more than the weight of the batter, but more to do with the method I think. SO: reduce flour to 1 cup and sift (Stainless Steel Flour Sifter) it first. Seperate eggs and whisk yolks until lemon in color. Beat egg whites with a pinch of salt until stiff. Mix flour, yolks and milk together. (Be careful not to over mix!) Fold in egg whites. Let mix stand for up to 3 hours. Just before you are ready to cook add 1/4 cup ICE COLD water to batter. Make sure the pan is HOT. Use butter to cook the crepes. Try and handle them as little as possible. Serve immediately with fresh berries, berry coulis and lemon cream. (Whipped cream through which you have folded home made lemon butter.) Dredge with sifted icing sugar.

So there you have the first in my series of Top Ten! Hopefully there will be more than one in the near future, and I think the next one needs to be “Top Ten Drizzles, Toppings, and Garnishes.” Stay tuned!

You know as someone who spends a lot of time in the kitchen, I certainly have come to know what works, what saves me time and what gadgets I can’t live without! So I thought I’d give you a heads up on a few definites that no good kitchen should be without!
Firstly I am passionate about perfect eggs. I can’t swallow a hard boiled egg without a lot of mayo and some potato salad wrapped around it! So when it comes to eggs with ’soldiers’ they have to be soft! So along comes this magic egg timer that you simply drop into the water with the boiling eggs and when the right color is reached, ‘voila’ you have either soft, medium or hard boiled eggs! I promise you, you will wonder what you ever did before!
Magic Egg Rite Egg Timer
Then there is the whole drying salad thing! Not being able to imagine soggy salad myself, having owned a Salad Spinner, I bought one of these for my sister recently and she seemed so underwhelmed at the time, but oh so grateful now! Truly life WAS meant to be easy and this is just another little gadget that makes you think, “Yay, I live in modern times!”
Now last but not least, how badly do you hate it when your carefully prepared ingredients get stuck in the baking process? There are plenty of dipsoable papers on the market, but how about saving yourself money and effort by getting yourself one of these pronto!
Nonstick Silicone Baking Mat This one has the added advantage that it can be used as a pastry board…thus saving you clean up time apart from all it’s other virtues! You will add this to your list of wonder products and once again will wonder what you ever did without it.
SO dear readers! There you have it, three of the best! Don’t venture into your kitchen without them!

NEED:

1 cup flat leaf parsley, chopped.

2 cloves garlic chopped finely

100 grams fresh Parmesan grated with Microplane Grater

!/2 cup toasted pine nuts

Zest of 1 lemon

DO:

Mix all together and use as a garnish for just about anything!

Particularly good with fresh steamed vegetables or Osso Bucco

USED:

This works well as a side dish or serve with steamed rice as a light lunch.

NEED:

½ kilo medium or thick asparagus
1/2 cup chicken or vegetable stock
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon soy sauce
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1 tablespoon rice wine or dry sherry
1& 1/2  teaspoons cornflour
1 tablespoon water
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 teaspoon minced peeled fresh ginger
1 spring onion, sliced

DO:

Peel asparagus and trim ends.
Cut stalks diagonally into 2-inch pieces.
In a bowl mix stock, soy sauce, sugar, and wine.
In a small cup, mix cornflour and water.
Heat oil in wok over high heat. (Induction Friendly Wok)
Add ginger and spring onion, and stir-fry for 15 seconds.
Add asparagus and stir-fry a few seconds more.
Add stock mixture and bring to a boil.
Cover and simmer over medium heat about 3 minutes or until asparagus is crisp-tender.
Push asparagus to side of pan. Stir cornflour mixture, stir it into simmering liquid,
and cook 1 to 2 minutes or until thickened. Toss with asparagus. Serve immediately.

USED:

Induction Friendly Wok

NEED:
1 cup caster sugar
1/3 cup honey
1/4 cup butter
1/3 cup water

3 pkgs  low fat cream cheese
2/3 cup brown sugar
1 cup sour cream
juice of one lemon
2 teaspoons vanilla bean paste
4 large eggs

14 small ramekins or 6-8 large

DO:
Make toffee for bottom of ramekins by heating honey, butter  and sugar together on Induction 4 until sugar is dissolved,
butter melts and mix is blended.
Increase heat to 6 and whisk with balloon whisk until mix goes a deep caramel color.
Set the timer for 5 minutes continuing to whisk.
Remove from heat and add water. (Mix will bubble and spit)
Whisk to blend.
Divide topping between ramekins. Set aside.

Prepare filling by blending cheese and sugar in food processor until creamy.
Add sour cream, lemon and vanmilla; Process until smooth.
Add eggs blending between additions.
Divide mix between ramekins.
Process in steam oven for 20 minutes.
Chill until completely cold.

SERVE:
Run a knife around the edge and upturn onto a plate.
Garnish with fresh or thawed berries and whipped cream.

USED:
Le Creuset 7-3/4 oz. Ramekins, Set of 2, Cherry

I love the flavour of Roasted Vegies and this is a purler of a salad because of the beautiful flavours and colors, so spoil yourself and your family and use a beautiful roasting pan. You could even serve it in the pan if you were pushed for time.
NEED:
1/2 butternut pumpkin sliced and peeled
1 whole eggplant
1 yellow capsicum
1 green capsicum
1 red capsicum  (These are the traffic lights!!)
1 or 2 avocados
8 handfuls rocket
1/2 cup toasted pine nuts
balsamic vinegar or glaze to taste
olive oil for roasting
Y Pumpkin Peeler

DO:
Prepare vegies by steaming whole egg plant for 25 minutes. Cool.
When cooled enough to cut, slice thinly, drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with lake salt, then roast in Deep Roasting Pan until browned.
Microwave/Grill the capsicums for 18 minutes turning at half time or until skins blister and they are cooked
Place all 3 in a brown paper bag and leave to cool.
Roast pumpkin in hot oven with a dash of  olive oil. Cool.
To assemble salad, lay the rocket on a large platter then arrange all the vegetables including the avocado in
colorful slices. Sprinkle with toasted pine nuts and just before serving drizzle with balsamic vinegar or glaze.
You can add cherry tomatoes if you wish.
USED: Y Pumpkin Peeler
Deep Roasting Pan

Sorry to do this to all those of you looking forward to putting on a swimsuit in the next few months, but you won’t be able to just have one piece: thus ‘Gluttony’.

NEED:
1 pkg Butternut snap biscuits
75 grams butter
4 x 250 grams cream cheese
5 eggs
3/4 cup caster sugar
1/2 cup whipping cream
1 tablespoon vanilla essence
300 grams Toblerone chocolate (3 bars)
FOR PRALINE GARNISH:
1/2 cup chocolate melts
1 cup caster sugar
vegetable spray
Large springform pan

DO:
Make crust by mixing biscuits and butter in food processor.
Press into spring form pan and bake on 165 degrees fan forced for
10 minutes. Cool
Beat cream cheese with sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time,
then vanilla and cream and continue to whip until light and blended.
Pour into pan.
Melt Toblerone on Induction 1 until pourable.
With a spoon, dollop even amounts on the top of the cheesecake,
swirl through the cheesecake with a skewer for marbled effect.
Process in steam oven for 70 minutes or until set in centre.
Chill for several hours or overnight.
TO MAKE PRALINE:
Spray a sheet of baking paper with vegetable spray.
Evenly spread the sugar and place in 160 degree on fan grill function.
for around 8-10 minutes.
Watch this closely as a 30 seconds can be the difference between praline
and a smoking burnt mess!!
Leave toffee to cool and set hard. Meanwhile melt choc melts on
Induction 1. When toffee is set, drizzle chocolate over it. Set in fridge.

SERVE:
Slice into wedges with a wet knife. Break praline into large pieces, and serve
with whipped cream and stick praline in large end of wedge.
Garnish with fresh strawberries.

USED:
Large springform pan