Three Thermomix Winter Warmers

My family consists of two adults, a teen, two tweens and a toddler. We are literally cooking for six- thank god for the thermomix!
In the colder months, the thermomix is awesome for winter warmer style dishes that can feed a tribe with ease. Here’s 3 of our staple winter recipes:

Pumpkin Soup

Serves 6
What winter would be complete without pumpkin soup? We often serve it up with thick toast, garlic bread or those tasty little bake at home rolls you can get at the supermarket. The version I make is kind of a combination of several recipes including how I used to make it pre-thermy.

Ingredients:
900g Water
1 tablespoon of Thermomix Vegie stock (you could use Vegeta or similar)
1 clove of Garlic
1 teaspoon of Curry Powder
200g Potato, peeled and cut into pieces
200g Carrot, peeled and cut into pieces
600g Pumpkin, peeled and cut into pieces
300g Either Milk or Pure Cream
100g of ham or bacon, diced (optional) + a drizzle of olive oil

Garnish:
Sour cream or natural yoghurt

Method:

1. Blitz the garlic clove on Speed 7 for a few seconds and scrape down sides.
2. If you’re using ham or bacon, bung that in too with that drizzle of oil. Give it 3 minutes/100 C/Speed 2 then take the bacony/hammy goodness out and put aside for a bit (try not to eat it all!)
3. Add the water, curry powder and stock into the bowl and pop the basket inside it. Whack the chopped potato and carrot into the basket. It should all fit but if it’s not co-operating, take a few bits out to make room. Pop on the lid and the varoma dish. Then weigh in the pumpkin and any leftover bits of carrot or potato.
4. Cook for 30minutes/Varoma/Speed 1 – 2
5. Then check the veg. They might need a few more minutes to steam and boil if you’ve cut them bigger.
6. Once the vegies are cooked, you basically need to take the varoma off, open the lid and take out the basket (Careful! It’s hot in there by now!) Then put all that lovely veg back into the bowl with the water that’s left. I recommend using tongs or a spoon rather than trying to tip it all back in to avoid splashy burns.
7. Done all that? Righto. If you have a bowl of bacony or hammy garlic goodness sitting there, bung that in too. Now it’s blitzing time. You want to go about 30 seconds on Speed 4 then increase to about speed 6-7 for another 30 seconds or so. Then back to zero. Open carefully, because, you know, HOT. Add your cream or milk (evaporated milk would work or that Philadelphia cooking cream stuff) and give it 2 mins/80C/Speed 2.
8. Serve in bowls with sour cream or natural yoghurt dolloped on top. Yum!

Cheesy Macaroni with Hidden Vegies

Serves 5-6
The Thermomix is a vegie hider’s best friend. Seriously.

Ingredients:
500g pasta- macaroni or penne work best
160g grated cheese (I often just use tasty but you could try ½ tasty, ½ parmesan if you feel fancy)
45g plain flour
50g butter/margarine
500g milk
2 small or 1 large zucchini (peeled if you really need it hidden), chopped roughly
1 carrot, chopped roughly
100g bacon, diced (optional) + drizzle of olive oil

Method:

1. Boil water and cook pasta as per packet instructions. While the water boils,use the thermomix to grate your cheese and set aside.
2. Using bacon? Smart move. Pop it in the oil and the bacon and cook for 3 mins/100C/Speed 2- Reverse and set aside.
3. Now add the carrot and zucchini. Blitz on Speed 7 for about 20 seconds until they are finely chopped.
4. Add the cheese, flour, butter and milk to the bowl. Cook for 9 mins/90C/Speed 3.
5. Once cooked, blitz on speed 6 for 30 seconds or so if you have to eradicate any possibility of vegetable detection.
6. Some kids are ALL OVER these tricks without some serious pureeing action. By now, your pasta should be done. My method here is to drain it and whack it back into the same pot. Then I bung the sauce in and the bacon, stir and dish up. Voila! Hot tip- Some fancy types might put it in a nice serving dish if they were looking to impress!

Bacon and Pea Risotto

Risotto is one of those dishes that always looks impressive. It’s all creamy goodness and flavour. It’s one of the easiest and best things to make in a thermomix (despite the fact that some of my family refer to it, lovingly, as my Custard Machine!)
Ingredients:
50g Parmesan cheese
1100g water
1 onion (peeled and quartered), optional
1-2 garlic cloves (peeled)
Some parsley and basil- dried or fresh, to taste
40g olive oil
400g Arborio rice
100g white wine + a glass for the chef if you’re so inclined (I am, generally.)
160g bacon, diced
1-2 tablespoons of thermomix vegie stock or substitute with stock powder/cubes
200g zucchini, roughly chopped
100g frozen peas

Method:

1. Mill the parmesan on speed 9 for about 10 seconds, then bung it into your thermoserver.
2. Give the bowl a quick rinse and dry, then put your herbs and chopped zucchini in, along with onion if you’re using it.
3. Chop on Speed 7 for 4-5 seconds. Scrape down the sides and add the olive oil. Cook for 3 minutes/100C/Speed 1.
4. Now insert the butterfly. Pop in your rice, diced bacon and wine. Cook for 2 minutes/100C/Speed Soft on Reverse.
5. Now add your stock, water and peas.
6. Cook for 20 minutes/100C/Speed Soft on Reverse and finish that lovely glass of wine.
7. Once done, whack it into your thermoserver, stir in the parmesan and bung the lid on while you find bowls, egt someone to set the table and all that jazz. By then 5 or so minutes will have passed and your risotto will be all thickened up.
8. Slap it into bowls and prepare to dazzle! You can even throw extra parmesan and black pepper on top to make it pretty.

Amy also blogs at HandbagMafia.net