Gourmet Christmas Hampers 2012

Merry Christmas everyone!

We hope you all had a gorgeous Christmas and now getting a chance to relax (and let the kids play with their toys!) We had a lovely Christmas day with the great company of family and plenty of delicious food. Now we've ventured off to sunny Echuca for some chill time.

So no recipes today but I'll share my efforts of making my gourmet Christmas Hamper with recipes to follow.  The special few received some Healthy Muesli, Seaweed Salt, Pistacio Dukka, home grown and cured Olive Tapenade, Chocolate Salami, Nut Butter and Pistacio and Cranberry Biscotti.  Some rustic labels and wrapping and it looked rather cute.

So hope you all enjoyed your day.
xx Veggie Mum

Pistachio Dukka

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas....

And getting rather busy!  This morning I was walking Finn and the dog by 6am, then took Summer to Kinder, went to a job interview, came back to the kinder performance / graduation, came home to make the kids lunch, booked our first camping trip with friends, planned a few Christmas catchups then looked at the clock and it wasn’t even 12!  Only at Christmas hey.

I’ve been busy making some home made food gifts too.  I’d better not give too many secrets away but my favourite so far is my Pistachio Dukka.  Delicious with bread and olive oil, sprinkled on hummus, or to coat tofu or perhaps salmon.  Pistachios just sing Christmas and will be the feature of many of my gifts.

Pistachio Dukka

150g pistachios
100g hazelnuts

100g sesame seeds
35g coriander seeds
30g cumin seeds
1 tsp rock salt
1 tsp peppercorns
½ tsp each nutmeg and cloves

• Place nuts, sesame seeds, coriander and cumin seeds into Thermomix bowl and dry roast for 8 minutes at 100° on speed 1
• Allow to cool then add salt, peppercorns, nutmeg and cloves and chop on Turbo for 1 second at a time until a coarser mixture is achieved
• Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator until ready to use
• Enjoy getting ready for Christmas!

Roasted Strawberry and Rhubarb Ice Cream

Roasted Strawberry and Rhubarb Ice Cream

 

What thoughts and memories does the word ice-cream conjure up for you?  Is it a special treat on a hot summer’s day, dripping faster than you can lick?  Is it the kind of treat you let your 2 year old  have nearly every day  on holidays even though she’s hardly ever had it at home (oops did I just confess to that?!?)  Is it rich and creamy accompanying a gourmet dessert or light and fruity and usually quite healthy when make it at home?

The start of the home grown strawberries...

Whatever takes your fancy you can’t beat good icecream and I’m really excited that summer time is here so I can start experimenting with my Thermomix icecreams again.  There’ll be plenty to follow but today I’m continuing with the rhubarb theme as it’s growing gorgeously.  Mixed with some delightful organic strawberries from my our local farmers market the results were definitely worth writing about.  Roasted  Strawberry and Rhubarb Ice Cream – devine!

Roasted Strawberry and Rhubarb Sauce

Strawberry and Rhubarb Sauce

250g organic strawberries

Approx 4 stalks organic rhubarb

1 tbls rapadura sugar

1 tbls balsamic vinegar

½ tsp salt

1 tsp vanilla

• Preheat oven to 180°
• Roughly chop rhubarb and strawberries and lay in a baking dish
• Sprinkle with sugar, vinegar, salt and vanilla, toss gently and bake for approx 30 minutes until tender
• Sit back and enjoy the amazing aroma filling your home!
• Once cooked and cooled this could be enjoyed over yoghurt or on pancakes but try to reserve most of it for the icecream

Ice Cream

2 egg yolks

250g cream

250g full cream milk

100g raw sugar

1 tsp vanilla

• Place all icecream ingredients into Thermomix bowl and cook for 5 minutes at 80° on speed 4
• Pour into a stainless steel bowl (or thermomix bowl  if it fits in your freezer) and stir through half of the strawberry and rhubarb mixture
• Place in freezer for around 4 hours or until form but not frozen
• Place icecream back into Thermomix bowl and mix for 20 seconds on speed 9 then 10 seconds on speed 4 using spatula if required
• Return to stainless  bowl and swirl through the remaining strawberry and rhubarb sauce
• Return to freezer for 12 hours or overnight and best to leave out for 10 minutes before serving
• (Alternatively make in an icecream maker or by hand if you don’t have a Thermomix)
• Enjoy! ( and look forward to more ice cream adventures!)

 

Rhubarb and Apple Muesli Crumble Cake

What’s there not to love about rhubarb!

Rhubarb and Apple Muesli Crumble Cake

It’s easy to grow year after year from the same crown, it’s looks gorgeous, tastes divine and is very easy to cook.  The rhubarb in my garden has had a growth spurt after some warm weather followed by plenty of rain so I have a few rhubarb recipes on the go today.

An abundance of perfect rhubarb in the vegie patch just screaming out to be eaten!

One is a Roasted Rhubarb and Strawberry  Icecream that I’m planning for the weekend with a heat wave on the way but for desert tonight I thought I’d treat the family to a Rhubarb and Apple Muesli  Crumble Cake.  Couldn’t decide between Rhubarb Crumble and cake so I simply merged the 2 and aren’t we a happy family!

 

It was also one of those Thermomix days where it’s just too tempting to “whip” up something in your magic machine when the kids are behaving themselves.  And the kids pretty much have fruit and yoghurt for dessert most nights so I thought a treat would be like the saying “a change is as good as a holiday”.

 

Rhubarb and Apple Muesli Crumble Cake

50g butter cubed

2 tbls rapadura or raw sugar

1 cup of muesli

1 cup of cooked apple and rhubarb

1 stalk of rhubard extra cut into 1cm pieces

120g butter cubed

140g raw sugar

180g yoghurt

1 tsp vanilla

2 eggs

220g SR flour

1 tsp cinnamon

½ tsp ground ginger

 

• Preheat oven to 180°
• Grease and line a 22cm springform tin
• Place 50g butter, 2 tbls sugar and muesli in Thermomix bowl and mix at 90° on speed 2  for 2 minutes or until butter has melted.  Set aside
• Place remaining butter and sugar in bowl and mix for 20 seconds on speed 6 then scrape down
• Add eggs,  and vanilla and mix for a further 20 seconds on speed 6
• Add dry ingredients and combine for 5 seconds on speed 4
• Pour into cake tin, spread with apple and rhubarb and gently stir through batter
• Sprinkle with raw rhubarb pieces followed by muesli crumble mix
• Bake at 180° for 55 minutes or until skewer comes out clean
• Best enjoyed warm with a dollop of thick yoghurt or cream!