Category Archives: Breakfast/brunch

Mini brioche

January 2, 2017 4:29 pm / 1 Comment /

Mini brioche

Happy new year and welcome to 2017!  Thank you all for your continued support, making last Christmas the best ever on the blog which tells me that many of you are wanting to use your steam or combi oven to its full potential.

I thought I would take my previous brioche recipe and use it to make individual ones for a delicious, Christmas breakfast.  I have always wanted to cook these for Christmas morning but was never up early enough so this time I cheated and made the dough very late on Christmas Eve and finished proving and baking first thing on Christmas morning.  If you don’t intend to do this extended proving method then use your ‘Auto proving dough’ function as mentioned below and let the dough rest until doubled in size.

Serves 6

225g (1½ cups) plain flour, sifted
2 tbsp. castor sugar
1 x 7g sachet of dried yeast
2 eggs, beaten
1/4 cup milk, warmed
90g butter, softened
Sugar to dust

Method:

  1. For dough, combine flour, sugar, yeast and 1/2 tsp salt into a large bowl or mix master fitted with a dough hook.  Mix well
  2. Combine eggs with the warm milk and pour into flour mixture.  Knead with the mixer for about 5 minutes until the dough comes together.  It will be soft and sticky.
  3. Add small pieces of the softened butter piece by piece to the mixer to incorporate the butter.  Knead well for about 8 minutes.  I just left it all in the mixer.
  4. Oil a large bowl well with vegetable oil.  Tip in the mix and turn it over to coat in the oil.
  5. Cover tightly with cling wrap and leave overnight to prove.  IF you want to prove immediately read item 5 in the Pear brioche tart recipe here.
  6. Now remove the dough to a lightly floured bench.  It will still be soft but form a fat sausage with the mixture and cut into six pieces.
  7. Form each piece into a ball and break off a smaller ‘knob’ that is on the top of traditional brioche so you will have one large and one tiny ball for each.
  8. Place each large ball into individual greased brioche tins or a silicone brioche tray and top each with a little ball.
  9. Cover again this time with a clean cloth and leave to rise.  This should take approximately 30 minutes.  Sprinkle with a little sugar.
  10. Preheat oven to 190°C, I always do this for short cooking items.
  11. Bake in combi steamer in Combination mode -190°C + 50% moisture for 15 minutes OR Auto function ‘small yeast buns’ or similar.  You can set and agree to the program, check that the time is approximately 15 minutes otherwise just cancel and cook manually as above.  Most of the auto programs are for larger, 1kg size loaves.
  12. Remove from oven to a wire rack.
Posted in: Baking, Bread, Breakfast/Brunch, Combi Steamer

Black sticky rice with coconut milk

March 6, 2016 8:08 pm / Leave a Comment /

Black sticky rice

One of my all time favourite Asian desserts.  This classic is also excellent served as part of a brunch or in tiny individual bowls or glasses at the end of a cocktail party.

Yet another rice dish that is fantastic cooked in the steam oven.  I use to cook this in my old Le Creuset pot that was lined in a pale coloured enamel.  A great pot but not for sticky rice as it use to turn it purple.  Easier to cook and wash up in the solid steamer tray.  Half quantity is a generous serving for four.

Result was delicious, just as good as before but without the messy pot!

Ingredients:  Serves 8-10

2 cups black glutenous rice
2½ cups water
2 Pandan leaves, cut to fit length of solid tray and spit down spine

Syrup:
125g palm sugar
¾ cup water

1 cup coconut milk
pinch sea salt to taste (it can be slightly over salted as the rice doesn’t contain any salt and it will balance out all the flavours)

Method:

  1. Wash black glutenous rice well in a sieve under cold running water.
  2. Soak overnight in cold water.
  3. Drain, rinse again and place into the solid steamer tray with the Pandan leaves flattened, ripped into strips down the spine to release the flavour and pushed under the water.
  4. Cook at 100°C steam for 30 minutes.  Open the steam oven half way through the cooking time to push the leaves into the liquid a little more.
  5. Remove from steam oven and immediately cover with a piece of aluminum foil.  The rice should be cooked but still have a ‘bite’ to it.  This process helps to extract all the flavour from the Pandan leaves.
  6. Let it go cold with the foil over until ready to serve or refrigerate for later*.
  7. In the meantime melt the palm sugar and water together in a small saucepan and set aside.  This can be stored in a jar in the refrigerator until required.
  8. When the rice has cooled (about 20 minutes) uncover, remove the Pandan leaves and discard.  You will need to scrape all the rice from the leaves.
  9. Stir in as much of the palm sugar syrup as you like to sweeten*.  It should be sweet but not sickly.
  10. Serve slightly warm* with coconut milk drizzled over the top and fresh, ripe mango for that tropical hit 🙂

Note:  *You can make this a few days before and reheat in the steam oven @ 100°C for 4 minutes.  If you are doing this don’t add the syrup until you are ready to serve.  In fact I never add the syrup until serving time when the rice is warm.  Let your guests add a little more if they like it sweeter.

Posted in: Breakfast/Brunch, Desserts, Gluten free, Steam Oven, Thai

Spicy eggs & chorizo

August 30, 2015 10:01 am / 1 Comment /

Spicy eggs with chirizo

Off to Italy & Spain for a month so I thought it appropriate that I leave you all with this delicious, spicy egg & chorizo dish to enjoy 🙂

Perfect for a lazy Sunday brunch – double the eggs and cook in a larger pan to serve six people and serve with warm, toasted sourdough.  There is plenty of sauce, so you don’t need to double that part of the recipe.

The egg category is, without doubt, the most popular on this blog.  So much so that I’ve made it to number one on Google and have kept this position for sometime now.   Eggs are fabulous cooked in the steam oven.  It is now impossible for me to think about cooking eggs in any other way.  Quick, easy and great for when you need to cook large quantities, the steam oven gives perfect temperature control – it is the best way to get perfect eggs anyway you like them.  From hard to soft boiled, poached, scrambled or the luscious 60/60 eggs have a look at this popular post here. For a luxurious breakfast try my steam oven Eggs Benedict here. Yes, you can make the perfect Hollandaise sauce in the steam oven too!

Ingredients:  Serves 4

1 tbsp olive oil
2 good quality chorizo
½ tsp fennel seeds
1 red onion, thinly sliced
1 clove garlic, crushed
1 red capsicum, thinly sliced
¼-½ tsp dried chilli flakes
½ tsp ground cumin
½ tsp hot or smoked paprika to taste (Spanish is best)
1 punnet cherry tomatoes or 2 large tomatoes, chopped
1 x 400g tin of chopped tomatoes
4 eggs
50g fetta
chopped coriander or mint and extra olive oil to drizzle
sea salt and fresh ground pepper to taste
good sourdough to serve

Method:

  1. Toast the fennel seeds in a dry pan that will fit into the steam oven for a minute or two until fragrant.
  2. Add the olive oil, onion, garlic and capsicum and sauté a few minutes until soft.
  3. Move this mixture over to the side of the pan and lay in the sliced chorizo, turn when brown.
  4. Now add the spices and cook on medium heat until a little jammy.
  5. Lower the heat, add all the tomatoes and continue to cook until reduced and fragrant.   The sauce will thin down in the steam oven so it can be quite thick at this point.  This stage can be done ahead and set aside until just ready to add the eggs.
  6. When ready to serve, bring back to the simmer and taste.  Add salt and pepper and make little hollows in the tomato mixture for the eggs.  Break them into the sauce, sprinkle fetta around.
  7. Place the pan into the steam oven @ 100°C for 2 minutes.  The eggs should be perfectly cooked and the sauce thinned a little.
  8. Remove from steam oven, sprinkle over a handful of chopped coriander or mint and a drizzle of olive oil and serve into the centre of the table with toasted sourdough for dipping 🙂
Posted in: Breakfast/Brunch, Eggs

Homemade yoghurt from the steam oven

July 12, 2015 10:08 pm / 4 Comments /

Homemade yoghurt from your steam oven.

After I did a cheese making class at our friend Maxine’s place a few weeks ago I got inspired to try to make yoghurt.  We had a great time making feta & ricotta (this is so easy I will never buy ricotta again!) and Maxine also makes her own yoghurt which was delicious.  She uses a commercial yoghurt making machine and purchases the culture required.  I for one don’t want another small appliance anywhere near my kitchen so I did a bit of reading up about making your own yoghurt at home and decided that the steam oven is the perfect appliance to use.  Yoghurt needs a constant, accurate temperature for many hours or overnight for it to set.  With my steam oven you can set the time and go as low as 40°C with one degree increases so what better appliance to use to set yoghurt perfectly at 43°C.  For anyone who has another brand of steam oven that doesn’t have this degree of accuracy then I am sorry I don’t think it will work for you.  By all means give it a go at the closest temperature setting you can get, all you will lose is one litre of milk 🙂

I also wanted to try to make yoghurt using a few spoonful’s of commercial yoghurt instead of purchasing the culture and it worked!  Make sure you use commercial yoghurt with a ‘live’ culture.  Unless it says that on the container then it isn’t live but plenty of good quality yoghurts are easily available now which contain this form of culture.

Ingredients:  Makes 1L

1L full cream milk
3 tbsp. commercial plain yoghurt with live culture

Method:

  1. Sterilise your jars in the steam oven by placing them upside down, with their lids in a perforated tray @ 100°C for 15 minutes.
  2. While you are doing this heat the milk on the stove until it reaches 82°C.  Fill the sink with 3cm of cold water and when the milk reaches temperature then remove the pot from the stove and sit it in the sink to cool.
  3. Lower the temperature of the milk to 46°C.
  4. Place the commercial yoghurt into a small mixing bowl.
  5. Remove one ladle of hot milk from the pot and add to the commercial yoghurt, stir to combine.
  6. Pour into the sterilised jars, cover and set in the steam oven @ 43°C for 5 hours.  Because the temperature is so low I didn’t even need to refill the water container.
  7. Set another timer to remind you to turn off the steam oven a few minutes before the end of cooking time.  This will stop it automatically reducing the steam and cooling the cavity down.

Don’t be tempted to open the door but leave the jars in the steam oven for another 2-3 hours minimum until cool then place in the refrigerator until required.

Easy and delicious served with your favourite fruit.  Try with my steamed rhubarb or Winter fruit salad.

Posted in: Breakfast/Brunch, Desserts, Gluten free, Healthy eating, Steam Oven

Crunchy zucchini slice

September 14, 2014 1:58 pm / Leave a Comment /

Crunchy zucchini slice

Another great way to use zucchini, I didn’t want fritters or a ‘savoury cake’ here but more of a meal.  This would also be a great brunch, lunch or side dish.

Cooked in the steam oven and just popped under the grill in your main oven to crisp the top, it is a great example of how you can utilise your different appliances for one dish.  Being an egg based slice it was perfectly cooked in the steam oven with a soft custard and the crunchy topping has lots of flavour.  The nuts and seeds really add to the texture.

Leave out the bacon for a vegetarian option.

Ingredients:  Serves 4

3 large zucchini, finely sliced with a food processor or mandolin
175g bacon, diced
1/2 cup spring onions, sliced
3 cloves garlic, crushed
3 eggs, beaten lightly
1/2 cup cream
1/2 cup milk
chopped parsely
Topping:
1/3 cup natural seed mix (pepitas, sunflower kernels and pine nuts) or seeds of your choice.
1 cup grated tasty cheese
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
2 slices multi grain bread, toasted

Method:

  1. Grease a small, solid steamer tray or baking dish.
  2. In a frypan add bacon, onion and garlic and sauté until softened
  3. Add zucchini and toss to wilt, about 5 minutes separating all the slices if possible.
  4. Place into the prepared pan and then pour over the egg mixture.  Flatten down and mix egg mix through evenly.
  5. Cover with foil and cook @ 100°C in the steam oven for 15 minutes until set.  It should be set around the edges and a little soft in the centre.  Adjust the timing accordingly for other brands of steam oven as it could take a bit longer to set.
  6. Toast the multi grain bread until brown.  Break into small breadcrumbs or do this quickly in a food processor.  In a bowl mix through other topping ingredients.
  7. Remove from steam oven and sprinkle over topping ingredients.
  8. Grill on medium heat on Static grill in your main oven being careful to keep an eye on it so it doesn’t burn.  If the grill is preheated it will only take about 5 minutes.  Remove from the grill once the cheese has melted and the topping is golden brown.
  9. Rest for about 5 minutes before serving.

Cut into squares and serve with a tossed salad or warm bread.

 

 

 

 

 

Posted in: Breakfast/Brunch, Eggs, Main Courses, Side dishes, Steam Oven, Vegetarian

Fruit & cinnamon swirls

September 8, 2014 9:21 am / Leave a Comment /

Fruit & cinnamon swirls

Every afternoon when it’s wet outside I feel like baking.  I have become addicted to afternoon tea so it’s always a good excuse to cook something that I can eat at about 4 o’clock in the afternoon when the craving strikes!

Always on the lookout for a yeast dough that I can cook in the combi oven this is a recipe that is similar to a scone dough cinnamon swirl I use to make when I was a teenager.  Adapted from the Miele book, I have changed the recipe to suit and converted it to cook in the combination mode.  There wasn’t the auto program in my oven that was described in the book.

Remember the combi is the equivalent of having a commercial bakers oven in your own kitchen, so do try to cook these as it an easy recipe to get you into cooking with yeast at home.  A great way to start before moving into serious bread territory!

Ingredients: Makes approx. 20

Dough:
500g strong white or plain flour
2 sachets of dried yeast
200ml milk, warmed
40g sugar
1 egg
pinch of salt
40g melted butter

Filling:
100g raisins
1/2 cup currants
2 tbsp. rum
50g softened butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon

Method:

  1. Pour the rum over the raisins and currents and set aside.
  2. Heat the milk and add the dry yeast, stir to combine.
  3. Sift the flour into a large bowl or a mixer with a dough hook attached.
  4. Pour in the milk mixture now add the egg, sugar, salt and butter and mix or knead until it comes into a ball.  If you have a mixer keep kneading it for another 5 minutes or so or tip onto the work bench to knead it well.  It should be smooth and silky.
  5. Grease a large bowl, place the dough in with the smooth side up.  Cover tightly with plastic wrap.
  6. Put into the combi on Auto program – Prove yeast dough setting.  This setting takes 15 minutes, when it is up just turn the combi off and leave it sitting there in the warm oven for another 15 minutes to prove.  It should have doubled in size.
  7. For the filling mix the butter and brown sugar together, add the cinnamon and soaked dry fruit and any remaining rum and mix well.
  8. Roll out the dough into a large rectangle and spread with the butter.  Now roll up into a long sausage.  Cut into 1.5cm slices.  Arrange on a baking tray lined with baking paper and return to the combi to prove for another 30 minutes so they expand a little more and join up to each other.  There is no need to do another proving setting it will still be warm enough.  If not you can heat the oven to 30°C
  9. Brush with milk.
  10. Bake on Combination mode Stage 1: 190°C + 90% moisture 15 minutes plus Stage 2:  160°C + 30% moisture 5 minutes.

Serve warm from the oven, with tea of course 🙂

You can drizzle with a little icing if you like or perhaps a glaze like my Hot Cross Buns but I think they have enough sugar.

 

 

Posted in: Baking, Bread, Breakfast/Brunch, Combi Steamer

Smoked salmon on zucchini fritters

July 31, 2014 10:45 pm / Leave a Comment /

Smoked Salmon on Zucchini Fritters

We were invited to a Christmas in July in the mountains last weekend so I decided I would make these and serve them as one larger portion per person, plated up as entrée.

A great recipe to also make as smaller fritters for finger food, it is moist and a nice change from the standard blini.  It would also be delicious, warm for a posh brunch with some eggs from the steam oven!

For the entrée size make your fritters approximately 9cm in diameter.  I used a large cutter or ring, greased in the pan to make each one the perfect size and left the mix to set for a couple of minutes before removing.  Don’t overheat the pan as they will burn and not cook through.  Cook slowly and remove to cool on a wire rack.

To transport, stack each pancake between plastic wrap.  The options for the filling are up to you; cream cheese, ricotta or crème fraiche would all be excellent.  I did goats curd mixed with a little chopped dill.  Serve with some lemon, tiny capers, thinly sliced red onion and a few leaves tossed in a little dressing.

Ingredients:  Serves 12 as entrée or 40 as finger food

2½ cups coarsely grated zucchini
2 eggs, beaten
60g butter
2 spring onions finely sliced
1-2 tbsp. milk
¼ cup grated parmesan
½ tsp salt
black pepper
½ cup plain flour
¼ cup self raising flour

Method:

  1. Preheat flat char-grill plate or tepanyaki plate.  If you don’t have one then use a non stick frypan
  2. Combine all ingredients in a bowl and mix well until combined.
  3. Grease your cooking plate or frypan with a little olive oil spray.
  4. Spoon mixture into the ring onto char grill plate or frypan and cook on medium heat until you see small bubbles appear on the surface.  If you are making 12 as I did for entrée size be careful not to put too much mixture into the first batch as I ran a bit short by the last few.  Use about one and a half dessertspoons and spread into the ring with the back of the spoon.
  5. Turn, they should be well browned but not burnt.  They do take a while to cook, don’t turn too early.
  6. Cook on the other side until cooked through.

Serve with topping of your choice.

 

 

 

Posted in: Breakfast/Brunch, Christmas cookery, Dinner parties, Entrees, Fish, Party Food

Steamed peaches, nectarines or apricots

March 22, 2014 4:53 pm / 3 Comments /

Steamed peaches

As I mentioned in a previous post the flavour of everything is better in the steam oven because all the nutrients are retained in the food and not lost in the boiling or poaching liquid.

This really shines through when steaming fruit.  Such an effortless way to serve fruit as a delicious breakfast or dessert.  I keep the added sugar content to a minimum, preferring to just use a little honey if necessary.  Let the natural flavours be the star 🙂

Timing is for medium size fruit so if your fruit is larger or smaller then always cook less rather than more.  Fruit will also stay in shape cooked in the steam oven as seen here with the rhubarb.  Also a great way to use up fruit that has passed its prime.  Remember to also steam your fruit for using in puddings and crumbles.  See my basic Stewed apples here too.

So healthy, quick and with no added sugar.  In stone fruit season there is no excuse not to have some in the fridge everyday!

Ingredients & Method

Just ripe peaches, apricots or nectarines, halved and stones removed

Place in the solid steamer tray.  No need to add any sugar.

Steam @ 100°C for 3-5 minutes.  Ripe apricots for 2 minutes.

Cool before transferring to your serving plate.   Simple and delicious.

 

 

 

Posted in: Breakfast/Brunch, Desserts, Gluten free, Healthy eating, Steam Oven

Steam oven eggs benedict

March 21, 2014 8:06 am / 3 Comments /

 

Eggs benedict

I love eggs benedict and the steam oven is great for poaching eggs.  So easy, you can get 12 perfect poached eggs (with runny yolks) from one muffin tray in 1½ minutes!

Now that I have come up with a way to cook hollandaise sauce in the steam oven the whole thing, including eggs will take about 10 minutes.  Not bad for a fancy brunch dish that costs quite a bit at a café.  Your friends will be impressed 🙂

Ingredients:  Serves 6
12 room temperature free-range eggs
6 English muffins or sliced sourdough bread, toasted
200-400g shaved smoked ham or smoked salmon
Handful of baby rocket leaves
Snipped chives to serve

Hollandaise sauce:
2 egg yolks at room temperature
1 tbsp. lemon juice
140g unsalted butter, melted
Salt & pepper to taste
Method:

  1. Make hollandaise sauce from my instructions here.
  2. Cover the bowl and set aside in a warm place.
  3. Grease a 12 x muffin tin with melted butter.  Break in eggs.
  4. Steam @ 100C for exactly 1½ minutes.  You can read more about eggs here.  This will give you set whites and the runny yolks that you want for this dish. 2 minutes will be a firmer yolk.
  5. While the eggs are cooking toast your bread and plate up with rocket, ham or salmon.
  6. Carefully remove eggs from muffin tin and place on top.
  7. Give your hollandaise a final whisk and spoon over a generous amount.
  8. Garnish with snipped chives and cracked pepper.
Yum, everyone will be coming to your place instead of that café!
Posted in: Breakfast/Brunch, Eggs, Steam Oven

Steamed asparagus with hollandaise sauce

March 18, 2014 7:36 pm / 1 Comment /

Steamed asparagus with hollandaise sauce

It has got to the stage where I not only can’t imagine not having a steam oven, but I wonder how people survive without one!

Asparagus is perfect in a steam oven.  2 minutes @ 100°C and it’s the best asparagus you have ever eaten.  It has a lot to do with the fact that all the nutrients are retained so vegetables, fruit and many other things actually taste better.

So when asparagus season hits you can quickly and easily enjoy it everyday.  Have a look at some of my other recipes that include asparagus in salads, risotto and this delicious stir-fry here.

Another delicious way to serve asparagus is with a 60/60 egg.  Easy to cook in the steam oven because of the accurate temperature control the egg category is fast becoming the most searched item on this site.

I am very proud to have come up with a way to cook the perfect hollandaise in a steam oven!  Quick, easy and delicious and a lot less washing up than a whole food processor.  Try it, you will never cook hollandaise the traditional way again.

Ingredients:  Serves 4-6

2 egg yolks
1 tbsp. lemon juice
140g unsalted butter, melted
Salt & pepper to taste

1-2 bunches of fresh asparagus

Method:

  1. Whisk egg yolks with lemon juice in a china mixing bowl until pale and frothy .  Your eggs should be at room temperature.
  2. Melt the butter until hot and bubbling but do not allow to burn.  Do this in a glass jug in the microwave if you have one otherwise a small pan on the stove.
  3. Set the steam oven to 60°C for 1 minute and place the wire rack close to the bottom of the oven (on shelf position 1)
  4. Place the uncovered bowl on the wire rack, close the door and press ‘start now’.
  5. Set another timer for 1 minute.
  6. Open the steam oven, remove the bowl and whisk again until light and pale.  Leave the door open while you do this. Just 30 seconds or so is enough.
  7. Repeat (5) and (6) 4 times in total.  You will notice that the steamer doesn’t get time to reach its set temperature as it is only in ‘warm up stage’ for the first 3 times then the last time will be the steam oven counting down its 1 minute.
  8. Remove from oven, sit on a towel or chopping board to keep the bottom of the bowl warm.
  9. Drizzle in the melted butter very slowly, whisking all the time until thick and pale.  Stop when you can see the ‘milk solids’ in the bottom of the butter.  Discard.
  10. Taste and add seasoning.  It needs quite a bit of salt.
  11. Cover with tight plastic wrap and set aside to keep warm.  If you want to make it ahead of time, let the steam oven cool down to warm and put the covered bowl back in there until needed.  Of course, remove before cooking anything else.
  12. Now put your trimmed asparagus into the perforated steamer tray and cook for 2 min @ 100°C.  You can peel it if you wish but I don’t bother with that.

Remove from oven, plate up and serve with the warm hollandaise.  Delicious 🙂

Note:  This is a recipe that you may have to adjust the timing if you have another brand of steam oven.  Test it for yourself to see.  If the hollandaise has thickened too much on standing then whisk in a little boiling water to thin.

 

Posted in: Breakfast/Brunch, Dinner parties, Eggs, Entrees, Sauces & custards, Steam Oven, Vegetarian