Thermomix Recipes by Tenina: Cookbooks and Interview

Thermomix Recipes by Tenina: Cookbooks and Interview

Wow, a package from Australia ... How exiting! I knew it contained the Thermomix Recipes Cookbooks of Tenina: Keeping It Simple and For Food's Sake.

My kids tried to open it, but they could not... so I went to the kitchen and took the scissors: the brown cardboard package got opened and a rain of colors and scents came out!

Really amazing cookbooks!

Even my eldest daughter decided to cook with me...

So, we spent an afternoon together, trying to make a choice: too many incredible recipes to choose between.

It was almost dinner time and I had to cook something ... so I picked my first recipe: the smoked salmon crepe torte. I've always loved crepes!

That night unfortunately I did not have all the ingredients... So I put an italian touch to the recipe!

Who knows if Tenina will love my recipe too? My husband did! :-) This is the coolest experience with Thermomix: you can change recipes the way you like more!

Soon I'll give you my recipe :-).

The second recipe I tried was the yeasted donut dough. Great!

I've created different versions of this recipe. Savory: filled with stracchino (it's an italian cream cheese), with prosciutto and with ham. Sweet: yeasted donut dough simply dusted with icing sugar (Just like Tenina).
I've cooked so many donuts that my children brought a big bag to school to share it with friends!

I was so curious about Tenina, that I've asked her an interview! :-D
And here it is!

We'd love to hear about you: tell us more! Do you have children? How many?

I am the mother of Caleb, Dallin, Courtleigh, Quaid and Kipling. I am the grandmother to Macie and soon another little one is arriving. I have been married to Hamish for 30 years!


Can a woman be a wife, a mum and have a satisfactory professional life?


I have always enjoyed being a mum, and in fact cooking for them was really what got me started on this path. I have been happily married for a long time now, with all the usual ups and downs of life, so I think yes! It is possible to have it all!


How did you and Thermomix “meet”? And was it love at first sight?

I was working for another appliance company and a lot of my clients used to talk about Thermomix. I did a bit of research online (there was not much out there then!) and I liked the sound of it but the price did make me hesitate. I then broke 2 food processors in 2 weeks, one at work and one at home and I thought; ‘The universe is sending me a message. It is time!’ So I called Thermomix in Australia and told them I wanted to come by and pick one up! I was very surprised when they said I couldn’t do that, but that I had to have someone do a demo for me! Anyway, I fell in love with it very quickly.


Were always a good cook? When did your passion for cooking come out?

I always enjoyed baking as a girl with my mother. At university (in the USA) I was the one doing most of the cooking and I did enjoy it when I had time. It really wasn’t until I had a small family and it dawned on me that I would need to cook every night for the rest of my life, that I decided that if I had to do it, I may as well make it a creative process, and so I did begin to look for ways to make the necessary task of cooking, lots of fun.


In your opinion, is there a chance for terrible cooks to get better by using a Thermomix? You know, just like in Disney's "Ratatouille", where the motto was "Anyone can cook", do you think that "With a Thermomix, anyone can cook"?


I do think that with a Thermomix (and an accurate recipe) anyone can become a very adequate cook. I think people who are already amazing cooks can only get better when using a Thermomix as there are possibilities when using the machine that you just could not achieve in a normal domestic kitchen. It is an incredible piece of engineering!


For my daughter's last birthday I had to remake the cake three times and, on my very last attempt, driven by frustration, I just covered the whole thing up with Nutella and a handful of lollies so that no one could see how awful it looked…
Do your recipes always work or do you also have cooking-disaster, like myself? Have you ever burnt a cake? Do your egg-whites always come out perfectly whipped?

Hahaha, this is a very funny question. I confess I have failures and mistakes…not too often, but invariably when I am teaching a class. Just ask the people who come to my classes! But having said that, I don’t often need to test over and over again. If I do, then I will discard the recipe because if I cannot get it right in a couple of try’s, I think no one else will get it right first time either, and that is important to me. I want people who cook my recipes to find them easy and successful if they follow my instructions accurately.


Your book For Food’s Sake was a best seller: what’s your key to success?

The whole time that I worked for Thermomix in Australia as the head of recipe development, I always wanted to put my own recipes into a book just like For Foods Sake. I wanted big beautiful pictures because I think we eat with our eyes, and it is hard to imagine what a recipe should look like or to be inspired to cook something without an image…So I think the key to the success of the book has been that most Thermomix users want the same thing as I did. Pictures, inspiration and recipes that work.


Have you got any tricks to perfection the use of Thermomix? Like, is there something you always do and something you would rather not do?

I confess I will never make a pavlova in a Thermomix. I find the egg whites just do not whip like I want or expect them to. It is really the science, egg whites need air to be incorporated whilst whipping and the size of the hole in the lid is just not big enough for that to happen. Having said that, I do a few other beaten egg white things in Thermomix, such as the Pecan Dacquoise, just not a pavlova.


Do you like Italian food? Is there any Italian recipe you had fun converting for Thermomix?


I LOVE Italian food. I think homemade gnocchi and pasta made in Thermomix is outstanding. Why would you ever buy it premade? (Except for spaghetti…I usually buy that already made!!) And how about Tiramisu? Focaccia, Ragu, Panna Cotta….the list is endless, and very fattening!


Do you have a favourite recipe? Something you could cook every day?

To tell the truth, I rarely repeat recipes unless I am in a hurry for something to feed a crowd. I am usually testing the next project whenever I cook. I do LOVE the Vietnamese Shredded Chicken Salad from my Spin-A-Dinner app. And we do have that quite a few times in the summer. I also do brew my Crio Bru drink in the Thermomix every single day, sometimes twice!


And is there any recipe that just doesn't come out right when you make it? You know, something you keep on trying but can never get quite right?

Like I mentioned, I have never been happy with a pavlova…but apart from that, not really!


In your opinion, what are some of the best websites for Thermomix users?

WOW, this is a huge question. There are so many now that are incredible. I do try and link through on my facebook page to sites that I think are good, especially as they are up and coming. I love your site…I love the UK Thermomix site, they have a huge list of amazing recipes. I love SuperKitchenMachine from Canada. There are countless others…seriously. Just some outstanding work from amazing people.


Thank you so so so much Tenina, once again, I'm very excited about this and I really appreciate you being so kind.

Thank you very much Flavia, it is my pleasure and I look forward to seeing more soon.


Do you want to know something more about Tenina? Browse her biography!

In the store of Tenina, you can find not only the cookbooks of Tenina, but also Thermo Accessories and some ingredients to prepare her recipes.

It is so good cooking with Thermomix!

Enjoy your cooking with Thermomix! :-)

Copyright: Thermomix Recipes by Tenina: Cookbooks and Interview from Thermomix Recipes
Photocredit: De Zire Studios