| Product: |
Magimix Compact Food Processor |
| Date: |
09/05/01 (1403 review reads) |
| Rating: |
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Advantages: No fingernails in the cheese., No dough mix sticking to me., You can make a baby.
Disadvantages: , You might not want a baby.
I have a phobia; several in fact! But the phobias I refer to here are food related, or more accurately, related to the preparation of food. There are many food items I will not eat under any circumstances. I draw a firm line at eating something, raw, alive or wriggling, as in Oysters! Pardon me, I’ll be straight back, but I feel the need for Smelling Salts…
In the preparation of food and my personal phobias, pastry and bread making fit into that category. The very sensation of rubbing in, kneading, the stickiness, mixtures collecting in my nails makes me shudder, revolted, NHS counselling is required!
I’m not much of a chopper either. Considering I owned and ran a restaurant for ten years, my role being front of house, and married to a chef, I still am unable to chop parsley. Slicing onions looks more like a massacre, and beating egg whites for a meringue by hand with a balloon whisk results in chronic muscle fatigue.
Grating cheese with a hand held grater produces plum tipped finger nail clippings in the bowl. I firmly deny this to Morty, explaining patiently that the red bits are the waxy rind of the grated Edam. He doesn’t believe me though.
My ‘Ma Cuisine’ Magimix is my kitchen essential, enabling me to plot my path to being ‘The Kitchen Goddess’ Mark 2, and any reference to me being more of a Patsy from ‘ Ab Fab’ in the kitchen stakes are cruel and slanderous.
My Magimix Food Processor will chop, beat, whisk, juice, mince, liquidise, slice, shred, grate, and make pastry, cakes and dough within seconds. I chose the pale primrose main body colour, as I was in my blue and pale yellow period in kitchen décor. Having changed my interior colour scheme, I am now a firm advocate for white kitchen accessories.
I shall catalogue my much-loved reasons why I adore my Magimix:
~Homemade Soups~
Tomato:
Ready in minutes. The Magimix has a M
ini-bowl for small amounts of herbs. In the mini-bowl chop fresh basil and parsley and reserve. In the main bowl chop an onion and garlic and sauté till softened, chop a large tin of tomatoes and add to the pan. Add liquid stock as required, and the fresh herbs and simmer. Add Fromage Frais and seasoning to serve.
Cauliflower:
So simple. Cook a cauliflower till done. Reserve the cooking liquid. Put the cooked cauliflower into the main bowl with a little liquid and liquidise. Return to the pan, adding some of the liquid and milk and a pinch of mace. Season, add cream, and serve with cheesy croutons.
~Bread~
The only functions my Magimix can’t do for bread making is bake it. My lovely mother Ginck, who I would hazard a guess as the most senior lady to contribute to DooYoo, has a Breadmaker. She set the timer to mix, knead, proof and bake a fresh loaf ready for breakfast. They got that alright, but the dings, clicks, whirring and noises of the various functions as it went through the cycle woke them at dawn. They had the fresh smell of newly baked bread to greet them at 8.00am, but they’d been awake for four hours and were too knackered to eat it!
I follow the recipe as per instructions according to whichever bread making flour I am using, with the appropriate packet of dried yeast. Water, oil, salt and a little sugar, a sixty second whiz with the double bladed dough blade, and my bread mix is ready to put into an oiled loaf tin, left to proof for half an hour, then baked for another thirty minutes. The whole process is completed in an hour. The bonus? No contact by hand! I admit to gathering the dough mix from the bowl wearing surgical gloves. Yes, my phobia is that bad dear reader.
~Pastry~
The same principle as bread making applies to pastry, using the all in one method. Whichever type of pastry you are making, the mix gathers in a ball within seconds ready for your next stage.
~Mayonnais
e~
My catering career was partly in the Edwina Currie era of salmonella in eggs. We always made our own mayonnaise using our Magimix, but stopped at this time, and bought a well known commercial brand instead. The danger of using uncooked eggs, the risk of one diner getting ill and reporting it, meant instant closure by the Health authorities while they discovered the source. The very thought was too horrendous to contemplate.
Now I am no longer responsible for public health and safety, the pure joy of raw egg yolks, mustard, olive oil, lemon juice and seasoning beaten in my Magimix with the double bladed knife, resulting in my own rich, homemade Mayonnaise is heavenly. The basic mix can be furthered with the addition of other ingredients. Horseradish, garlic, tomato puree, mustard or herbs added according to the foods it is to be served with as an accompaniment.
The Magimix ‘Ma Cuisine’ has a Mini-bowl for small amounts of herbs, cheese, mayo, and flavoured butters, chopped onion. Most food processors with one main bowl can’t handle small portions. The food will spin round in isolation, completely missed by the blade. Unlike many processors the Magimix is easy to clean, and will take boiling liquids.
The Magimix has a Pulse action. (I love anything with a pulse!) This action is excellent, enabling total control over the texture of your food processing, mincing, cutting and rough mixing ( Mmmm! Rough mixing) Get a grip Lamorna, this is a food processor we’re talking about!
Extras included a citrus press, juice extractor, two sizes of grating and slicing discs, a julienne disc, dough blade and knives. There were two recipe books included. One with basic recipes from pastry, puddings, pates and soups, and the other solely devoted to fresh ideas for fruit and vegetable juices. The Mini-bowl can be put in the Micro-oven to heat baby food. Aaaaah! Baby food….
Christmas 1992 I bought my
newly married daughter a Magimix food processor. We had a very Merry Christmas together at their home, but she kept breaking into peals of laughter. It was all beyond me. Why? Stickywicket admits that once you have a food processor, you have everything you need to make a baby! What? In the Mini-bowl? No, silly! The Mini-bowl is ideal for the small amounts of food remaining from your own main meal, pureed and then frozen or chilled and micro-waved for the baby. Solids ‘R’ Us in one easy step with a Magimix.
I am not a gadget person. Electrical manoeuvres aren’t my forte, but the Magimix is simple to assemble, and doesn’t result in me feverishly clicking and forcing cutting discs, shredding discs and blades into the wrong places. If I tell you it’s user friendly, then trust me, it is!
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