Yorkshire Pudding

Mr frillipants' mum gave me this recipe, which really is the easiest-peasiest thing ever.

I am in the habit of making this with most roasts now, whether it's red or white meats, and it tastes so yummy with the meat and roasted veggies.  The recipe that I have says cooking time is 40-50 minutes,  which is seriously wrong. No idea where they got that? What I normally do is, when I have taken the cooked meat out of the oven to rest, and the veggies are still cooking, I put my 12-hole muffin tray in to start heating up.  I've already put a tiny dribble of a failsafe oil into each cup.  After a few minutes, I take the hot muffin tray out and, working very quickly, I pour the batter into each cup to about 1/3 full.  This will fill all 12 cups, giving the frillipantii 2 each... because we're greedy-gubbinses when it comes to Yorkshire Puddingses.

INGREDIENTS

• 125g plain flour
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp salt
• 275g milk

METHOD

• Put all ingredients into Thermomix and mix on Speed 5 for 5 seconds
• Scrape down if required and mix again
• Pour into hot muffin tray cups (1/3 full) and put into oven, 200ºC, for about 20 minutes or when they've risen well over the tops of the muffins cups
• Serve immediately  (So, have everything else ready to go)

VERDICT

Some of the frillypantii are using Pear Ketchup on their roasts,  which is obviously a disgusting idea. Weirdos.  But they also love it on their Yorkshire Pudds.  I feel like I ought to confiscate one pudding from everyone who does that. Sound fair?

TWEEKS

None!  This is Yorkshire Pudding!!!!!  You cannot improve upon Yorkshire puddings! 

Brined Roast Chicken

The most exciting thing since Real Deli Chicken.

This is a brining method I hadn't yet tried.  Or even heard of for that matter.  But I felt like 'EVEN MORE FLAVOUR' should be something we could achieve.

I found the instructions on 'Enjoy How to Cook' and just worked roughly on that.   So,  if you haven't yet discovered Real Deli Chicken then click to have a look. It replaces deli meats for your sandwiches, salads and even wherever you used to use bacon.  No! Really!  FAILSAFE bacon!! Go and check it out.

Now, starting with that brine recipe, I have added garlic and citric acid and am doing a whole family roast.  I may as well chuck in some chicken breasts as well, to flavour-up some Real Deli Chicken.

This recipe takes some forethought because you're going to boil the brine and then allow it to cool completely.  All the way to COLD people.  DO NOT try to brine your chicken in warm, lukewarm, just warm, only a bit warm water unless you want to start your own bacteria-farm and make people sick.  Brining must be done in cold water and in the fridge.  So, clear a spot for a large bowl.

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 whole chicken (about 1.4 kgs

• About 1/2 cup salt
• About 1 litres water
• 2 cloves garlic, smashed a bit
• 2 tablespoons of white sugar (omit if you'd prefer)
• 2 tablespoons citric acid

METHOD:

• Put all ingredients (except the chicken!) into a large saucepan and bring to a boil
• Allow to boil for a few minutes and then switch off and leave brine to cool 
• When mixture is cool enough, put it into a very big non-reactive container (e.g. glass, stainless steel, enamelled), large enough for the whole chook, add 2-3 litres of cold water and place into fridge so that it gets all the way to cold 
• Add whole chicken (you might like to do this at the sink, incase of overflow), ensuring it's all submerged in the brine mixture
• Cover container and pop into the fridge 
• Allow to brine for 2-3 hours (minimum 1 hour, maximum 12 hours)
• Remove chicken from brine, pat dry with a clean towel (or paper) - chuck the used brine down the drain
• ** If you're doing breasts only, follow the instructions of Real Deli Chicken, i.e. put sufficient brine into saucepan, bring to boil and add brined breasts back in until cooked.  
• Allow chicken to air dry in the fridge for an hour (Melanie (from Enjoy How To Cook) says this is optional but will help the skin get crispy with cooking)
• Now, go forth and cook your chook as you normally would. For me that means, drizzled with a little failsafe oil, 200ºC fan-forced for about 45-60minutes, until chook is cooked.  

Amines.  If you are cooking for a strong amine responder, use caution since every process the chook goes through means a little bit more protein breakdown and amine build-up.  No idea to what extent this is of course, I am not a food scientist, just a failsafe-home-cook. 

Verdict
Oh. My. Goodness!  YUM!!  YUMYUMYUMMMMMMMY  Delicious, succulent roast chicken.  So! Good!
And the chicken breasts making "flavoured-up Real Deli Chicken",  also utterly delicious!!!!!  Yum Yum Yum!  So yummy in those school lunches.

Tweeks
When I did this, I boiled about 4 litres and then I realised afterwards, when I topped i tup with cold water, that I didn't need to waste all the energy on boiling up 4 litres, just make a strong 1 litre and then top it up with cold water.  aves energy on the heating and speeds up the cooling.  I've written the recipe to do it the 'better' way.

Panettone - Individual

FAILSAFE Panettone.  Pear on the left and chocolate on the right. 

I recently asked again on my Real Meals Facebook page if anyone had a special request.  Something they wanted me to try and convert to 'FAILSAFE' and Thermomix-ese.    Vee asked for Panettone which is an Italian sweet bread usually made for Christmas.  It's normally filled with many dried fruits and peels,  like currants, raisins and citrus peel.  Stuff we can't eat while FAILSAFE.

So,  I googled.  And I came up with quite a few recipes,  most of them claiming to be "the authentic" one.  :)  Reading these recipes I realised that every Italian family has their own idea of what is 'authentic'...  the main criterion being "it came from Nonni".   

I am not going to claim this to be 'authentic',  but I think the intention is clear.  This is "Failsafe Panettone" and these can sit proudly at any Christmas table.  Or pre-Christmas get-together.  Or end-of-year gathering.  Or...  crikey...  a birthday party!!  (Waves to the December birthday peeps)

The recipe I finally settled on was actually for individual Panettones and wasn't too complicated.  You should visit this site for the non-Thermomix instructions to go with my ingredients. 

...With Love and Cake Individual Panettones in Tin Cans!!!

I only have tins cans that have been plasticised inside.  I'm not rapt with this idea,  so I am going to do cupcake holders.  This will mean even smaller buns,  but we'll see how that turns out.  If you have tin cans, or indeed, a proper Panettone tin,  then follow the instructions at the above link. The Citric Acid is added because the original recipe uses lemon rind,  which we can't have.  You can leave it out if you're not happy to use that additive. 

With an Australian accent,  this is pronounced "Pa-nuh-TOE-nee".
Total 'rising' time about 3 hours. 

INGREDIENTS:

• 80g Milk
• 1 tsp (5g) Caster Sugar
• 3 tsp (about 13g) instant Yeast

• 100g butter, room temp
• 50g caster sugar
• 3 eggs
• 400g Bakers' (strong) Flour 
• 1 tsp Citric Acid (opt)
• 1 tsp Salt
• 180g diced Dried Pear

METHOD:

• Prepare a warm spot,  eg your oven on 50ºC for 5 minutes and turn off
• Place Milk into a glass jug or similar and microwave for 20secs so it's warm
• Add Caster Sugar and stir to dissolve
• Add Yeast by sprinkling on top and give it a gentle stir
• Set aside Yeast mixture 
• Put Butterfly into Thermomix bowl
• Add Butter and Caster Sugar 
• Mix at speed 3-4 until it is soft and pale and fluffy  (This is small amount for TMX to handle,  so you may need to stop and scrape down a few times.) About 20-30 seconds.
• Remove butterfly, close lid and turn on Thermomix to speed 3
• Add Eggs, one at a time through the lid while it mixes, about 15 seconds
• Scrape down and gently pour in the Yeast mixture
• Add all of the Flour, Citric Acid and the Salt
• Knead for 2 minutes
• While it's kneading,  prepare a bowl for it to rise in (you can leave it in the Thermomix,  but I don't have a second bowl so I use a mixing bowl) and a clean damp tea-towel
• After the knead,  dump mixture into a bowl - this is a sticky dough,  so you can use the 'scraping it out with a spatula' method or,  the one I've just learned, the 'invert TMX, unlock base and allow dough and blades to drop from bowl' method.  I quite like this one.
• Allow this to rise in a warm spot,  covered with the damp tea-towel, for one and a half to two hours.  
• Prepare your cupcake cases.  I'm using 18 cardboard ones where you don't need a muffin tray
• Punch it down in the mixing bowl by folding in the mixing bowl with a large spatula
• Add the Dried Fruit and fold, fold, fold until it's well combined (or choc chips,  see Tweeks)
• Divide the dough amongst the cupcake cases, filling them 2/3 full, by just tearing a handful off the dough, rolling it and dropping them in.  Even though the dough is sticky, it rolls off the skin very easily
• Cover again with the damp tea towel (I used a cooling rack set up over the top of them to hold up the tea towel) and allow to rise again to the top of the cases.  (1 hour)
• Pre-heat oven to 190ºC fan-forced
• Bake on the tray for 10 minutes.

Verdict  Yum!  Lovely bready-cakey thing.  It's not bread but then it's not cake either.  You can have it buttered, too. 

Tweeks  I only had 90grams of dried pear (that was 3 whole pears, dried in my my cheap Aldi dehydrator) so I decided to do 1/2 fruit and the other half chocolate-chip!!!  What a treat!!! 

Option 2 - using a lined ring tin,  drop 7-8 balls around  tin.
Bake about 30-40 minutes

 

Besan Bikkies

Besan Bikkies - gluten-free

I got the basis of this recipe from Cinnamon N Chillies blog.  (Read there for non-thermy instructions)   The original is spiced,  so of course we can't do that.... but it doesn't matter!  These are actually a very yummy,  high-protein bikkie.  The kids will munch them all so I just make a double batch to start with.  I made 2 double batches last week,  after a break of a few months... and I have to stash some so I don't miss out.  I store them in the freezer to dissuade secret munchers.... the frillypantii are onto me.  I'm not even going to bother giving you the single batch measurements.  Pointless.  You'll make them, eat them and have to start all over.  I like to have my bikkies and eat them. 

INGREDIENTS:

• 400g Dried Chickpeas  (or buy Besan Flour)
• 120g Sugar  (or Caster Sugar)
• 250g Butter - room temperature
• 1tsp Vanilla Extract 
• ½ tsp salt
• ½ tsp Baking Powder
• 1/2 cup choc chips (optional)

METHOD:

• Preheat oven 150ºC
• Process Chickpeas,  Speed 9, until completely milled, set aside.  
• Put Sugar into Thermomix and process on Speed 9 for 5 seconds
• Scrape down, add Butter and Vanilla and process until creamed.  Speed 5 for 15 seconds,  
• Scrape down, add Besan Flour, Baking Powder and Salt
• Mix at  Speed 5 for another 15 seconds until it almost comes together in a dough
• Then 60 seconds on Interval speed, scraping halfway through  (add the Choc Chips now if you're using them)
• Put into another bowl to make it easier to do the rest
• Roll into balls and place on lined tray.  (I use a metric 2tsp spoon for larger bikkies and today I used a 1tsp spoon to get more and smaller bikkies.  I also tried the cookie press today,  but I think the ‘gritty’ texture prevents that from working very smoothly.  I got peeved and went back to rolling.)
• Bake at 150ºC for 15-20 minutes,  until they are nicely browned on top.

Verdict:  Delicious!!!  But not the dough.  That's gross.  Blergh!  Must be cooked.

Tweeks:  Add a half cashew on top of each bikkie,  pressing in slightly.
If you are not failsafe,  then go nuts.  Add pistachios and spices as per the original recipe.   Cinnamon would work very well.... but is not failsafe of course.

English Muffins

English Muffins

Good old,  English Muffins.  Split them with your fingers, pop them in the toaster then butter and spread with jam; grill them with savoury toppings; mini-pizzas; for morning tea, breakfast, lunch, afternoon tea... and yes... even the evening meal when you're having a something simple like eggs and baked beans.  (Oh my!  Saturday brunch,  "egg and bicken muffin".)  The uses for little palm-sized 'rolls' are endless but unfortunately the ones you buy in the shops always have nasty preservatives. 

Making these is easy,  but set aside some time to stand at the stove.  You're going to be flipping these  over every few minutes several times.  You might like to have a couple of frypans going at once. 

I googled around and this is almost exactly this recipe at The Opies: Family Food  I've just tweeked it ever so slightly.  You might tweek it to suit yourself as well.  This recipe makes about 34 muffins using my 7.5cm scone cutter.

Ingredients:

• 240g Milk
• 25g Sugar
• 50g Butter
• 240g Water
• 7g instant Yeast
• 750g Plain Flour (I have used both Bakers Flour and Plain Flour and prefer the stronger bakers' flour,  but both work well)
• 1tsp Sea Salt
• Extra Plain Flour in a small bowl to dip dough circles into

Method:

• Put Milk and Butter into a microwave-proof jug and warm on high for 60 - 90 seconds
• Add Sugar and stir to dissolve in the warm milk mixture and set aside
• Warm the water in the TMX on 50ºC for 1 minute Speed 1
• Sprinkle the yeast on the water and leave for 10 minutes
• Give the milk mixture a stir up (the butter will be cooling on top by now) and add to the TMX jug
• Add half of the flour  and mix on Speed 6 for 15 seconds
• Add the rest of the flour and the salt, mix on Speed 4 for 10 seconds and then knead for 3 minutes
• Leave the dough to double in size (about 30 minutes) 
• Punch down, and roll out on a floured surface to about 10-15mls thick
• Cut circles, dip into the extra flour on both sides and set aside (I like to use a huge tray so I can move them about the kitchen easily)
• Allow to sit for another 10 minutes
• Very lightly oil your fry pan (I mean LIGHTLY, with a brush) and set up on the lowest heat.
• Place a few into your fry pan so you can easily maneuver them about with a spatula.  (My fry pan fits 5 around the edge and 1 in the middle.)
• Pop a lid onto the fry pan and let them cook for 3 minutes.  The lid will help the muffins rise beautifully.  Flip them over and do another 3 minutes with the lid on
• Flip them over again every 2 minutes without the lid now (yes, I set a timer so I don't forget when I'm doing other stuff at the same time) until you're satisfied their done.  About 3-4 turns for each side.
• Pop them onto a rack to cool and start over with the next batch.  
• Store in the freezer in bags or sealed container.  If you're feeling keen,  cut around each muffin with a sharp knife (like is done with commercial ones) so that you can just easily split them with your fingers later on.

Verdict:  "Just like a bought one." said Mr frillypants.  Woah!!!  That's big words right there!!  Just like a BOUGHT ONE.  

Tweeks:  Using 2 fry pans or some sort of large hotplate would be best because the last few have risen again while waiting and I end up denting them as I pick them up.  Then they don't have beautiful bottoms anymore.  :(   I definitely use a timer because that frees me up to do other things at the same time.  Today I mixed up some yogurt and wrote this blog post while cooking the muffins. Without the timer,  I'd forget where I was at and I'd have black muffins.  Ewww.

Non-failsafe additions.  Regular muffins are dusted with polenta...  but that's HIGH in Salicylates and Glutamates.  But,  if you're not concerned about that,  then use polenta where I've dusted with extra flour.  (That's what's happened in the photo above)  Fruit muffins:  add 200g sultanas/raisins/currants and a tsp cinnamon or nutmeg with the last of the flour.  NOT failsafe. 

Carob Syrup

Carob Syrup on Ice-Cream

You can buy this stuff.... and it is expensive!!!  OR... you can make it in the saucepan or TMX at home and it is cheap cheap cheap.  You might like to save a pretty bottle or jar to store this.  Maybe a Maple Syrup jug thingy would work.

I yoinked this recipe from Sandra at "Cooking For Oscar".  Here's the Link:  Carob Syrup saucepan.
You can use it on ice-cream and it goes a bit like Ice Magic.  Crispy.  cool!
Add it to sweet stuff like cakes (see Sandra's recipes) and savoury stuff like Trish's Sauce of Wonder. Today, I added it to a stock while making gravy for pasties.   

Ingredients:

• 1 cup Carob Powder  (I bought mine from Allergy Train)
• 2 cups water

Method:

• All into the TMX, cook on 100ºC, speed 4 for 5 minutes.  
• Allow to cool before putting into a clean jar/bottle and store in fridge.  
• Give it a good shake before using 

Pasties

Beef and Veg Pasties

Left-over roast beef.  It haunts me!  To minimise amine build up,  it needs to go straight to the freezer.  But once there... it refuses to be eaten.  Pulling out a chunk of frosty meat for a sandwich doesn't inspire me much...  that's assuming I remember it's even there.  I often find the plastic container with 'roast beef' written on it when I'm playing Freezer Tetris, making room for my school lunchbox baking... and then I slot it in somewhere again and remind myself I really ought to do something with it.   What a waste!

Now,  you can do all this chopping in the Thermomix but today I have a head cold and I felt like just standing there,  chopping.  I did the finest dicing I have ever done in my life.  Teeny tiny little cubes of veg.   If you do use the TMX,  I'm going to suggest popping the roughly chopped vegetables in and chopping them on Speed 5 for about 3-4 seconds.  No faster.  Or you'll create a mush.  (Which, you could still use of course. )

If you don't have left-over roast beef,  then you might like to use some freshly minced beef instead. 

Ingredients:

• 1/2 Swede (about 120g) 
• 3-4 Brussel Sprouts
• 1 medium Potato
• 2 Spring Onions
• 500g (homemade) Chicken (or 1tab Veg stock concentrate and 500g water)
• 60g No-Tomato Sauce
• 20g Carob Syrup
• 2 tsp Cornflour
• 300g Left-over Roast Beef  (or fresh minced beef)
• 5 frozen Pampas Puff Pastry sheets (watch for bad additives)
• egg (optional)

Method:

• Peel and finely dice (really, REALLY finely) Swede, Brussels, Potato, Spring Onions and Beef
• Add a little oil into a large frypan and cook all vegies together.  Try to have a lid on for a few minutes to help it sweat and cook a bit. 
• While that's simmering, combine Stock, No-Tomato Sauce, Carob Syrup and Cornflour and stir until there are no flour lumps.
• Add meat to the frypan
• Add Stock mixture to the frypan and keep cooking on a moderate heat,  with the lid on to help simmer those potato and swede pieces.  After 5 minutes or so,  keep the lid off and the food moving to let the liquid reduce.  About 10 minutes or so.
• While that's simmering, get the pastry sheets out of the freezer to start defrosting.  
• Cut each square, corner to corner, so you get 4 triangles.
• Pre-heat oven to 180ºC and line a couple of large baking trays
• Allow the beef and veg mixture to cool a bit and then use a small spoon to scoop it onto the triangles and using a bit of water brushed on the edges to help seal it.  I think it should be about 3 teaspoon scoops.  Shape it well to cover half the triangle, with a 'hem allowance' and then fold over the pastry and press the hem to seal.  
• Put them onto the trays,  brush with an egg wash (optional)
• Cook for 20-25 minutes at 180ºC, until they are golden.

Verdict:  Yummo!  And Yummeh!  MsD just ate 2 for lunch.... and is asking for more.  She had them alone I had 2 with Pear Ketchup.

Tweeks:  If you can go the Moderate Sals,  you might like to add carrot and sweet potato.  Salt too,  if you need it.  My roast beef was already salted.  One day I might try this all chopped and nearly puréed in the TMX.  Please let me know if you do or have already.  

If you want a Vegetarian pastie,  I suggest you replace the beef with potato and/or lentils. (And tell me how it went!!)