Kitchen Aide mixer - what can I make with the attachments?

Question

I finally got a mixer for my birthday (yeah, love it!!!) and my boyfriend got me the attachment pkg with the slicer/shredder, food grinder and pasta plates for Christmas. I also bought the sausage stuffer. Any really interesting things I can do with these? Any good pasta recipes? Sausage recipes, especially italian (lower fat if possible)? And no bashing the boyfriend for buying it - I REALLY wanted it so he did well! Thank you all so much!

Answer 1

Of course you will want to make all that but don't overlook the very best and simplest thing you can do.
Fresh hamburger!!
Buy chuck fairly fatty and without the bone. Cube it to about an inch square. Assemble the grinder using the large die (the plate with the big holes). Place the meat and the grinder attachment in the freezer for about 10 minuter(yes the grinder too). Lightly salt the meat, toss and then grind. Use even pressure, do not force. Place the ground meat into the Fridge this time while you change the die in the grinder. This time use the smaller holed one. Toss the meat first to evenly distribute the fat and then grind again.
Trust me if you like a good hamburger you will be floored at the difference between this and store bought.

Tips:
This is also good practice to familiarize yourself with your grinder before getting into more complex recipes.

The last thing you should grind on every batch of meat is a piece of bread to clear grinder. Don't get it into the recipe though.

Keep this thing clean! Wash with warm soapy water using a bottle brush. Let sit in bleach water to sanitize for at least 5 minutes and AIR DRY.

The dies and the grinder blade should be kept in a zip lock bag with rice. They can rust and are hard to clean. The rice will keep them dry.

Congrats! Your life as a real cook is about to begin!!

Good luck!

Answer 2

Ooooh! You got all the cool attachments too! OK, for the shredder, buy your own blocks of cheese, shred them, bag them and freeze them. Much cheaper than that pre-shredded stuff. I just did my favorite blend today of a block of Parmesan, block of Romano, and a block of asiago. You'll never return to the powdered stuff. I shredded a 2 pound block of sharp cheddar today too. If you have a dishwasher, cleanup is easy.

For the sausage stuffer, do you have casings yet? Sausage is so much fun to make! I have several cookbooks on making sausages. The last one I made was a boudin blanc. Email me about what kind of sausages you want to make and I'll look them up, or give you the source of my casings.

HAVE FUN! I don't even make baking stuff with my KA mixer, I just use the attachments!

Answer 3

Congrats on your gift!!! I never got mad at my ex or my mom getting me a gift for my kitchen because I love cooking! I just bought myself a Kitchen Aid mixer a few months ago because I've always wanted one and got tired of waiting for someone to get it for me!

When I got mine, I also bought a cookbook on Amazon.com called "The Mixer Bible". It has tons of recipes in there...some using the attachments. I found two for Italian Sausage...one of those being Turkey Italian Sausage which I would have to assume would be lower fat. If you want those recipes, hit my user name and then click the Contact link and send me an e-mail and I'll send you those. As for the pasta...here is a basic egg pasta which you could make and then use your attachment to make spaghetti, fettucine, ravioli, whatever.

2 1/4 cups unbleached, all-purpose flour (approx)
1 tsp salt
3 eggs

1. Place flour and salt in the mixer bowl. Attach the flat beater and mixer bowl to the mixer. Set it to Stir and mix briefly. Add eggs and mix until dough forms large clumps. Using your hands, form dough into a ball. If dough is shaggy and dry, and won't form a ball, add 1 tsp water and mix until incorporated. If it's too sticky, add 1 Tbsp flour and mix until incorporated. If necessary, keep adding water or flour in small increments and mix until dough comes together.
2. Remove the flat beater and attach the dough hook to the mixer. Set to Speed 2 and kneed for 2 minutes, until dough comes together into a firm ball. Remove dough and wrap in plastic wrap. Let rest for 20 minutes before rolling out.


Good luck...I know you're going to love your new mixer. Wait until you need to make a huge batch of cookies! I used mine this year to make all my Christmas cookies and what a huge help that was!!!

Answer 4

RAVIOLI ! You can make the dough and the filling with that puppy.