Adriana's Amaretti Biscuits

Adriana's Amaretti Biscuits

Ingredients:
2 egg whites
2 tsp honey
1 pinch sea salt
180 g ground almonds
150 g caster sugar/fine sugar
100 g dried fruits e.g. apricots, cherries, prunes (not dates) snipped into quarters
100 g nuts e.g. pistachios, almonds, hazelnuts
icing sugar for dipping

Method:
Insert clean Butterfly Whisk into clean grease-free TM bowl.
Whisk egg whites, honey and salt 2 minutes/Speed 3½/Measuring Cup OFF.  
Remove the Butterfly Whisk and add the remaining ingredients.
Stir Speed 2/Reverse Blade Direction until mixed, about 20 seconds.

Using wet hands, shape into small rough dough balls and dip half the ball into the icing sugar. Place on a lightly greased baking tray, icing sugar side up and bake at 190°C with fan/375°F/gas 5 for 12 minutes or until just golden. Aga ovens: Bake on the rack set on the floor of the Roasting Oven for 9 to 12 minutes.

Alternative:  At step 2 add 50 g of dark or white chocolate chips.

Suggested combinations: Cranberry and pistachio Apricot and almond Cherry and almond Fig and walnut Prune, apricot and pistachio Prune and walnut Cherry and dark chocolate chip (omit nuts) Pistachio and white chocolate chip (omit fruit) Hazelnut and white chocolate chip (omit fruit)

My Tiramisu

At long last I've decided to share my secret tiramisu recipe, (mainly because I keep on forgetting it if I don't make it for a long time) but also because it's nice to share.

Ingredients (serves 6)* EGGS, 4, with yolks and whites separated
* SUGAR, a pinch
* MASCARPONE, 500g
* Sponge finger biscuits, 10-15
* AMARETTI biscuits, a standard small bag
* Espresso or Strong Coffee, 1 cup
* Cognac or Brandy, to taste (I'm quite liberal)
* COCOA, 1/8 cup
* Vanilla extract, 1 tsp or a pod of real vanilla

Directions

1. Separate egg whites and yolk.
2. Whisk egg whites with a pinch of sugar in TM, with butterfly whisk, speed 4 keeping an eye on it until firm (mixture should form soft peaks when touched with a spoon and spoon lifted off).  Pour out and put to one side.
3. Put the egg yolks and a tablespoon of brandy into the TM bowl and heat 5 mins/ 80 C / Speed 4 (if you don't have a TM, then just mix the egg yolks and brandy without heating)
4. Add mascarpone, vanilla and mix 20 seconds / speed 4. Empty the mixture into a large bowl.
5. Gently fold in the egg white into the mixture.
6. Mix the brandy into the coffee to taste
7. Arrange the lady fingers and amaretti biscuits into an appropriate medium rectangular flat dish (about equal amounts of each, you can vary the ratio to your preference), and soak with the coffee and brandy mixture
8. Spoon the mascarpone mixture on top.
9. Sprinkle with the cocoa
10. Chill at least 3 hours or overnight

Tiramisu

From Heavenly Tiramisu. (I use this as a base for my tiramisu but add some secret ingredients and replace others!)

The company that makes this particular brand of cheese (Bel Gioioso, pronounced "bel-joy-oso" Cheese Inc. of Denmark, Wisconsin) put this recipe on the side of its 8-ounce Mascarpone container. They call it their "Famous 'Tiramisu' Dessert Recipe," but then again, I guess every cheese company, every restaurant has a "famous" recipe. This one makes 6 servings

Ingredients
* EGGS, 3 large, with yolks and whites separated
* SUGAR, 1/2 cup
* MASCARPONE, 8 ounces (225g)
* LADYFINGERS, 20
* Espresso or Strong Coffee, 1 cup
* Cognac or Brandy, 2 tablespoons
* COCOA, 1/8 cup
* Vanilla extract, 1 tsp or a pod of real vanilla

Directions
1. Combine 3 egg yolks, 1 tablespoon Espresso, sugar, and Cognac into the large mixing bowl.
2. Beat 2 to 3 minutes
3. Add Mascarpone, vanilla and beat 3 to 5 minutes until consistency is smooth
4. In another bowl, combine 3 egg whites and a pinch of sugar. Beat until mixture forms stiff peaks
5. Gently fold into Mascarpone mixture
6. Pour rest of Espresso into flat dish, dip one side of each Lady Finger, and layer on bottom of serving dish
7. Spread 1/3 of Mascarpone mixture and sprinkle with cocoa
8. Continue layering and finish with a Mascarpone layer
9. Sprinkle and refrigerate 1 hour before serving

Panettone

From the UK Thermomix recipe site.

This fruited bread is an Italian Christmas speciality. Making it yourself is very easy with your Thermomix and will cost you a fraction of the price of a bought panettone, and it will taste fresh and delicious. Lovely as a gift. Leftovers make a wonderful bread and butter pudding. Makes about a 1 kg loaf.

Ingredients
50 g granulated sugar
thinly peel skin of 1 organic lemon
400 g strong white bread flour, divided 50 g and 350 g
1½ tsp instant yeast or 15 g fresh yeast
1 tsp salt
100 g butter, diced in 1 cm pieces
250 g milk
3 egg yolks from large eggs
1 tsp vanilla
100 g diced candied peel
75 g raisins or sultanas
icing sugar to dust

Method
1. Weigh sugar and the 50 g flour into the TM bowl and add the lemon peelings. Zest the peel by grinding 30 seconds/Speed 10.
2. Add remaining flour and all other ingredients except icing sugar. Mix 30 seconds/37°C/ Speed 3.
3. Knead 1½ minutes/Dough Setting. Either leave to rise in TM bowl or in a buttered bowl until doubled in size.
4. Punch down and shape into a round. Place in a lined, 15 cm round, buttered, 10 cm deep cake tin. Leave to rise until it reaches 1 cm above the top of the tin. Bake 35 to 40 minutes at 180°C/350°F/gas 4. Aga ovens: Bake same timings in Baking Oven or bake 22 to 30 minutes on the rack set on the floor of the Roasting Oven with the cold plain shelf inserted 3 sets of runners above the top of the cake tin (to allow room for the rising loaf). Cool in the tin then turn out onto a wire rack. Dust with icing sugar to serve.

Mascarpone

By Joanna Weinberg

Strictly speaking, mascarpone is a cultured cream rather than a cheese. But when something tastes this good, who cares? Its great advantage is that it lasts for three to four weeks unopened in the fridge as opposed to crème fraîche's two weeks, and fresh cream's measly one. This is much to do with its high fat content - about 75 per cent. With the texture of clotted cream and mouth-feel somewhere between freshly churned butter and crème fraîche, it's an ingredient that, once used, seems impossible to do without.

Most famously, mascarpone makes up the creamy filling for tiramisu. But it is equally good to use in savoury dishes. Its high fat content gives it excellent emulsifying qualities, and it will reduce the sharpness of a tomato-based or other acidic sauce. If your risotto lacks that desirable creamy consistency, stir through some mascarpone at the last minute. Even better, beat it first with plenty of grated Parmesan and chopped herbs. Or it can simply be spooned over a still-hot vegetable tart.

Where puddings are concerned, mascarpone can make a great replacement for crème patisserie or custard. Beat two egg yolks, with a few tablespoons of caster sugar, into 250g mascarpone. Then spread over a pastry or shortbread base before adding the fruit of your choice - summer's strawberries and raspberries or winter rhubarb, say. For a professional finish, melt and sieve a little apricot jam and brush over the top before serving.

For the sneakiest cheat's pudding of all, make a cheesecake biscuit base (250g crushed digestives, or Duchy Original orange butter biscuits are a fancy option), and mix with 120g melted butter. Press into a loose-bottomed tin and refrigerate. Now beat 200g mascarpone with 200g Greek yoghurt (the fearful could turn to a fat-free version) and add 2tbsp lemon curd. Spread over the top of your base and serve with peeled, sliced blood oranges.

Mushroom Risotto

From this link.

Fresh Mushroom risotto (Demonstration Recipe Guide):

Ingredients:
50g Olive Oil
1/2 Medium Onion
200g fresh Mushrooms, sliced
2 vegetable stock cubes
100g white wine
1100g water
500g Arborio Rice (don't use sun rise)
50g Parmesan Cheese (or to taste), cubed

Method:
Place the parmesan cheese into TM bowl. Pulverise for 10 seconds on speed 9

Transfer to a separate bowl and set aside.

Add onion into TM bowl and chop for 5 seconds on speed 7.

Add oil and sauté for 2 min at 100C on speed 1.

Attach butterfly. Add rice and wine, sauté for 2 min on Reverse + speed soft.

Add stock cubes, mushrooms and water and cook for 16 min at 100C on reverse + speed soft.

Pour the risotto into a dish and stir through the Parmesan Cheese.

Geranial Tips:

Ensure the MC is placed in the lid when cooking.

Once cooking has ceased pour the risotto into a serving bowl. The mixture may appear watery, but the liquid will absorb with standing.

For best result use ITALIAN Arborio rice. This can be purchased at Italian Shops, Continental Deli's and large supermarkets.

For a flavoured Risotto add soaked dry mushrooms (ie Porcini) asparagus or fresh or frozen peas.

Another popular version is to add bacon and fresh spinach. Bacon is added in strips or cubes during the sauté process, while spinach is added towards the end of cooking time.

Variations:
1. You can also use sundried tomatoes and spinach.
Use the homemade stock concentrate as it helps to consolidate the healthy/no addative angle. It always impresses!

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2. A really yummy variation on the recipe above is to change the following:

Before chopping the onion, grind a small amount of dried porchini mushrooms on speed 9 for 10 seconds.

Reduce fresh mushrooms to 100-150g
Add a tbs of porchini mushrooms (already chopped up and soaked in about 50ml of water for a couple of hours or overnight).

In the Thermoserver, add baby spinach and chopped up asparagus.

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3. Allergic to mushrooms ? Have you tried the Apricot Chicken Risotto style, amazing! For vegetarians, leave out the chicken and add some diced marinated tofu in the last 7 minutes, and some finely sliced snow peas for colour.