lime cordial

Not many posts lately - none this year because I have been busy baking for thespians
We have a glut of limes and this was a great way to use up a lot

250 ml lime juice
250g white sugar
250 ml water
1 tsp tartaric acid
1 tsp citric acid

Place in bowl cook for 25 minutes 80 degrees speed 2

Cool and pour into a clean bottle

Delicious with gin and bitters

Enjoy!

limes and finger food

I have been busy, travelling and unwell so my cooking mojo went somewhere else and my blogging mojo followed it, however...

This week I had a bucket of limes to use up. And there are more on the tree.

So the challenge begins:

I made Lime Curd - just the Thermomix EDC recipe Oh MY GOODNESS I just want to eat this off the spoon even after seeing how much butter and sugar went in there

Then Lime Marmalade - again the EDC, mind you don't look for it in the index under "L" or "M" whoever put that together should be writing crosswords for a living - it's under "C" for Citrus so I stumbled on the recipe by accident while making the Lime Curd. One batch made 4 jars of sticky breakfast goodness.

Lime cordial was next I chose this recipe because it had less sugar than the others. Himself (who is a bit of a lime cordial connoisseur)  is very impressed with the result.

We are having guests tonight so I wanted to make finer food - I decided to give The4Blades chicken wings a go.
I made the hot sauce a couple of days in advance. I substituted apple cider vinegar for the white vinegar and half the cayenne with paprika and it is still blow your head off hot. It will be interesting to see how it goes with the wings tonight.

So today I had a blitz - I made this cake which is way different to the lazy cakes I usually do - and it is sugar free and GF as well. It smells divine.

Then some of these Lime balls. Just because I could.

And because it seemed like we ought to have vegetables in there somewhere I made 40 mini muffins using this recipe

So then we did the 4Blades hot wings (I needed double the spice mix) and the jerk wings. One batch are cooking in the veroma right now.

Is that enough inspiration for a bit? I think I need a rest!

Thermomix Mexican Salsa

My apologies for the lack of posts recently I have been enjoying cooking other people's food especially ideas from the 4Blades podcast and when tired and hungry we always cook this Chicken and Brown Rice soup from Quirky Cooking, which is simply not possible to improve upon.

We have had a really busy couple of months between various theatrical events (participating and viewing) and a wonderful family holiday in Hervey Bay where we went whale watching.

So this week when faced with a glut of tomatoes (here is the gardener's photo from Instagram)

I wondered what I could make with them (I already have a couple of huge jars of passata in the fridge) - I asked on Facebook and people suggested butter chicken, relish, tomato paste, and (oh brilliant idea) salsa!

Of course I thought - off to the 4 Blades they did a Mexican themed podcast a few months ago here

I failed. Botheration - how can it be Mexican with no salsa?

I found some other recipes on the internet, read them, and decided to make my own so here it is:

Place in TM31:

4 cloves garlic

500g brown onions 

300g red onions 

Chop 4 seconds speed 5

Add:

700g quartered tomatoes

1 large red capsicum cut up

1 tablespoon chilli powder

1 teaspoon cumin powder

1/2 teaspoon ground coriander seed

1 teaspoon raw sugar

2 teaspoons seasalt

80 ml apple cider vinegar

Turbo 3 - 4 times 

Cook 30 minutes Veroma reverse speed 1

Do what you have to do to manage splattering - I used a splatter guard but 15 minutes in things looked like this:

So I added a towel over the counter at the back and the basket upside down on the TM31 lid

While it is cooking cut up another:

 700g tomatoes 

I don't think there is an easy way to do this. Make sure your knife is good and sharp and note this recipe does not include human fingers.

After 30 minutes add the chopped tomatoes and cook another 20 minutes Veroma reverse speed 1

Add:

the juice of a lime

Stir through with your spatula. Did you know that if you wipe the inside of a lemon or lime on your fingers it will remove the garlic or onion smell?

Pour into sterilised jars and store (I am keeping this in the fridge but I think that will depend on your climate)

I will probably add some fresh chopped sawtooth coriander when using as a dip 

Delicious Chilli Lime Hummus

Supposed to be going out now... this is what I made today - I didn't get progress pics but the multitudes are loving the result

Place in bowl
1 chilli deseeded and halved
1 large clove garlic
2 strips lime rind
Process at speed 8 for 5 seconds three times, scraping down sides in between

Add to bowl
can of chick peas (drained)
Juice of two limes
2 tblsp tahini
2 tblsp olive oil
large pinch of sea salt

Process at speed 4 for 2 minutes, scrape down sides and repeat until the desired texture is achieved
Taste and adjust seasoning if required

Great for parties and get togethers - serve with carrots, celery and rice crackers to keep your ProPoints low

Thai Beef Salad

This has become one of our favourite meals, especially since we got the Thai basil and mint well established in the garden.

so for us step one is go outside,  enjoy the sky, and pick mint, coriander, thai basil, limes and chilli.

Then come in, fill a glass and do this:

Make the salad base:
2/3 cup Thai basil
2/3 cup mint
1/3 cup chopped Thai coriander
1 bag salad leaves
1 punnet cherry tomatoes (halved) I am looking forward to picking our own again soon

mix these together using your hands in a large bowl or on a platter

Top with
1 lebanese cucumber cut into ribbons using a vegetable peeler
3 spring onions chopped on the diagonal
1 large red chilli de seeded and sliced

Then slice your beef into thin strips. I buy skirt steak especially for this kind of recipe as it is beautifully tender when cut right. I used 400g skirt steak

put all the meat in a bowl and top with the marinade ingredients:
1 teaspoon chopped garlic
1 teaspoon chopped ginger
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 tablespoon fish sauce
juice of one lime
1 tablespoon oil (I used rice bran oil)
Mix through.  I use chopsticks to mix, as it helps build strength and dexterity when using them. All the marinade stays on the meat too, I find if you use a spoon the marinade sticks to the spoon rather than the meat.

For the dressing shake these ingredients together in a jar.
2 teaspoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons fish sauce
juice of one lime
2 tablespoons palm sugar (chopped finely)
A shake of sesame oil

Cook the meat in batches in a fry pan or on the barbecue

this is Taff's hand, not mine

Assemble at the last minute

pile on the meat then pour on dressing then sprinkle 1/2 cup fried shallots (from an Asian supermarket) over the salad

Enjoy. This is another 6 propoint meal, if you use a Chef's toolbox pan and only brush a teaspoon of oil over it for cooking. And it's OK to go back for seconds...

Lime and mint quinoa salad

Look at natures bounty - all except the tomatoes picked 2 minutes before the photo!

I have 6 tomatoes - not cherry tomatoes - the slightly bigger ones, 2 limes, parsley, thai coriander and mint.

Take a cup of quinoa and cook with 2 - 2 1/2 cups of water, covered until all the water is absorbed and the rains are puffed up

Before

 I forgot to watch the clock so I have no idea how long it was cooked for 

After

While it cooks chop up the tomatoes and herbs, add half a red onion and one clove of garlic chopped fine. Squeeze over the juice of both limes and add 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil. I used lemon infused oil but regular would do.

Then toss gently through the cooked quinoa. Serve warm or chilled, today or tomorrow - it doesn't matter

6 serves at 5 Weight Watchers ProPoints a serve

This is a really zingy salad - makes a great side dish or lunch