Peanut Chili Beer Brittle

This was one of those recipes I thought was all hype like the recipes you see going around pinterest 1,567,000 times so you try it and it's pretty lousy... Safe to say this was not one of those! It is tasty, moreish, easy and cheap! My husband was eating it before I had baked it (this seems to be a pattern...) 

I followed this recipe from the recipe community. I mixed it for the full 8 seconds that it says to but I found the peanuts were a little too crushed for my liking. In future I would mix for 4 seconds, check it and mix again if need be. I've added my variations in the recipe below.

you're not going to not eat peanut chili beer brittle 

without a beer..

130g raw sugar

100g beer

300g raw unsalted peanuts

1 TB dried chili flakes

11/2 ts salt flakes

Preheat your oven to 180 degrees, Line a large baking tray with baking paper.

Mill the sugar in the bowl for 10 sec on speed 9. Scrape down the side of the bowl and add the beer, cook for 5 min at varoma on speed 2 - place the simmering basted on the lid instead of the MC. After that has finished add the peanuts and cook for 2 mins at 90 degrees on speed 1 again using the simmering basket instead of the MC.  Scrape down the sides every few minutes. Add the chili flakes and mix it for 4 secs on speed 5. Pour the mixture onto the lined baking tray and bake for 15 minutes. Check it at 10 minutes to make sure it isn't browning too quickly. Remove it from the oven and once it has cooled break it into pieces and eat...

and eat...

and eat some more.

Cumquat "Jamalade"

I followed the strawberry jam recipe from the Basic Cookbook. I only had 300g of cumquat's so i only added 300g sugar. I cut them in half and
removed most of the seeds (but got pretty frustrated towards the end). It turned out great! A combination between jam and marmalade. Its not as sweet which is nice and I plan on using it not only on toast but also for glazing cakes and meat. 

Ricotta Gnocchi. And Then Cream of Tomato Soup!

It REALLY peeves me that the plate is messy, so, so much.. but regardless this meal was a hit! 

Once I'd dished everyone's up, I started a quick tidy up but I ended up having to guard my bowl! My husband woofed his down and was on the prowl for more! He even tried to take one of the gnocchi before I'd had a chance to cook them!  After we finished the meal - which was quite light and could be reduced in size for an easy entree - I could see my 6 year old's eyes darting around for what was next to come... Um nothing I'm afraid! Until I decided not to store the leftover tomato sauce for spaghetti but to add a splash of cream, some leftover basil and give it a blitz.
YUM! Mr 6 had two more bowls of cream of tomato soup!


This recipe comes from Dani Valent's IN THE MIX 2. A really awesome thermo cookbook!



Gnocchi
100g frozen bread in chunks
100g parmesan in cubes
peeled zest of 1/2 lemon
handful of basil and oregano leaves or other herbs of your choosing (I used parsley)
1 tsp of salt
250g ricotta (I made my own as part of this recipe, here is the link)

                                      

Place everything but the ricotta in the bowl and blitz 10 secs on speed 9

Add the ricotta and mix 15 secs on speed 3

Using wet hands (or trusty kitchen gloves) roll /squeeze the mixture into walnut sized balls. Then arrange them in the varoma dish and tray if they don't all fit.

My balls were a little big...and uneven...

Sauce
1 onion peeled and cut in half
2 cloves of garlic peeled
30g olive oil
1x 400g tin tomatoes
300g passata
1 TB vegetable stock paste 
pepper to taste

Chop onion and garlic in bowl 2 secs on speed 5. Scrape down the side and add the oil. Cook for 4 mins at 100 degrees on speed 1. add the tomatoes, passata, stock paste, pepper and 100g water. Cook 5 mins at varoma on speed 2. Place the varoma with the gnocchi in place and steam for 10 mins at varoma on speed 2. DONE! Just like that!

Bit of a messy plate but regardless....DELIZIOSO! 

Ricotta

Ricotta was one of the things I was super keen to make when I first got my TM5.

I used a recipe from In The Mix 2 by Dani Valent. My cousin let me borrow her book to look through but I ended up ordering my own. It's a beautiful book with loads of awesome recipes!

1.5kg milk

30g white wine vinegar

Warm the milk 10 mins at 80 degrees on speed 2.

Add the vinegar then mix for 1 min at 90 degrees on speed 1

Drain the cheese in the simmering basket lined with clean chux cloth. The recipe says to leave it for 10 minutes but I left mine for about half an hour. I gave it a bit of a squeeze and then put the ricotta in a bowl ready to make ricotta gnocci...

curds separating from the whey

draining the whey

   ricotta!

Not Quite Sorbet

THIS IS CRAZY GOOD Y'ALL!!

So I was making the Basic Cookbook fruity dream the other night when I stumbled upon this little concoction when I didn't blitz my fruit enough.

This is my version of the little balls of ice cream or sorbet you get in shopping centers. It tastes soooo much like sherbet.



40g raw sugar

Blitz 10 sec on speed 9

120g frozen mango
120g frozen raspberries
60g frozen blueberries

Blitz 3-5 sec on speed 8 
KEEP an eye on it because you don't want to take it too far.

This is what it should look like

Yum. Just yum.

You can add sparkling water, or lemonade or even some vodka

CADA

I'm not much of a breakfast person, like, not at all. Which is strange because my 6 year old would eat breakfast all day, everyday if he could!

I'm talking 2 eggs, 2 slices of bacon, mushrooms, 2 slices of toast and a roasted tomato, every day, all day..  

I digress... I gave this a go and I ate a whole bowl!

If you know me, you'll know that's rare! I have this with five:am vanilla yogurt.

This is the recipe I used although I used a little less dates because I didn't want it to be too sweet.

Vietnamese Broth With Chicken Meatballs

This recipe is delicious and very easy/lazy. 

Its based VERY loosely on this recipe, of Vietnamese chicken noodle soup.
I don't add noodles to my version but I do add Chinese veg if I have some, I just put it on top of the meatballs for the last few minutes.


Meatballs
2 spring onions chopped into lengths
1 clove of garlic
1 piece of ginger the same size as the garlic clove
300g coarsely chopped chicken thigh or breast (I've tried it with both)
2 TB soy sauce

Blitz the spring onion, garlic and ginger for 5 sec on speed 6
add the chicken and soy sauce and blitz 5 sec on speed 6 or until its comes together into a sticky paste (will depend on how small you could be bothered chopping he chicken, as you can see below - I was feeling particular lazy that day)

With wet or gloved hands (I recently invested in kitchen grade rubber gloves - Amazing!) roll the meat into ping pong sized balls and place them in the steaming basket. It doesn't matter if they are touching (or even stacked up - see below).
Don't bother rinsing the bowl.


Broth
500g chicken stock
400g water
2 star anise
1 dried chili (use fresh if need be)
1Tb fish sauce
2Tb soy sauce
More garlic and ginger are optional

Place all ingredients in the bowl and add the simmering basket of meatballs. Be sure to place the MC in the lid.
Cook for 15 mins varoma speed 2. I check one of the meatballs at this stage to make sure they are cooked through, I also taste the broth to make sure it doesn't need any more soy or fish sauce. 

Divide the meatballs among serving 
bowls and strain the broth through the simmering basket. Top with spring onion. 

I serve my broth in square bowls to avoid spills when I'm drinking straight from the bowl... Who has time for a spoon!