3 Michelin stars ***

To celebrate the return on some friends from 11 years abroad I had a little luncheon. Its still the middle of winter and I wanted to have us sharing something communal and relaxed so that we all felt like no time had passed between us. So I decided on a slow roast leg of lamb with cous cous followed by icecream. Keeping in my style I thought of the menu first then thought of how I could incorporate the functions of the thermomix to help with it. The night before I made a marinade of cumin, coriander, garam masala, cinnamon, gently dry roasted in the thermomix, then chopped with pepper corns, salt, rosemary, garlic and finally some oil. I set the lamb atop some sliced onions and carrots, red wine, stock, a little tomato paste and coated in the marinade so it was ready to go straight in the oven in the morning. The cous cous I pre made to save time but chose to hand chop all my vegies because I like perfect little squares of vegies about 1mm.
I then made some icecream, a basic cream milk anglaise but then added strawberry flavoured jelly crystals and rosewater to it. The instructions were to freeze it down, then put it back in the thermomix to blitz again, and finish freezing.
So the next morning the lamb went straight in the oven, the icecream re blitzed, stirred in some bought pistachio nougat, cous cous fried in some butter to heat, yoghurt and cumin combined for dressing, and eggplant wedges added to roast in the last half hour.
Then I made swiss meringue. I have been dying to try this out as I have wanted to make swiss meringue for years but was always too lazy to stand over a bain marie whisking by hand. The traditional method is to mix your egg whites and sugar in a bowl by hand over a pot of simmering water. So I just put my ingredients in the thermomix with the butterfly attachment, and set heat to 70 and let it go. Perfect! and so easy! and safe for my pregnant girlfriends, and ready to be piped on top if the set icecream, (did individual cups and torched them to serve).
So now everyones arrived, the lamb is cooked and rested, I have a big bowl with the cous cous and eggplant and sliced lamb, just need a sauce. Everything that remained in the roasting pan went straight into the thermomix, temp set to 90, cornflour slurry added and in 2 minutes I had the most delicious and smooth gravy.
When I first brought the thermomix home, I unpacked it and looked at it and thought, now what? what do I cook? like as if it was going to tell me. That night I made a curry but I was thinking, hmmm I could have done that in a pot... I now realise for each person the thermomix is different. Theres nothing you 'should' make in it, theres nothing you 'should' use if for, it just simply slots into your life like an extra arm would, sometimes just hanging to your side doing nothing, sometimes reaching in to make your task easier and quicker, and sometimes saving your life.
So the luncheon was a success, enjoyed by all, and from my boyfriend I received 3 'Michell-in' stars.
...the adventure continues