Pain Perdu, Pineapple and Coconut

We haven't been to Marcus Wareing's eponymous restaurant since it was re-branded.  It's a little art-deco jewel-box of a restaurant, but the atmosphere seemed just as hushed at lunchtime as before... Still.  The food was good, and I was particularly enamoured with this dish - a little chef's joke...  The pineapple tastes of coconut, which initially confuses the senses, especially as you try to work out how... I pressed the waitress, it's clearly compressed, because of the texture, but what with? And then of course it struck me - Malibu - the scent led me by my nose to my teenage years.  Malibu.  When was the last time you tasted Malibu?  Well, rest assured, in this dish it's absolutely delicious, as long as you like coconut and pineapple.

Coconut Milk Creme Patisserie [Thermomix]

I use the standard Creme Patisserie recipe on the blog a lot, but in a recent recipe (which contained a coconut curd), I thought I might make a coconut milk variation - after all the fat content of coconut milk is quite high, and the consistency can be similar to milk.  I altered the recipe slightly, but that was because I included 30ml of Malibu, and an increased quantity of flour - I wanted to be able to pipe the creme pat into quite stiff peaks on the plate, for a specific dessert.

Banana Bread [Thermomix]

I'm a mother of four - you have to be able to knock-up banana bread to use up all those mushy bananas.  I don't know what happens - some weeks they go through many bunches, others none...  Still, banana bread is a favourite of the 11yo, so it's never a wasted effort.

Pecan and Salted Caramel Brownies [Thermomix]

Just lately I've been craving Gower Cottage's chocolate brownies, but my secret stash in the freezer was sorely depleted over Christmas!  However serendipity has struck again, as I spotted Ed Kimber's brownie recipe in my in-box this morning.  There's definitely something about salted caramel... It's my favourite filling in Laduree Macaron's, my favourite combination in chocolate bars, there's something about the salty sweetness that becomes utterly addictive!

Thermomix Sauces: Béarnaise

There are conventionally five mother sauces, of which hollandaise is the probably the richest, with it's combination of egg yolks and melted butter.  I'm not always massively fond of hollandaise, as it often lacks flavour beyond the butter.  However I absolutely adore a number of variations, especially blood orange hollandaise (Maltaise sauce), beurre blanc, and most particularly béarnaise sauce, with its fragrant addition of tarragon.

Creme Patisserie [Thermomix]

Whenever people ask me what I make in my Thermomix, the first thing that springs to mind is flawless, effortless creme patisserie.  It's just ridiculously easy in a Thermo, and rather time consuming when made in the conventional way.  Once you have creme patisserie, you can make perfect fruit tarts, glorious soufflés and immaculate pain au raisin!

Swiss Meringue Buttercream Icing [Thermomix]

I've been making a lot of macarons lately, and when I'm completely happy with the process, I'll put a post up.  But in the meantime I've come to realise that whilst a perfect macaron shell is lovely, actually what the majority of people remember are the fillings.  Macarons are vehicles for flavour, and I guarantee most people won't know if your 'feet' have separated, or your shells are hollow.  What they will remember is the texture! 

Tribute Dish - Verveine's Deconstructed Sherbet Dab

Last week I went to a fish restaurant locally called Verveine, in Milford-on-Sea. Verveine is run buy Chef Patron David Wykes, with a fishmonger at the front and a restaurant at the back.  David and his team cook a variety of traditional and modern dishes.  The one I particularly loved - we all loved - was a deconstructed sherbet dab. An intensely deep and rich liquorice ice-cream is topped with a scattering of sherbet - in this case icing sugar and Texturas Fizzy.  I immediately ordered some Fizzy from my favourite supplier Infusions for Chefs, and got cooking.

Heston Blumenthal's Lemon Tart [Thermomix]

Without doubt the best lemon tart I've had, light, just set and vibrant with citrus flavours.

I've actually made this recipe several times now, and have gradually refined the process so that now the 11yo actually makes it on her own! The first time I ignored all of the instructions about sticking it into the freezer, and I paid the price. Firstly the dough was far too soft to handle, and broke as I was transferring it to the case. Secondly it went golden far too quickly, and lastly it absolutely fell apart when I mis-handled the tin. Make sure you follow the instructions exactly, use an oven thermometer, your digital thermometer, and if you have one, your laser thermometer too!

Flavoured Butter [Thermomix]

Of course we all know how to make flavoured butter, but in the Thermomix it's even more insanely easy! Today I made on flavoured with 1 lime, 1 lemon, and 1 blood orange, then chopped some herbs into it.  Used it to pop under the breast skin of my roast chicken - yum yum.

Vanilla-Ice Cream, and Chocolate Ice-Cream

Yes, I'm still making ice-cream at a ridiculous rate since I got the Thermomix, but it's now so easy I'm determined never to buy another tub of ice-cream again.  This way I know exactly what's gone into it!

Tribute Dish - the Roux Pre-Dessert - panna cotta, jelly and granita... [Thermomix]

At Roux Parliament Square, the pre-dessert is a panna cotta, topped with a jelly, and then a refreshing granita. On the day I went we had a coconut/passion fruit/lime, but I notice from trawling reviews that they also do apple/apple/cucumber (yum!), pineapple/coconut/kaffir lime, strawberry/strawberry/meringue.  So it's a very successful formula, onto which you can put your own twist.  If you're going to do this regularly, you'll need some better glasses than mine, I'm on the lookout for something far prettier, a little like this...

Pierre Koffman's Pistachio Souffle [Thermomix]

Pistachio soufflé with hibiscus flower ice-cream

We all know I love a soufflé, but now I have a thermomix I'm going through my recipes seeing how I can adapt them accordingly.  This Pierre Koffman soufflé was an absolute doodle in the thermo, the creme patisserie is now so simple to do, that soufflés are now a very real option for every day eating (though perhaps not to be recommended!).  It also means that it's a very simple and viable option for a dinner party - the creme patisserie has to be made in advance anyway, but whilst your thermo gets on with that, you can be prepping the rest of your meal!  Watch this space, soufflés are going to be flooding out of my kitchen...

Hibiscus Flower Ice-Cream [Thermomix]

Having made the lavender ice-cream so easily, I thought I should see what else I could do with my thermomix!  This time hibiscus flower ice-cream.

Lavender Ice Cream [Thermomix]

Lavender Ice-Cream

I found a lavender ice-cream recipe on the Telegraph website, and thought it would be a good one to adapt for the thermomix.

Michel Roux's Chocolate Soufflé [also for Thermomix]

Chocolate souffle - the ultimate hit of chocolate, but without the guilty stodge... You can almost convince yourself that this doesn't count...  This is the joy of soufflés, they satisfy without making you feel as though you've eaten a whole tart...  Would be delicious served with pistachio ice-cream...