Summer Buffet Class
Summer Buffet
Top tips, the recipes we cooked together, and a whole menu of summer inspiration – every dish links straight to Cookidoo so you can save and make it at home.
What a day of summer inspiration! Across two classes our team showed just how versatile the Thermomix is for relaxed summer entertaining – from Anne's show-stopping Parmesan & Szechuan pepper pastry in Guernsey, to Julia's beautiful smoked salmon & pea frittata, to a warm halloumi, walnut & pomegranate salad. Below are our top tips from the class, the recipes we made, and a big menu of extra ideas to build your own summer buffet. Couldn't join us live? Drop one of us a message and we'll send you the recording.
👩🍳 Top Tips from the Class
Perfect Pastry, Every Time
Using the turbo function as per this guided recipe gives a quicker, more controlled pastry. Use very cold butter and no water to avoid shrinkage. Use a little cling wrap when rolling, roll directly onto the pastry tin base, then build up the sides of a loose-bottomed tin. No need to grease the tin.
No More Soggy Bottoms
Freeze your pastry cases before filling. Bake from frozen at 200°C for the first 15–20 minutes, then reduce the heat. No blind baking required.
Flavour Boost
Replace black peppercorns with Szechuan peppercorns for a really unusual but fabulous flavour. The same technique works for sweet pastry too – instead of the savoury elements, scrape the seeds from a vanilla pod, or peel a lemon with a vegetable peeler and blitz the zest with a little sugar in your Thermomix for a wonderfully fine, fragrant sweet pastry.
Frittata & Steaming
Julia's tip: use the steaming basket to cook things like Joe's new potatoes. Julia also showed how you can use the Varoma to steam a frittata rather than baking it – or set it in individual moulds, which is lovely for presentation.
Dressings That Wow
For lettuce-based salads, make your dressing but only dress right before serving. For kale, massage the dressing in with your Thermomix (as in the halloumi recipe), and add pomegranate and toasted walnuts last so they stay fresh and crunchy. The Thermomix makes a brilliant emulsified dressing – double up on the ones you love and keep them in the fridge. You'll never buy shop-bought again.
The Recipe Community
The Thermomix Recipe Community is an Australian website we used before Cookidoo, and it's still a wonderful resource. These are recipes adapted and uploaded by Thermomix users – you can download them straight to your Cookidoo and they'll appear in your "Created Recipes" section. There are some really wonderful recipes here, so do check it out.
🍽️ The Recipes We Made
Crab Tart with Parmesan & Szechuan Pepper Crust
Made using the turbo method with cold butter, Parmesan and Szechuan peppercorns, filled with a delicate crab mixture or a filling of your choice. Freeze the cases ahead for stress-free entertaining. The crust technique works for any quiche or savoury tart – and for sweet pastries, simply swap in lemon zest or fresh vanilla seeds blitzed with a little sugar in your Thermomix.
View RecipeSmoked Salmon & Pea Frittata
Julia baked hers in the oven, but you can also steam it in the Varoma, or set it in individual dariole moulds – or even the new Nester silicone muffin tray that fits inside the Varoma – for pretty individual servings.
View RecipeWarm Halloumi, Walnut & Pomegranate Salad
Absolutely delicious and so simple – warm halloumi with the crunch of toasted walnuts and bursts of fresh pomegranate. Add the pomegranate and walnuts last so they stay crisp and bright.
View Recipe