special pizza sauce

This is just delicious - we are having it tonight on a wholemeal TM pizza base with caramelised onions and some of the lovely vanilla balsamic dressing from Ciabatta Restaurant

Start with

  1 red onion, diced

2 cloves garlic, minced

Saute in

 30ml olive oil

Saute onion and garlic in oil until soft, then add

½ tspn dried chilli

4 tblsp red wine vine

Large pinch sea salt

2 tblsp raw sugar

then cook down about 5 minutes while you chop up the tomatoes.

Add:

 1kg ripe tomatoes roughly chopped

 1 tsp oregano

Stir in tomatoes, cook covered tightly over a very low heat until it is thick (about 45 minutes).

 Pour into Thermomix and turbo 3 -4 times until you like the consistency.

Store in a clean jar - will keep about a month in the refrigerator (if it lasts that long)

And here is our pizza:

Zingy thermomix cauliflower salad

I was walking by the river tonight and I took inspiration from the 4 Blades Podcast who accompany me when I am not listening to the Verity Podcast 

Verity's influence is anything but healthy - I feel inspired to make Doctor Who themed cupcakes and biscuits but first I needed dinner.

Rather than come home and make poached egg on toast for tea I put a steak in a pan and mixed me up this salad

The method is based on their Simple Summer Salads episode

The finished product

Chop 60 grams of pecans at Speed 4 for 6 seconds
Set aside

Put 1/4 bunch of parsley in the bowl with 2 cloves of garlic and half a long red chilli deseeded
Chop 4 seconds Speed 10

Add 250 grams of cauliflower broken into florets, a carrot, chopped roughly, a capsicum, chopped roughly and half a red onion, peeled
Chop Speed 4 for 4 to 5 seconds

Add 1 tablespoon cider vinegar, juice of half a lemon and 100g fat free yoghurt We are loving this one from the Tamar Valley because it is delicious and reminds us of home

Mix on reverse speed 4 for 5 seconds.

Is that steak done yet?

No? It must be time for a glass of something then

Go to Lamb Stew from the 4 Blades (with extra wine)

Well because today was my birthday I was planning not to cook, and had gone to great lengths plotting a menu which included lots of leftovers last night. I was driving around today and listening to the 4 Blades Podcast and wouldn't you know it they were doing a recipe which sounded easy, delicious and would use up  some of the split pumpkin out in the garden as well as the exact leftover vegetables I had in my fridge. This was obviously meant to be so I bought 800g of diced lamb and came home to try out my best birthday present - a new camera with a food setting!

The recipe can be heard here or you can just read it here The only thing I really did differently was double the wine and that was because I wasn't paying attention.

This is really easy to do ahead and you could walk the dog, transport the kids or put your feet up with a gin and tonic while it cooks.

First you go out in the garden and pick a chilli and some parsley. Put them in the TM with the garlic and onion.

 Then you scrape down and fry it and the kitchen smells heavenly

Add lamb (I had 800g)

 

 and tomatoes and pumpkin

 and vegetables I used capsicum, broccoli, and cauliflower

and wine and stock. I was listening to another episode of the podcast and got completely distracted and put in 250 ml of wine instead of 100 ml (WHOOPS!)

As Bec says it is very full when you start

Here is where the MC sat

after 10 mins it started to smell really good

after 40 minutes it looked like this

so I took out the MC and put the basket on it to hopefully reduce it a little

And in an hour we had this and it was absolutely delicious! Sorry about the picture quality (still making friends with my camera) - there is a nice one at the original place here 

6 serves easy - and only 6 Weight Watchers Pro Points per serve so you can have bread, rice, pasta, dessert, whatever you like!

Lamb, pomegranate and roasted vegetables

Take 2 small sweet potatoes, a red onion and half a cauliflower.
Cut them into small pieces and place on silicon sheets to bake in the oven
Drizzle each tray with 1/2 tablespoon olive oil and a little chopped garlic

Bake 25-30 minutes until browning nicely, take out, combine gently and dump on a bed of baby spinach

While that is cooking roll some lamb backstraps in oregano rub

And grill or barbecue them till they are done. Slice and place on top of the salad. Squeeze the juice of one lemon and two pomegranates over the top. If you bang the pomegranate with a wooden spoon the seeds will come out and look really pretty

Enjoy! This is definitely WW friendly - only 6 ProPoints per serve based on a 400g backstrap for 4 serves

The BEST Thermomix bouillabaisse

This is just what I used to make on the stove top adapted for the TM31
We have it instead of take away as it is quicker and nicer

So on a chilly Friday you buy some good quality marinara mix and either make or buy some nice bread to go with it. Tonight I have 450g fish, scallops, mussels and prawns.
Grab your veroma and spread the fish evenly through the dish

You also need

a large onion, peeled and halved

2-3 cloves of garlic, peeled

1 red chilli, deseeded and halved

a handful of fresh basil

Place these in the TM31 and chop for 5 seconds speed 5

Then add

6 tomatoes quartered

1000 ml water

1 tablespoon olive oil

2-3 tablespoons stock paste

1/2 cup of white wine

pinch saffron

salt and pepper

Place veroma on top. Cook 20 minutes Veroma speed 2

While it cooks you can set a fancy table or have a relaxing drink or three with anyone else eating with you

When it is done you won't believe how little the seafood has shrunk - it's all plump, juicy and tasty

Spoon into bowls and top with the soup which is absolutely delicious

That's it. Serves 4 or 2 as a complete meal. Preparation time less than 5 minutes, Cooking time 25 including prep. Weight Watchers points 5.

Thermomix Asian chicken salad

Thanks to Karen Martini for the inspiration ... here is the original recipe if you don't own a Thermomix.

I thought I would work through this, add some tweaks and calculate the Weight Watchers ProPoints and run with it at Cafe Disarray.

So for the salad:

1 cooked chicken

2 cucumbers sliced into ribbons

couple handfuls bean sprouts

couple handfuls sugar snaps topped, tailed and halved
two spring onions sliced diagonally

handful mint 

handful Thai basil

Ribboning the cucumber is actually quite challenging. I used a good sharp vegie peeler but if you are a bit of a control freak and expect symmetry, then you should give up before you start. The ribbons are very pretty though. After eating it I have decided that next time I will use cucumber batons and wombuk cabbage.

And for the dressing I went off to the Aladdin's cave that is my local Asian supermarket, we came home with a heap of other random stuff, noodles with no English on the packet, a butter size tub of chili paste and steamed pork buns (yum!) You don't need any of my impulse buys to make this salad.

For the dressing:

1 clove garlic

a thumb of fresh ginger

6 kaffir lime leaves sliced finely

green chilli halved and seeds removed (this is so more people in my house will eat it, you can leave in if you like)

Put these all in TM31 and blitz at speed 7 for 3 seconds

Scrape down and add:

2 teaspoons Tom Yum paste

Juice of 2 limes

2 teaspoons fish sauce

60g light coconut cream

30g almond paste (my newest fetish)

Mix speed 5 for 15 seconds, or longer if you want a smoother consistency. Eew my fingers smell like fish sauce.

Assemble the salad on a platter - greens and some herbs on the bottom and chicken pieces on top. Scatter remaining herbs over the salad.

Pour dressing over, garnish with 4 tablespoons fried shallots (more goodness from the Asian store)  and enjoy!

This has a total of 60 Weight Watchers ProPoints and will serve about 6 people. Ten ProPoint dinner - what's not to like?

Sixty second salad

Actually I think it took less than that...

I wanted something not too boring to have with cos lettuce.

So I wizzed one clove garlic for 3 seconds at speed 7
(Non thermomixers could chop it finely)
Add:   

2 ripe tomatoes (halved)

good handful of fresh basil

2 tablespoons of tomato sauce (from the EDC)

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 tablespoon cider vinegar

large pinch salt

wizz for 4 seconds at speed 7

At this point it is really not very pretty. Mum was  quite rude about it.
Tear your washed cos lettuce into large pieces and pour dressing over. Mine looks drowned because we only put enough out for three but I think a big bowl of baby cos would look lovely
Sprinkle with  about 40g feta cheese. We use danish feta because it is creamy and delicious.

Tonight we are having barbecued chops and sausages, marinated mushrooms, chat potatoes with harissa cream and sixty second salad.

check out the gorgeous BBQ plate one of my kids made in kindy!

NB - harissa cream is just light sour cream with a spoonful of harissa paste stirred through (I will post the harissa recipe another time)

Low fat shaksuka

This is based on Israeli Shaksuka - a dear friend shared her breakfast recipe with me

Tonight we were out till almost 7pm and needed dinner in a hurry

I put 2 cloves garlic in the Thermomix for 3 seconds at speed 7

Then added 2 medium onions and a red pepper, chopped 4 secs speed 5

Add 1 tsp cumin and 1 tsp paprika

Add 800g diced canned tomatoes (this is also great for using up a garden tomato glut)

Cook 9 minutes 100 degrees speed 1

You will know it is done when the aroma assaults your senses

Pour into a pan on the stove which has a wide base

And add your eggs. Tonight we are having two eggs each. 

Simmer in the pan until the whites are cooked. Leave the yolks runny.

Scoop out into a bowl, sprinkle with parsley and serve

Only 4ProPoints per person so you can add crusty delicious bread - How awesome is that?