Curry Tuna Mornay

tunamornay

 

Tuna mornay is a great family food staple. It is inexpensive, healthy and quite quick to prepare. It is also the epitome of retro dinners. It screams 1970’s – but is oh so good! This version is the recipe that my Mum has made for years, and it has all the ingredients necessary for a 1970’s classic; curry, eggs and tuna all in the one dish :)

Please don’t let the ingredient combination put you off trying this – the curry flavour is not strong, and it is really tasty. My kids love this meal. Serve with salad or vegetables and dinner is done in a jiffy.

Note: I have purposefully used my retro Corningware to serve this in, and, as you can see, I am not always a tidy cook….I considered photoshopping the food splatters out of the photo but pfft – who has time for that?!

Curry Tuna Mornay
 
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Recipe type: Seafood
Serves: 6-8
Ingredients
  • 425g tin of tuna, drained
  • 1 onion, peeled and quartered
  • 60g butter
  • ½ Tbsp curry powder
  • 30g plain flour
  • ⅓ cup sour cream
  • pinch of salt
  • 500g milk
  • 2 Tbsp lemon juice
  • 4 hard boiled eggs peeled and roughly chopped (see my post here on how to boil eggs in the Thermomix)
Topping
  • 4 slices of dry bread to make breadcrumbs for topping
  • A handful of grated cheese (or a Tbsp of grate parmesan if you prefer)
  • Extra 60g melted butter
Method
  1. Place bread into Tmx bowl and process speed 8, 5-8 seconds to make coarse breadcrumbs. Set aside.
  2. Put onion into bowl and chop speed 6, 5 seconds.
  3. Add butter and soften onion 100 degrees, speed 2, 3 minutes.
  4. Add the curry powder, salt and flour and heat 100 degrees, 1 minute, speed 2.
  5. Add milk and cook at 90 degrees, 7 minutes, reverse speed 3-4.
  6. Meanwhile place drained tuna, sour cream, lemon juice and peeled chopped hard boiled eggs into a large casserole dish. Once the sauce has cooked, pour it over the ingredients in the casserole dish, and stir through gently.
  7. Sprinkle breadcrumbs over the top of the tuna mixture, drizzle with extra melted butter and grated cheese.
  8. Cook in a moderate oven for 30 minutes or until breadcrumbs are golden and crunchy and tuna mix is bubbling and hot.

 

 

Egg and Bacon Pie

Egg and Bacon Pie
Egg and Bacon pie is a bit of an old fashioned favourite. It is a good dish to prepare when you have a lot of eggs to use all at once.  We have our own chooks and at certain times of the year we end up with as many as 6 eggs a day – this pie gets added to our menu when the egg basket starts to overflow.

It is pretty simple fare but it ticks all the boxes for a weekday meal in my house. Five out of five family members eat it without complaint, it does not take long to prepare, the leftovers taste good, and it is pretty easy on the budget too (particularly if your hens have supplied the eggs!).

We have a really large and deep pie dish, and I have based my ingredients on the quantities that fill our dish. But adjust to suit the dish you are using, obviously a smaller pie dish will require less eggs to fill it. For reference our dish measures 30cm (12 inches) in diameter.

Enjoy either warm or cold with salad and tomato relish, and leftovers are good for an easy lunch the next day.

Egg & Bacon Pie
 
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Recipe type: Red Meat
Serves: 6-8
Ingredients
Pastry
  • 150g plain flour
  • 75g butter, chilled, in cubes
  • ½ tsp salt
  • 50g cold water
Filling
  • 12 eggs
  • 6 rashers bacon (fat and rind trimmed off)
  • Handful of fresh parsley, chopped
  • Small bunch of chives, chopped finely
  • Salt & Pepper to season
  • 2 tsp oil for frying bacon
Method
Pastry
  1. Add all pastry ingredients to the mixer bowl and process speed 4, for 20 seconds.
  2. Tip onto a silicone mat or lightly floured surface and work the pastry into a ball with your hands.
  3. Wrap in cling film and refrigerate for at least 15 minutes until needed.
Pie
  1. Pre-heat oven to 180 degrees
  2. Roll the pasty out with a rolling pin, gently press into your pie dish and prick the base with a fork.
  3. Cover the pastry with baking paper and fill with pie weights or uncooked rice and blind bake for 15 minutes. Remove the weights and paper and place back into the oven to bake for a further 5 minutes.
  4. While the pastry is blind baking heat a fry pan and add 2 tsp of oil. Fry chopped bacon for 5 minutes. Transfer to a plate lined with baking paper to drain.
  5. Once pie crust is ready fill the pie. Start with a layer of bacon (use half the bacon), then crack eggs carefully one by one into the pie, until the base is almost full. Then sprinkle herbs over the top of the eggs and top with remaining bacon pieces.
  6. Season with salt and pepper.
  7. If you have pastry leftover you can add strips to the top of the pie to make a lattice effect.
  8. Place back in the oven to cook for a further 50-60 minutes until the eggs are set. This can vary depending on how many eggs you have used, so watch and judge for yourself.
Notes
Cooking time will vary depending on the size of your dish and the number of eggs you have have used.
Let stand for 10-15 minutes after removing from the oven before slicing. This makes it easier to cut.
Be careful not to split the yolks of the eggs when you crack them into the pie. You can crack them onto a saucer first and then slide off the saucer into the pie to make it easier.

We make this pie when we have lots of eggs to use up. We have our own chooks and at certain times of the year we end up with as many as 6 eggs a day. Luckily we all like eating eggs!

This is really simple to make, and great enjoyed either warm or cold with salad. We have a really large and deep pie dish, and I have based my ingredients on the quantities that fill our dish. But adjust to suit the dish you are using, obviously a smaller pie dish will require less eggs to fill it. For reference our dish measures

Boiled Eggs – The Thermo Way

BoiledEggs copy
We had owned our Thermomix for quite a while before I discovered how easy it was to use it to make perfect boiled eggs. Now I cook them all the time, I cook as many as I can fit in the basket and keep them in the fridge (in their shells) for the kids to snack on. They make a great nutritious after school snack – the kids just grab and shell one as they want. It is also great to have some on hand for sandwich fillings or to add to salads. We are lucky enough to have some very happy hens that provide us with a constant supply of eggs

I cook them as per the instructions in the Everyday Cookbook, and they are perfect every time.

Simply pour 500ml of water into the Tmx bowl, place eggs into the basket and insert into bowl (anywhere between 4 and 8 eggs at a time).
Cook Varoma, speed 1, 14 minutes – for hard boiled.
Or if you would like to eat them straight away as soft boiled eggs reduce the cooking time to 9-12 minutes.

Once cooked store them covered in the fridge in their shells – they will keep fresh for up to a week (but they don’t last that long in our house!)

Impossible Pie

Impossible PieMy husband’s grandmother cooked this for lunch the very first time I met her (a long time ago!) She wrote the recipe out for me and I have been cooking it ever since. In my recipe folder it is titled ‘Nan’s Impossible Pie’, so I think of her when I make it.
When I got my Thermomix I converted the recipe. It is a very simple and quick kid-friendly dish that can be in the oven in less than 5 minutes. Great for lunch or a an easy dinner served with baked potatoes and salad. It can be made with or without bacon for a vegetarian option. Substitute the bacon with asparagus (fresh or from a tin), corn, or mushrooms.

Impossible Pie
 
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Recipe type: Meat Free Meals, Quiche
Serves: 8 slices
Ingredients
  • 100g cheese
  • 1 small onion (in half)
  • 100-150g bacon (to your taste)
  • 3 eggs
  • 15g butter
  • 300g milk
  • 90g plain flour
Method
  1. Chop cheese into rough cubes and place in Thermomix bowl. Grate 5 seconds, speed 8. Place aside
  2. Put onion and bacon into bowl and chop 2-3 seconds, speed 7. NOTE: If you prefer your bacon in larger chunks cut it by hand and add at the end to stir through.
  3. Add eggs, butter, milk, cheese and flour and mix reverse speed 4-5, 25 seconds.
  4. Pour mixture into a greased 20cm quiche dish (place sliced tomato on the top if you like) and cook at 180 degrees for approx 45 minutes or until slightly puffed and golden on the top.