Bits and pieces

Arancini

Yesterday we had Arancini (deep fried risotto balls) , using the leftover risotto.    I seasoned it, even more, this time.   

I made parsley and parmesan breadcrumbs in Thermy (fantastic, thank you).

Next time, I think I'll add the additional seasoning to the leftover risotto before I put it in the fridge.   This is because the risotto was very well set, perfect for forming into balls... but I had to stir it up to stir in the seasonings, and that made it all loose again.

They were very good. 

 Hummus

I also made another batch of hummus,  this time I added some moroccan seasoning.   I think it was a bit too thick, I should have slackened it off more. I also should have added more lemon juice.  

I'd bought a new jar of Tahini, as I hadn't got round to ordering sesame seeds to make my own. (That's now rectified - or it will be when my Wholefoods order arrives - so I'll be in good shape when the Tahini jar runs out).  

While I was shopping, I also took some photos of Waitrose's hummus varieties - the backs of the packs, anyway, so I could see what they put in theirs.  I saw that I can use Tahini to make Baba Ganoush, so I bought an aubergine as well...but I haven't go round to it yet.   Hopefully I will do so before the Aubergine walks out of the fridge.

Ginger

This time, I cut the ginger into hald and 1 inch pieces before freezing. Ha!

 Millet Flour

I decided to try Rye and Millet bread, in my breadmaker.  I had both millet flakes and millet seeds, from when I was buying grains to tempt my housechook to eat.    I  needed some millet flour as well,  and was childishly excited that I could use Thermy to do this.    I feel very proud of my 50 grammes of millet flour.  No idea what the bread is going to taste like, but that isn't the point.

It's just gone into the oven, so I'll find out later.

Pizza Dough

I took the frozen pizza dough out of the freezer, so it could defrost for dinner tonight.  The wrapping said "needs second rise",  so I after it was defrosted, I put it in a bowl in the airing cupboard. 

I realised that it would probably have been quicker to have made fresh dough from scratch. I used to make my pizza dough by hand, painstakingly stirring the middle while the flour gradually slips in.  Then I started to cheat, and used my KitchenAid, on the basis that the planetary action is sort of similar to doing it by hand.  In both these cases it's been worthwhile making double and freezing one.    Now I'm not so sure. It was really quick in Thermy, and the taste and texture was fine.  

That's a bit of a Thermy revelation.  

 

Pizza Dough

I normally make pizza dough in my Kitchen Aid.  I found a pizza dough recipe in the Thermomix book.

I decided, of course, to use Thermy but not the Thermy recipe. This was because I use 00 flour, not strong flour,  and so the quantities for water etc were different.

Yhe Thermy method worked well. I had to add more water to my dough, as it didn't come together enough.

When it was kneaded though, it looked pretty good.  I rolled it into a sausage, took hold of each end, and then flipped it up and down gently to see how it stretched.... it looked good.

I let it rise for a couple of hours, then cut it in two, One half went into the freezer, with a note that it "needs 2nd rise". The other lot had its second rise.

I emptied a 500ml jar of home made passata into a small frying pan, and put it on to reduce. 

After 15 minutes, I put the oven on with the pizza stone in.

After 3/4 of an hour, the passata was a very reduced thick paste. I stirred in some Italian Herbs from a tube (very lazy on my part, I know), and turned the heat down to a simmer.  5 minutes later I turned the heat off and left it.

One hour after putting the dough in for its second rise, I retrieved it. Rolled it out, put it on a pizza peel, turned up the edges to stop the toppings sliding off. Then I put on the reduced tomato sauce, some mozzarella, and marked the half way point. I put mushrooms on my halg, MH put garlic sausage on his.  I sprinkled black pepper, and then some parmesan.  Then, slid it on to the pizza stone.

5 minutes later, we were almost done, just another minute to crisp the crust.

 Yum.