Day to Day MYCOOKery

4 generations of my family have cooked with Day to Day Cookery  D2DC) and made many yummy dishes to feed the people that they love. "Grandma's porcupines", "Mum's tuna mornay", "Mr C's satay chicken" and "Aunty Jude's Moussaka" are all lifted from this beloved book.    

I'm not going to lie, it's not a cheap recipe book - but it was a staple in many a home-economics class for the boomers and Gen-Xers, and when photocopying became cheaper... older millennials would also have been given recipes straight from the D2DC.

I've decided to make 2 of my favourites in the kitchen into friends... by making the recipes thermomixer friendly, with tips on cooking for larger families (we are 3 adults, 2 teens, 1 picky preppie and a food-loving baby) with the added bonus of adding additional flavour (should you like to). It is not my intention to "whitewash" any of the recipes, particularly the International ones (which have been adjusted to suit the more fussy pallet, and what may have been, more readily available previously to more rural folk).

For copyright reasons, I will not be putting in all the ingredients stated in the book. Don't own/cant find your D2DC? No worries... I will pop links to similar recipes in with my "method".

Day to Day MYCOOKery

If your family loves pasta and Béchamel there are 6 recipes straight up that feed our family... Tuna pasta bake, macaroni cheese, chicken mornay, Beef pasta bake, Pastitsio and "cheats lasagne"... I don't want to offend any Nonnas out there... but if you are short on time this is a yummy alternative to the more traditional type.

Basic Béchamel

Use the mornay recipe x2 or an alternative recipe may be found here.

1. (Optional, can use regular milk, this gives a slightly creamier consistency) put 1.5L of water and 1.5 cups of milk powder into jar and whiz, remove from jar.

2. Add butter to jar, melt 100/1/1 min

3. Pour flour through MC hole cook 100/1/1 min

4. Set timer 90/4/10 -15mins and gradually pour milk through the mc hole

5. When sauce is thick add cubed cheese/egg yolks (if using), no heat, mix speed 3-4 till combined. 

Cooking pasta for baking

1. Decide if you need to add extra carbs to stretch your meal further then add 300/400g of pasta to your rice basket 

2. Boil water in the jar 100/1/10 mins

3. Add pasta through the mc hole and set timer to 100/1/5 for large pasta and 100/1/3.5 for smaller pasta... cooked is ok but slightly crunchy is better

4. Strain pasta (rice basket is awesome for holding this), then pop into your oven dish.

Macaroni Cheese

Use 2x ingredients of macaroni cheese from the D2DC if using a MyCook; otherwise the jar will overheat, or the bechamel ingredients recipe above. 

Cooking pasta

1a. Now is a good time to grate cheese, if you don't already have it grated. Dice cheese and whiz on speed 6 for about 20 seconds. Each machine will differ.

  

1. Boil water in the jar 100/1/10 mins

2. Add 2 cups of pasta through the mc hole and set timer to 100/1/3.5 for cooked is ok but slightly crunchy is better

3. Strain pasta (rice basket is awesome for holding this), then pop into your oven dish.

   

Cheese Sauce

1. (Optional, can use regular milk, but this gives a slightly creamier consistency) put 1.5L of water and 1.5 cups of milk powder into jar and whiz, remove from jar.

2. Add butter to jar, melt 100/1/1 min

3. Pour flour through MC hole cook 100/1/1 min

4. Set timer 90/4/10 -15mins and gradually pour milk through the mc hole, then add mustard and paprika/cayenne pepper.

5. When sauce is thick add 2 cups cubed (tasty) cheese, (back off slightly if adding parmesan too) no heat, mix speed 3-4 till combined. 

6. Pour sauce into the oven bowl and mix with pasta, top with extra grated cheese. Cook in a moderate oven until top is browned.

Tuna Bake

Use ingredients from tuna mornay or this one... omit the celery, that's just weird. Use 400g pasta for this one.

1. Grate cheese and Cook pasta

2. Sauté onion by heating butter, and 1 tbsp. lemon/lime pepper 100/S/1 min (Use speed 1 if not using a MyCook), then add quartered onion through mc hole 100/S/5 mins(use speed 5 if no MyCook).

3. Add flour and continue per basic béchamel step 3

4. Spread 2x drained cans of tuna (or other fish) over the pasta

5. Pour béchamel over the pasta and tuna. Gently stir the ingredients till it is all combined. Optional 

6. Cook in moderate oven

Chicken Pasta Bake

Use a 400g of pasta and ingredients from Chicken Mornay or veggies and alcohol is a nice twist.

There are a few options for cooked/cooking chicken

1. Use left-over roast chicken (this is a great way to use up the bits nobody likes... if your family prefers breast/leg).

2. Steam chicken breast or drumsticks etc in the steaming attachment naked or lightly seasoned (Moroccan seasoning is the bomb, lemon/lime pepper is good too). Remove bones and chop into small pieces

3. Cube chicken thigh fillets and cook in the jug with the onion and a tbsp. of seasoning 100c/1/10 mins. If not using a MyCook, use reverse/blunt blade if that's what your machine has. Remove from the jar to a thermoserver and without washing the jar make the basic béchamel. 

Assemble (per tuna bake).

Optional - steam veggies in the steaming attachment as the pasta bake is cooking and serve together, reusing the thermoserver to keep veggies warm while pasta bake is cooking. 

Pastitsio

Use ingredients from Greek Moussaka recipe for meat sauce x2 and béchamel x3 or try this recipe.

Some bloggers disagree as to how many layers of pasta one should use. If making 2 layers definitely use 400g of pasta (penne is great if needing GF/can't find ziti) otherwise 300g is plenty.

Meat sauce

1. Optional to remove excess fat, does not change the flavour. Steam mince in steaming attachment by breaking into chunks, sprinkle with salt 120c/3-4/15 mins (till done), move to thermoserver.

2. Sauté onions and garlic by heating butter/oil, cinnamon , pepper and 1-2 tbsp. Greek seasoning 100/S/1 min (Use speed 1 if not using a MyCook), then add quartered onion and garlic cloves through mc hole 100/S/5 mins (use speed 5 if no MyCook).

3. Add stock (can use stock cubes and 1 cup of liquid water/red wine), tomatoes (I use one jar of passata and about 1/3-1/2 cup of tomato paste).

4a. Add as much mince as will fit to the 2L mark of your jar and cook 120/1/20min (if not using a MyCook, you may want to pop your mince into the rice basket).

4b. If you skipped step 1) put the mince into your steaming attachment and click in place over the jar cook 120/1/20min. Stir occasionally, the mince and the sauce will tend to combine as the sauce bubbles through (if using a clip in style steaming attachment, if using a Varoma, you will need to ensure that your liquid has not exceeded the max during cooking and bubbled over).  

5. When mince sauce is cooked, pop into a thermoserver. 

Béchamel and assemble 

Use the basic béchamel recipe and add egg yolks at the end

Assemble the Pastitsio by putting a layer of pasta followed by all the meat, an optional layer of pasta and béchamel on top. Cook in a moderate oven. 

Cheats lasagne and pasta bake

My mum started making this when we were teenagers... a layer of meat sauce a layer of pasta and a layer of béchamel (she called it cheats lasagne). Now she cheats even more and just buys frozen stuff so Mr V usually refuses to eat this and chooses the mac cheese (which is sometimes available, if I have cooked too much pasta and béchamel). Its also more versatile and can be cooked in a round dish, which is handy when you are a minimalist/have not much cupboard room.

For both dishes the ingredients are the same, however pasta bake has more pasta and if you are short on mince you can halve the meat sauce too.  

Meat sauce

Use the ingredients x2 for either Spaghetti Bolognese or Lasagne if you have a D2DC or try this one. If you only want a small amount; mince can be cooked in the rice basket for a chunkier consistancy.

1. Optional to remove excess fat, does not change the flavour. Steam mince in steaming attachment by breaking into chunks, sprinkle with salt 120c/3-4/15 mins (till done), move to thermoserver.

2. Sauté onions and garlic by heating butter/oil, basil, coriander/parsley and 1 tbsp. Italian seasoning 100/S/1 min (Use speed 1 if not using a MyCook), then add quartered onion and garlic cloves through mc hole 100/S/5 mins (use speed 5 if no MyCook). If using other veggies such as carrot, mushroom, celery and capsicum add now 120/5/5 mins.

3. Add stock (can use stock cubes/paste and 1 cup of liquid water/red wine), tomatoes (I use one jar of passata and about 1/3-1/2 cup of tomato paste).

4a. Add as much mince as will fit to the 2L mark of your jar and cook 120/1/20min (if not using a MyCook, you may want to pop your mince into the rice basket).

4b. If you skipped step 1) put the mince into your steaming attachment and click in place over the jar cook 120/1/20min. Stir occasionally, the mince and the sauce will tend to combine as the sauce bubbles through (if using a clip in style steaming attachment, if using a varoma ensure that your liquid has not exceeded the max during cooking and bubbled over).  

5. When mince sauce is cooked, pop into a thermoserver. 

Béchamel and assemble 

Use the basic béchamel recipe and add cubed/grated cheese at the end

For pasta bake mix the meat sauce into the pasta and top with a layer of béchamel.

For cheats lasagne put all the meat sauce at the bottom of the casserole dish then all of the par-cooked pasta, followed by the béchamel. 

Making the most of your machine for one meal

Dishes such as chicken stroganoff, beef stroganoff and curry chicken (Sri Lanka) can be made in the thermomixer and served with pasta/rice and steamed veggies. Rice can be often cooked straight in the jar without having to wash which adds a little flavour to the rice. 

A motherload of rice

2.5 cups of rice, fill to 2L mark with water, 100/1/15 or 35 minutes if using brown rice (keep a check on the water levels). Veggies may be steamed in the steaming attachment as rice is cooking.

Veggies

We have beyond fussy boys... one eats corn and no other frozen veggies and another eats frozen veggies and no corn... so I will sometimes layer it (corn in the tray and veggies in the bottom of the steamer) and sometimes chuck it all in together and tell them to pick it out. 

Cooking pasta for a side dish (not baking)

1. Decide if you need to add extra carbs to stretch your meal further then add 300/400g of pasta to your rice basket 

2. Boil water in the jar 100/1/10 mins

3. Add pasta through the mc hole and set timer to 100/1/5 for large pasta and 100/1/3.5 for smaller pasta... cooked is ok but slightly crunchy is better; in which case, allow pasta to rest in the jar for one more minute with MC in. This allows pasta to keep its shape better.

4. Strain pasta (rice basket is awesome for holding this), then pop into your serving dish.

Mashed potato 

1. Peel and cube potatoes (about monopoly/yahtzee dice in size).

2. Place into rice basket and pop about 1L of water into the jar.

3. Set timer 120/5/15 minutes. Check that potatoes are soft, if not give a few minutes extra.

4. Remove potato from rice basket to jar, optional insert butterfly. Add a small amount of milk, pinch of salt and a dob of butter, speed 5 till smooth.

 

Stroganoff (either meat)

Here is a great place to find a stroganoff recipe. While D2DC has 2 separate recipes, the meats are fairly interchangeable. Cooking with chicken thigh makes the dish a little more affordable. If cooking with a cheaper cut of beef, leave out the sour cream (we always sub Greek yoghurt) till the end and cook for 35 to 40 minutes, MC on. 

1. Heat the oil/butter 120/S/1 min if not using a MyCook - place the onion (and garlic if using) into the jar and chop for 5 seconds on speed 7.

2. Add onions and garlic (if using) butter and cook for 120/S/5 mins.

3. Place remaining ingredients, (except parsley, if using) into jar and cook for 120/1/20 min MC in If not using a MyCook, you may need your blunt blade/reverse.

4. Garnish with parsley and serve with rice, mashed potatoes or fettuccine.

Chicken Curry (Sri Lanka)

I'm pretty sure many an Appama/Ammama would run rings around this dish, but it was very well liked in our house. It was a little more runny than I was expecting. I may use coconut milk powder next time without adding the water, and the chicken meat used was 1kg thigh fillet. An alternative recipe can be found here: here

1. Heat oil in jar 120/S/1 then reduce heat to 100c add quartered onions, grated ginger and garlic cloves 100/S/5.

2. Add spices and allow them to mix together, then pop the mixture into a thermoserver. Layer chicken and onion mix in the jar and cook 100/1/2 mins.

3. If using fresh tomatoes, remove mix from the jar. Whiz tomatoes speed 5 till they are liquified. 100/1/5 mins. Otherwise add canned tomatoes and continue.

4. Set timer 100/1/20 and add chicken/onion mix through the mc hole gradually (this will help the chicken to not catch on your blades). Then add coconut milk, if using. 

Chilli Con Carne 

This method could also be used for the meat sauces in Beef nachos and Beef Burrito Bake. Chilli Con Carne is made very regularly in our household. While it may be served with rice, in our house, it is usually used to make burritos; however also may be found in our nachos and tacos. I have also subbed chicken legs in the slow cooker for this and deboned before eating. Beans (other than kidney beans) can be cooked in the slow cooker. We store them in the freezer ready for use. Our beans of choice for chilli are black beans and pinto beans (berlotti). Usual for us, we double the sauce.

If you don't have access to a D2DC my own recipe is: 1 jar passata, 200mL red wine, 1 onion, garlic (why limit yourself to just one clove?), 1 tsp chilli flakes (or more - who am I to judge?), 2 cans or 2.5 cups beans (pinto, kidney or black) and 2 tbsp Mexican seasoning (make yourself or sometimes sold as Mexican/taco/fajita seasoning)

1. Optional to remove excess fat, does not change the flavour. Steam mince in steaming attachment by breaking into chunks, sprinkle with salt 120c/3-4/15 mins (till done), move to thermoserver.

2. Sauté onions, capsicum and garlic by heating butter/oil, chilli, and  1-2 tbsp. Mexican seasoning (or listed spices) 100/S/1 min (Use speed 1 if not using a MyCook), then add quartered onion, sliced capsicum and garlic cloves through mc hole 100/S/5 mins (use speed 5 if no MyCook). I have bulked out the sauce by using other veggies such as carrot, mushroom, celery etc add now 120/5/5 mins.

3. Add stock (can use stock cubes/paste and 1 cup of liquid water/red wine), tomatoes (I use one jar of passata and about 1/3-1/2 cup of tomato paste).

4a. Add as much mince as will fit to the 2L mark of your jar and cook 120/1/20min (if not using a MyCook, you may want to pop your mince into the rice basket).

4b. If you skipped step 1) put the mince into your steaming attachment and click in place over the jar cook 120/1/20min. Stir occasionally, the mince and the sauce will tend to combine as the sauce bubbles through (if using a clip in style steaming attachment, if using a varoma ensure that your liquid has not exceeded the max during cooking and bubbled over).  

5. When mince sauce is cooked, pop into a thermoserver along with beans. Rest about 15 minutes.

Spaghetti Bolognaise

Use the ingredients x2 for either Spaghetti Bolognese or Lasagne if you have a D2DC or try this one. If you only want a small amount; mince can be cooked in the rice basket for a chunkier consistancy.

1. Optional to remove excess fat, does not change the flavour. Steam mince in steaming attachment by breaking into chunks, sprinkle with salt 120c/3-4/15 mins (till done), move to thermoserver.

2. Sauté onions and garlic by heating butter/oil, basil, coriander/parsley and 1-2 tbsp. Italian seasoning 100/S/1 min (Use speed 1 if not using a MyCook), then add quartered onion and garlic cloves through mc hole 100/S/5 mins (use speed 5 if no MyCook). If using other veggies such as carrot, mushroom, celery and capsicum add now 120/5/5 mins.

3. Add stock (can use stock cubes/paste and 1 cup of liquid water/red wine), tomatoes (I use one jar of passata and about 1/3-1/2 cup of tomato paste).

4a. Add as much mince as will fit to the 2L mark of your jar and cook 120/1/20min (if not using a MyCook, you may want to pop your mince into the rice basket).

4b. If you skipped step 1) put the mince into your steaming attachment and click in place over the jar cook 120/1/20min. Stir occasionally, the mince and the sauce will tend to combine as the sauce bubbles through (if using a clip in style steaming attachment, if using a varoma ensure that your liquid has not exceeded the max during cooking and bubbled over).  

5. When mince sauce is cooked, pop into a thermoserver while pasta is cooking; this will also allow the sauce to rest. 

6. Decide if you need to add extra carbs to stretch your meal further then add 300/400g of pasta to your rice basket 

7. Boil water in the jar 100/1/10 mins

8. Add pasta through the mc hole and set timer to 100/1/5 for large pasta and 100/1/3.5 for smaller pasta... cooked is ok but slightly crunchy is better; in which case, allow pasta to rest in the jar for one more minute with MC in. This allows pasta to keep its shape better.

9. Strain pasta (rice basket is awesome for holding this), then pop into your serving dish.

Boiled Custard

I've always made gluten free thermomixer custard and used the TMX Everyday Cookery book (TMXEDC) recipe. It's always worked out for me no matter what machine I used... except for the original thermoblend - no matter what I tried the TB1 always had to have the microwave rescue it. TMXEDC recipe is ok, rather sweet but when my scales croaked (or using a machine without inbuilt scales) I prefer to use volume measures where I can; that's why I love my D2DC recipe. If you want cold runny custard, halve the corn flour.

1. If using milk powder, add 1/3 cup of powder, and 600mL of water to the jar, insert butterfly and whiz till smooth. Another trick to make the custard creamier is to add a dob of unsalted butter to the mix.

2. If using a a mycook/expensive machine, add the rest of the ingredients 90/3/10 mins. Warm reconstituted milk will cook faster than cold from the fridge milk.

2b. If using a cheaper machine, you may need to blend a little corn flour with a little milk then heat the rest of milk in the jar 90/3/10 mins. When machine reaches the temperature continue on to step 3.

3. On spinning blades, pour the slurry carefully through the MC hole 100/3/2 mins

4. Set timer to 80/3/3, beat together egg yolks with sugar and a dash of milk/water. On to spinning blades, pour the slurry and add vanilla.


Risotto

There are 2 recipes that can be used with this method; Quick Risotto and Traditional Risotto (Italy) or many and varied recipes on the internet such as this.

1a. If you have block cheese, now is a good time to grate - whiz speed 9 for about 20 seconds. 

1b. Now is a good time to cook your chicken if it's raw;
Pour oil into the jar 120/1/1 minute then add diced chicken (about 1 cup), 120/1/10 and pop into thermoserver.

1. Pour oil into the jar 120/1/1 minute (if not using a MyCook, whiz garlic, onion and bacon, sp 4, 20 secs).

2. Add quartered onion/garlic/bacon/capsicum/celery if using 100/S/5 minutes (if not using MyCook, add oil too and cook 100/1/5).

3. Add rice 100/1/1 minute.

4. Add all other ingredients (except cheese) such as stock/water, wine (can sub some liquid for white wine), soft veggies. Set timer 90/1/15 (If not using MyCook; choose reverse/blunt blade). Pop inverted rice basket on top to avoid splatter.

5. Add cooked chicken/prawns (if using) grated/"peeled" parmesan cheese, and an optional 2 tbsp. of cream (if you didn't grate in step 1a, grab your potato peeler or veggie julienne tool) 90/1/3 minutes.

6. Place in a thermoserver (or a dish with lid, wrapped in a towel) for a few minutes.