Welcome to The Kitchen Playground. Cooking can bring great joy and great despair. I hope that the recipes you find here, many of which are very quick to make with the weeknight in mind, help you to experience more joy than despair. Many recipes have instructions for the Thermomix 31 as well as traditional instructions. The emphasis is on real, fresh food that combines flavour, texture and scent to delight the senses.
Every time I open the fridge lately I see more leftovers dictating my life. I thought I’d cleared it this morning but a half eaten tin of baked beans just waved at me. I have no idea where that came from. Hmm, must be the Bread Winner at work. All’s well that doesn’t get wasted […]
I bought some oxtail at market the other day intending to make an oxtail lasagne. Only thing was that we’ve already had bolognaise this week and it just seemed too ‘same’. I’ve been wanting to make a variation on Pioneer Woman’s Chicken Spaghetti and the combination of those two thoughts inspired this dish. I made […]
Which is always a pain when you’ve been at a picnic all day and you’re tired and have cut lunches to make. A few minutes staring slack jawed into the pantry provided a decent solution. Lucky the Lil Miss isn’t fussy though. I did run out of the avocado and crab mixture so she got […]
An adaptation of the thermomix beetroot salad. 1 large betroot, peeled and cut into large chunks 1 head broccoli, cut into large chunks 3 apples, quartered and cored 1 red onion, peeled and quartered 3 tablespoons olive oil 6 tablespoons lemon juice 3 tablespoons coriander, chopped Place beetroot, apples, onion and broccoli in thermomix and […]
I adapted this one from a recipe in the Australian Gourmet Traveller Annual Cook book that snuck it’s way into my shopping trolley recently. Leave yourself about an 1 1/2 hours to whip this little number up. Gosh it was good. Double Baked Leftover Roast Vegetable Souffle 100g butter plus more for greasing 1 small […]
Because he loves cheesecake and I love him. Mixed Chocolate Cheesecake 175g packet shortbread biscuits, crushed 75g butter, melted 500g cream cheese, softened 3/4 cup light muscovado 2 teaspoon gelatine, dissolved in 14 cup boiling water, cooled 100g fairtrade orange flavoured chocolate 100g fairtrade white chocolate with scorched almonds 1 cup pure cream 8 seconds […]
My planned Vietnamese crab and shrimp rice noodle soup totally morphed. It ended up being a seafood soup of a more French style served with a freshly baked loaf of semi-rye bread. It worked a treat. I’m very happy there is enough left for lunch tomorrow….if I bake another loaf of bread of course. In […]
I really enjoyed the barbecued kebabs I made the other night so I thought I’d whip up a vegetarian version. Vegetarian Kebabs corn on the cob, sliced into small pieces, firm tofu, cut into large cubes eggplant, cut into large cubes, salted for 10 minutes, rinsed and drained, zucchini, cut into think slices, mushrooms, stems […]
Tonight’s meal was totally inspired by the great deal I got on a freshly made, premium quality marinara mix at the local fisho. All fresh ingredients. Lovely. The weather is still extremely hot in Melbourne so cooking on the barbecue seemed the practical thing to do. I made the potato dough from World Breads for […]
Son and Heir is feeling pasta deprived. Or so he says. My freezer is bereft of bolognaise. I did find yet another small chunk of topside though. So tonight we will have pasta with a simple ragu. I’m waiting for the Lil Miss to wake so we can go food shopping so vegetables will be […]