Mexican Chicken Meatloaf (GF & TMX)

based on this somewhat confusing recipe i made this last night - it was delicious though it still needs some tweaking.

Meatloaf
2 cloves Garlic
around 500-750g chicken meat - breasts, thighs or a combination, still slightly frozen and diced
1/2 bunch fresh coriander
2 Eggs
50g Rice Crumbs (i used Casalare brand)
1/2 tspn chicken stock concentrate or 1 tspn GF stock powder
1 1/2 - 2 tabs taco spice mix

Vegetables of your choice - sweet potato, plain potato quartered, carrot roughly chopped, green beans topped and tailed

Meatloaf Method
Place garlic & coriander for sauce & meatloaf into TM bowl and chop for 6 seconds on speed 6. Place half in a bowl and keep for sauce.

Add cubed chicken into bowl. Set dial to closed lid position and pulse meat 8 to 10 times on Turbo to mince.

Add remaining ingredients except vegetables and set dial to closed lid position and pulse 5 times on Turbo again. Mix for 20 seconds on speed 5.

Remove mixture from the bowl and shape into one or two large loavesthe length of the varoma (depending on how much chicken used).

Spray Varoma dish with oil, place meatloaf longways across the centre of the dish (or if you have 2 loaves, place them across the varoma) and pack vegetables loosely around it. *



Sauce
2 cloves Garlic
1 small Onion, peeled and halved
1/2 bunch fresh coriander
1 Celery stick, roughly chopped
40g Oil
150g White Wine
2 tins 400g Peeled Tomatoes
1 Sweet potato, cut into 1" dice
1 Carrot, roughly chopped
1 large Potato, cut into 1" dice
1 green capsicum, cored and cut into 8 pieces
1/2 tspn chicken stock concentrate or 1 tspn GF stock powder
1 1/2 - 2 tabs taco spice mix
jalapeno peppers to taste (optional)

Method for Sauce
Place garlic, onion, coriander and celery into the TM bowl and chop for 3 seconds on speed 5.

Add oil and sauté for 3 minutes at 100°C on speed 1. (I forgot this bit and it was fine without it ;))

Add remaining ingredients including vegetables and cook for 5 minutes at Varoma temperature on speed 1.

Place Varoma dish with meatloaf into position and cook for 35 minutes on speed 2 at Varoma temperature. *

Serve on large platter together with vegetables and pour sauce over.


* i didn't weigh my chicken but am guessing i had around 750g and had only made one long loaf. the 35 minutes was not long enough to cook it through - it was only half cooked, but the vegies were all done or overdone (i had added the beans and julienned carrots after the potatoes had cooked for 10-15 mins). Next time I will probably cook it in 2 loaves for 45 minutes, but only add the larger vegies in the last 30 minutes, and the smaller ones for the last 15 minutes. Once i get this recipe so i'm happy with it i will update :D

PS: i have to say that even though this was delicious and sounds like kid-friendly food my kids had conniptions over it and emelia only ate the chicken, ryan only ate the potato and rora refused to eat even one bite LOL

Asian Soup with GF wontons (GF, TMX)

this is not so much a recipe as it is a reminder for me of what i did tonight :) it needs some refinement ;)

wontons:
500g veal mince (or use pork or mix of pork & veal, pork & prawn)
1 small onion
4 garlic cloves
2 small carrots
1" ginger
1 egg
2-3 shallots, cut into 1" lengths
coriander

chop on speed 6 & mix well

soak rice paper wrappers in hot water, fold four sides into the centre, put tspnful in centre and bring in as for wontons. place in base of varoma (don't line with baking paper or if you do poke holes in bottom - mine stewed in the collected steam :()

no need to wash out tmx bowl, any leftover mince adds flavour to broth

broth:
in basket place:
some celery leaves
1 small carrot, chopped diagonally
star anise (i used 3, was not enough)
4 garlic cloves
1" ginger sliced
black peppercorns if desired

in bowl of tmx place 800g water, splash of tamari and good splosh of sesame oil. i also added some chicken stock powder as i was out of homemade stock concentrate.

place basket in

cook for 10 minutes on varoma speed 3/4

asian veg:
use any leafy green veg, slice very finely and place in top of varoma

put varoma on top for 10 minutes on varoma speed 3

** i'm not really sure about cooking times ATM as i totally overcooked the wontons.

serve with rice noodles (soaked) and some of the broth, wontons and greens.

would be lovely with some chilli in it too

~*Rae*~'s failsafe version

Easy Potato Salad

inspired by a thread on EB

put water in the thermomix and place in varoma on top around 6 medium potatoes and half a large sweet potatoes quartered. cook for ummm i think it was 5 minutes but could have been 10 (oops) on varoma temp, speed 1

remove the varoma and lid and add the basket and 3 eggs (actually i did 6 but kept the others for the girls. it's best if you use room temp eggs so they don't break with the hot water lol)

cook for 15 minutes on varoma temp, speed 1

in the meantime finely dice some lean bacon (4 shortcut pieces) and fry til crispy
finely chop some garlic (1-2 cloves)

let eggs and potatoes cool to peel & dice - 2cm pieces for the potatoes and 3/4cm pieces of egg (quarter & dice)

in a large bowl mix around 2/3 cup mayo (can make your own in tmx of course, i used a low fat praise one that is also GF) and a little less of plain or greek yoghurt. also add in some S&P, some fresh shredded mint leaves, and the rest of the ingredients.

toss to coat and serve or chill and serve

a varoma adventure!

dimsims in the varoma tray, vegies in the base of the varoma

rice in the basket in the bowl of the thermomix

the full story is over here but there are more pictures here than there ;)