Vitamix Underutilized

I do the basics, smoothies, white bean soups, but I am clearly under utilizing this great machine. I was wondering if you guys have a favorite use like a particular sauce, or recipe componenent that really makes the machine shine?

Any and all kinds of purees, vinaigrette, coulis etc.. Recently I've started making hollandaise in the vitamix. One thing I've learned about vinaigrettes and other emulsions is you don't need to go past 6.5-7 on the variable speed.

great for grinding dried herbs into a powder or dried porcini mushrooms into a powder.

I do berry coulis virtually every week for my daughters. Regular gazpacho ( just the base), and white gazpacho all summer. Carrot, squash, Vichy all fall (soups). Fruit purée for maki, herb oil emulsions, Cucumber juice for gelees and martinis....and of course frozen fruit smoothies.

ooohh... Don't have a Vitamix but some of these things sound like a 'regular' kitchen aid blender might manage them. Vichyssoise hot or cold would definitely be part of my last meal. Neal, how do you make your white gazpacho? Not much more to add to the suggestions.

Stefan

They handle emulsions easily. I enjoy giving a quick blast with one when incorporating xanthan. Can Puree almost anything, One menu I worked on in the hotel ran raw beat through it with a little water for tuiles. Soups, sauces, and powders. I've heard you can turn granulated into powdered sugar with one, but I've never tried it.

As soon as I learn to spell Vichyssoise without looking it up... and I want to explore beets (should be part of my heritage) - I like that idea as long as I don't tell my girlfriend what it is! and Rick, I learned the hard way how not to make foam soup. 37,000 rpm seems to be a bit much. I also ordered the 48 oz container because it looks like it would be easier to work with. (Here is another case where the general public doesn't understand; the container probably cost more than what the typical home cook would spend on a blender.)

On another topic: I actually had a nightmare, vivid, last night about working in a sushi place and leaving for like boot camp for a few months and coming back to find all my knives mistreated, rusted, some even broken. They were left on some vertical mag strips near the front door of the restaurant... This must be a symtom of some serious mental aberration.

apicius9 said:

ooohh... Don't have a Vitamix but some of these things sound like a 'regular' kitchen aid blender might manage them. Vichyssoise hot or cold would definitely be part of my last meal. Neal, how do you make your white gazpacho? Not much more to add to the suggestions.

Stefan

Click to expand...

Stefan - I make white gazpacho in a fairly typical Spanish manner. My main departures are that I use sauteed (not browned) onions in lieu of garlic which is traditional, and I substitute white balsamic for sherry vinegar. I think both make the soup a little lighter. So basically white bread (I use a country loaf without crust), sauteed onions, blanched almonds, green grapes, cucumbers, olive oil, white balsamic, water, cream, salt and pepper. I strain and serve with slivered, toasted almonds, sliced green grapes and basil oil.

Seth - you need to proceed immediately to the nearest Sushi restaurant and have a good meal to purge that evil dream!!

Seth, you should be using your Vitamix to make your own peanut butter. Just follow the instruction manual to do it properly, in a nutshell you must use your pushing tool extensively and quickly.

I like to make custom mixes like 1 cup jalapeno roasted peanuts + 2 cups honey roasted peanuts for a spicy-sweet peanut butter.

cnochef said:

Seth, you should be using your Vitamix to make your own peanut butter. Just follow the instruction manual to do it properly, in a nutshell you must use your pushing tool extensively and quickly.

I like to make custom mixes like 1 cup jalapeno roasted peanuts + 2 cups honey roasted peanuts for a spicy-sweet peanut butter.

Click to expand...

I've been meaning to try nut butters but I always imagine it would be a pain to get the pb out. Only one way to find out!

I appreciate the comments because I was just thinking that the vm was getting used 3 times a week and a lot more could be done with it. Since I work in small batches I usually do vinagrettes in a mixing bowl...duh..do a batch in the vm.

Seth, is your heritage Eastern European?

If you want to explore beets, you should be making your own borscht soup with the Vitamix. While I'm roasting 6 medium beets rubbed with olive oil, I saute a medium onion, a couple of cloves of garlic, 2 celery stalks, 2 medium potatoes and salt/pepper then deglaze with vodka. Then it all goes in the Vitamix with 4 cups of chicken stock and you puree it and finish with 1/2 cup of sour cream, 2 tablespoons of fresh dill and check your seasoning.

Since the Vitamix chews ice so well, you can also make excellent iced coffees and save a bunch of money doing so.

The Vitamix also makes superb hummus. Normally to get such a smooth, velvety texture you would have to start with dried chickpeas and soak them overnight before simmering them. With the Vitamix you can make it so smooth just using canned chickpeas. The great thing about hummus is that you can really add whatever you want to it. The basic hummus is chickpeas, salt, pepper, garlic, lemon, tahini (sesame paste) and olive oil. You can change it up by using roasted garlic, extra lemon, green or black olives, hot peppers, hot sauce, Greek yogurt or whatever else you desire.

Likewise, there is an excellent Greek dip called Kopanisti that uses feta cheese, olive oil, garlic and banana peppers to make a creamy, spicy dip to go with pita bread or chips.

When you grind the peanuts into peanut butter a good amount of oil is released, so that makes it easy to get out with a spatula.

Seth said:

I've been meaning to try nut butters but I always imagine it would be a pain to get the pb out. Only one way to find out!

I appreciate the comments because I was just thinking that the vm was getting used 3 times a week and a lot more could be done with it. Since I work in small batches I usually do vinagrettes in a mixing bowl...duh..do a batch in the vm.

Click to expand...

That would be me: your basic Ellis Island 1890s immigrant from, I think, a small town Dembraven somewhere near Kiev which no longer exists. I have snipped the Borscht recipe for my files; thanks. I haven't had this since I was a kid and is a bit of an acquired taste for some. Hummus I usually do in a food processor but I like this better. For one thing, the vm is on the counter and the food processor is stored....I need a bigger kitchen. I might be a bit strange but I do pesto with a gyuto.