Why is There Air?

My ingredients included overripe tomatoes and large pieces of lamb on the bone

Have you made a stew yet in your Thermomix? Aside from the wonderful Chicken in Yoghurt recipe from Fast and Easy Indian Cooking I have to admit I haven’t done so very often. I suppose this is because I am usually making catering-size quantities of stews so I use my Thermomix for all the preparation processes like chopping and sautéeing – oh, and peeling garlic, too – and then bake the casserole or stew in the oven.

This is a perfectly fine way of cooking for large numbers with Thermomix, but today I was cold and I wanted to stew up some on-the-bone stewing lamb for me and ThermoHubby John. Dinner for two in the Thermomix tonight, if you please!

My meat and veg are ready for Thermomix’s Reverse Blade function

One of the cleverest things about Thermomix is the Reverse Blade Function. It not only enables you to knock the skins off your garlic cloves, that blunt reverse edge of the blade makes it possible to stir and cook a risotto without blending those lovely grains of Arborio rice. In this case, it will gently stir my meat and vegetables as they cook, and I will start with chunks of meat and vegetables and finish with chunks of meat and vegetables.

This is another of my Refrigerator Raid Recipes, where I had one or two ingredients I wanted to use and chose what was available to go with it. Today I had a pack of lamb neck stewing meat (on the neck bone) and a bag of frozen red wine. You read me right, Dear Reader, frozen red wine. We had opened a bottle of red wine whose reality did not live up to its promise, and instead of pouring it down the sink ThermoHubby John frugally poured it into a heavy plastic bag and froze it for just such an occasion. The raid on my refrigerator yielded some past-their-best tomatoes, some carrots, leeks and a bit of red chilli. A red onion and a few cloves of garlic got up close and personal with a sprig of rosemary from the garden and hey presto – Lamb stewed in Red wine, Thermomix style!

Oh, and one more thing. I added absolutely no fat to this recipe, and Thermomix perfectly sautéed my onion and garlic without it!

Madame Thermomix’s Lamb stewed in Red wine
Use this as a template for your own Refrigerator Raid Recipe, using whatever ingredients present themselves. Thermomix’s clever Reverse Blade Function will do its job for the rest. With Thermomix there’s really no waste!

Thermomix’s Reverse Blade Function ensures that my stew starts with chunks of meat and vegetable and ends with chunks of meat and vegetables

Ingredients
Aromatic vegetables (I used onion, garlic, herbs and a bit of red chilli)
Meat if you wish, or go for a delicious meatless stew (I used lamb neck for stewing, still on the neck bone, but large diced pieces of meat are great)
Assorted vegetables, cut into big chunks (I used 3 carrots, half a leek and 4 overripe tomatoes)
Liquid for stewing such as stock, water or wine
Sea salt and freshly ground pepper

Method

1. Peel and quarter your onion(s) and garlic. Drop on the blades of the Thermomix running at Speed 5; quickly add herbs and turn off immediately. Scrape sides of bowl with spatula. Sauté 100 °C/5 minutes/Speed Spoon.
2. Add meat, veg, seasonings and liquid to cover. Cook 100 °C/60 minutes/Speed Spoon/Reverse Blade Direction. Check meat for doneness and continue to cook if required. Since my meat was in large pieces on the bone, I cooked my stew for another hour, after which time my meat was tender and falling off the bones, my carrots were still in large chunks, and my wine had reduced down with the tomatoes to a thick, glorious gravy. Thank you to Thermomix and its Reverse Blade Function!

Bon appétit !

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Look at the rich, thick gravy in my Thermomix stew!