Thermomix Thursday – I Liked It So Much I Bought the Company!

DSC_5813 I did a pretty radical thing the other day….I took my food processor, my blender and my stand mixer and put them into storage in my downstairs pantry.  I don't need them any more.

That's because after a couple of months of testing out a Vorwerk Thermomix, I liked this machine so much I bought a brand new one.  And in a sense, I bought a piece of the company.  As a Thermomix consultant, I'm now authorized to sell the machines on behalf of the distributor for Western Canada, Fantan Enterprises.

It's not very often that I love a machine so much that I start selling them, but a few dishes I made over the past couple of weeks really convinced me.  The first dish was a 'farrotto', a variation on risotto suggested by Chef Keith Froggett in a recent article in the Globe and Mail.  I melded together Froggett's recipe with the recommended Thermomix risotto method and created a spectacular dish with pearled farro (a kind of ancient wheat) that we had brought back from Italy, my homemade duck stock and Untamed Feast dried porcini mushrooms which I quickly churned to a rough powder with the Thermomix.

DSC_5827 Shallots, chopped and sauteed in the machine with butter, then the farro added, stirred to coat with the butter, then some wine and finally the duck stock and mushrooms, some thyme, salt and pepper, all simmered and stirred flawlessly with the Thermomix for about 15 or 20 minutes, with some Parmigiano-Reggiano stirred in at the end.  I have to say it was one of the best 'rice' dishes I've every made.  What made it really special was the way the machine cooked the mushroom and duck stock flavour right into the wheat.  It mirrored how Globe and Mail gadget tester Rob Mifsud felt after he made risotto while putting Bimby (the machine's nickname) through its paces.   Mifsud also inspired me to try making zabaglione for dessert.  This is a cooked Italian custard which requires long, fervent whipping of sweetened egg yolks over a hot pan of water.  With the Bimby I added all the ingredients at once, turned on the machine for 9 minutes and then tasted heaven.

 

DSC_5838 One more dish.  Chocolate risotto!  This recipe was adapted from Massimo Capra's One Pot Italian cookbook, one of Ramona's favourite cookbooks, especially for his ribs and cabbage recipe.  In this instance, butter, rum, vanilla, rice and milk are cooked effortlessly in the Bimby, with chocolate and citrus zest added at the last moment. Divine!

So, these last recipes were the deciding factors in me deciding to purchase a Thermomix and to help others with their purchases.  If you're interested you can drop me a line at don at dongenova dot com.  I'll be demonstrating my Bimby every now and then at Cook Culture in Victoria. Stay tuned for upcoming dates.

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3 Responses to Thermomix Thursday – I Liked It So Much I Bought the Company!

  1. Wow Don — I can’t tell you how happy I am to hear of a fellow islander loving Thermomix. It’s impossible not to fall in love with this super kitchen machine once you’ve tried it, isn’t it? I am shaking your hand, and slapping you on the back and smiling one big ear-to-ear grin. BRAVO!

  2. Good on you! I’m a fellow consultant from Australia and it was love at first sight for me! So are you going to post your chocolate risotto recipe for the Thermomix??? Sounds divine!

  3. Don, I just read about the Thermomix for the first time in the Globe and Mail. Sounds like a fabulous machine. I will definitely check out your classes at Cook Culture.

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