Your first week with a Thermomix
Seven days, in order, each one introducing a single thing the machine does that a pan does not. Day one needs no heat; by day five you are making dough. Every dish links to its recipe on Cookidoo®. Nothing here takes a whole evening.
The seven days
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Day one
Best Basic Houmous
Start with something that needs no heat at all. You will learn what the blade does at each speed, and you get a result in about the time it takes to find the lid. It is the fastest way to stop being nervous of the machine.
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Day two
Creamy Leeks
Now add heat. The bowl chops, then cooks, then stirs itself, which is the part that surprises everyone. Make it as a side and notice that you walked away from it.
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Day three
Bolognese Sauce
The workhorse. Vegetables go in whole and come out chopped, and the sauce then cooks unattended. Make a double batch: half tonight, half in the freezer.
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Day four
Everyday Gravy
A small thing that changes how you shop. Once gravy is something you make rather than something you buy in a packet, the packet stops going in the trolley. Good practice at using the machine for one component rather than a whole meal.
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Day five
Bacon and Onion Bread
Dough. This is the function people are most sceptical about and most won over by. The bowl kneads for you, and you find out what a properly developed dough feels like.
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Day six
Butter Chicken
A full main, start to finish, in one bowl. By now the sequence of chop, cook, blend should feel ordinary rather than clever.
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Day seven
Mini Banana and Oat Bakes
Finish with baking, and with something children can help make. Uses up the bananas nobody ate, which is a fair summary of what the machine is for.
What you will know by Sunday
- That you do not have to watch it
- The single biggest change is walking out of the kitchen while something cooks. Days two and three are there to prove it rather than to tell you.
- That it replaces the small jobs, not just the big ones
- Gravy, houmous and a dough are the three that tend to stop people buying the packet version, and they are all in the first five days.
- Where to go next
- Once the week is done, the weeknight plan is the natural follow-on: same machine, less thinking.
Cook one of these with me, in your kitchen
A demo is free, takes around two hours, and we cook a real meal you then eat. Tell me what you like cooking and roughly where you are.