Category Archives: Combi Steamer

Tarragon roast chicken

July 14, 2014 8:25 am / 2 Comments /

Tarragon roast chicken

This French recipe from Damien Pignolet’s ‘French’ book is the perfect roast chicken dish to cook for Bastille Day, 2014.

A great classic roast chicken recipe that I have adapted for cooking in the combi steamer on the Combination mode.  Have a look at the percentage of steam for the first stage, an amazing 95% which is why roast chicken cooked in a combi is SO moist and tender.  You know those giant ovens that the chicken shops and supermarkets use?  They are combi steamers!

I have cooked roast Spiced chicken here before but that time I used less moisture.  This time I want to see how the two stage program will work and if it produces a ‘better’ roast chicken?  Result; a crisper skin and moist chicken.

The original recipe included instructions on how to rest the cooked chicken, upside down in a bowl to allow the juices to moisten the breast.  A good idea in theory (and a lot more washing up) but you don’t really need to rest chicken when cooked in a combi.  You will lose the crispy skin if you cover it at this stage so just let it sit for a few minutes before serving.

There is also an Auto program for chicken in the Miele but be aware it is based on a small, 1- 1.2kg chicken.   My chicken tonight is nearly 1.8kg so I am not going to use the Auto program this time.

Make a simple sauce to serve with the chicken from the pan juices, a little chicken stock and some fresh herbs.  Carved and served over French lentils here, some roast potatoes or a crisp green salad.

A wonderful Bastille Day dinner 🙂

Ingredients:  Serves 4

120g softened, unsalted butter
1 small clove of garlic, crushed
3 tbsp. lightly snipped French tarragon leaves
Ground pepper & salt
1 x 1.8kg chicken
6 sprigs tarragon
a little olive oil

1 tbsp Madeira or brandy
125ml reduced chicken stock
Little more chopped tarragon

Method:

  1. Combine the butter, garlic, snipped tarragon leaves, a pinch of salt and some pepper into a small bowl and mix well until smooth.
  2. Using your fingertips and starting at the neck end, gently ease the skin away from the breast, taking care not to break it.  Evenly divide the butter between both sides of the breast and gently spread it between the flesh and the skin.  This is easy to do once you have separated the skin.  You can actually put a spoonful under the skin at the opening and then using your fingers ‘squeeze’ it down the breast and into the top of the drumstick.
  3. Insert a pinch of salt and the extra tarragon into the cavity, truss the legs together around the parsons nose with a piece of string and set aside in the fridge, uncovered for as long as possible (1-2 hours is best if possible) to dry the skin out a little.  This will help make the skin crispy.
  4. Remove from fridge, rub the chicken all over with a little olive oil. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and place directly on the oven rack in the combi with a solid steamer tray under to catch the drips.
  5. Cook on Combination mode @ 200°C + 95% moisture for 40 minutes then add another stage: 180°C + 30% moisture for 50 minutes.
  6. I added some potatoes to the bottom solid tray one hour before the end of cooking.
  7. Remove chicken from combi and set aside for a few minutes while you make the sauce.
  8. In a small saucepan warm the Madeira or brandy over gentle heat.  I didn’t flame it but just added the chicken pan juices and stock and reduced the sauce a little.

Serve over the warm, carved chicken 🙂

If you don’t have a combi then Damien suggests cooking it, laying on its side @ 180C for 15 minutes, turning it to the other side for another 15 minutes.  Now sit it breast up, lower the temperature to 160C and cook another 20-30 minutes basting frequently.  Rest for 10 minutes upturned in a bowl so that the juices run back into the breast.

 

Posted in: Chicken, Combi Steamer, Main Courses

Pear tarte tatin

July 8, 2014 9:15 am / 4 Comments /

Pear tarte tartin

I don’t know anyone who doesn’t love a good pear tarte tatin!  I certainly know Wendy does in the UK so I thought that I would do a recipe for her so that she can cook it in her combi oven.

Probably one of the most popular French desserts and certainly up there with our all time favourites.   There is just something about the texture of the soft, caramelised pears with the flaky puff pastry that makes it sooooo delicious!

Remember, puff pastry is better cooked in a combi steam oven so this is going to be the best tarte tatin you have ever made.   Honestly, I have never baked one before that had such beautiful puffed pastry as this had so I have added another pic below, just to prove it to you all. 🙂

Ingredients:  Serves 6-8

4-5 large brown (Winter) pears
60g unsalted butter, chopped
1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
2 tbsp. lemon juice
Frozen sheet of puff pastry, thawed or rolled from a block.

Method:

  1. Peel, quarter and core pears
  2. Melt butter in a heavy-based frying pan that will fit into the combi.  Try something like the base of my Le Creuset 26cm shallow casserole.  It needs to be large enough to hold almost all of the pears in one layer but check it will fit first.
  3. Add sugar, stir to melt then add pears and lemon juice and simmer over a very low heat for approximately one hour.
  4. Turn as the pears start to caramelise being careful that they don’t burn.  You may need to cover occasionally but you will see that by the time they are ready they will be darker and well caramelised.  Checked they are cooked with a skewer.
  5. Move around until they fit into one single layer and are soft and a gorgeous colour.  The pears should be arranged attractively so when inverted they are in a circle.
  6. Preheat oven to 200°C Fan Forced and put in the oven rack
  7. Cut pastry into a circle slightly larger than the pan.  If your pan has a lid like mine then that was the perfect size.  Remember when cutting puff pastry use a sharp knife.
  8. Lay the pastry over the pears and tuck the edges in around the fruit.
  9. Change from Fan Forced to bake in Combination mode 200°C + 30% steam for 20 minutes until golden brown.
  10. Remove from oven and let sit for 5 minutes
  11. Turn onto a heat proof serving plate.

Aviary Photo_130492474663098417

Serve with vanilla ice-cream or thick cream – yum!

 

 

Posted in: Combi Steamer, Desserts, Pastry

Malaysian curry puffs

June 28, 2014 4:15 pm / 5 Comments /

Curry puffs

Nothing makes puff pastry ‘puff’ like a combi steam oven!  It is honestly, the best appliance you can use for cooking pastry.

I am not sure where this recipe came from but I have been making these for years and everyone loves them.

Easy to pre-prepare, wrap up in the pastry and freeze then you only need to put them frozen into a hot oven and brush with milk and they will cook beautifully.  I always prepare the filling the day before the ‘assembly’ and layer them with plastic go-between wrap or baking paper.

It will make about 24 depending on the size.  I usually make double quantity 🙂

Ingredients:

2 medium potatoes, peeled & cut into quarters, cooked @ 100°C in steam oven for 8 minutes until almost cooked.  Dice into tiny squares when cool enough to handle.
pinch cayenne or chilli powder
1tbsp soy sauce
1½ tbsp. Malay curry powder such as Ayam.  Sometimes known as ‘Meat Curry powder”
2 medium onions, finely diced
250g minced lamb or beef (lean is better)
1tsp salt
1 cup frozen peas
2 tsp peanut oil
knob of ginger, grated
2 cloves garlic, crushed
200ml water
1/2 tsp sugar
1/2 cup chopped coriander
6 sheets frozen Pampus Puff Pastry or block rolled
1 egg beaten or milk to glaze

Method:

  1. Start making the filling the day before.  It is easier to assemble them with cold filling.
  2. Heat oil in wok and fry onion, ginger and garlic over medium heat until soft.
  3. Add the meat and brown
  4. Combine the curry powder, chilli and soy and add this to the meat.  Cook for 2 minutes
  5. Add water, sugar and salt and simmer 5 minutes
  6. Now add the frozen peas and cooked, diced potato and continue to cook until almost all the liquid has evaporated.  It should be moist but not sloppy.
  7. Taste and set aside to cool.  Refrigerate overnight and add the chopped coriander just before assembly.
  8. Cut circles in pastry and add a tablespoon of filling in the middle.  Put a little water on one side with your finger. Fold over.
  9. Starting at one end pinch a little of the flattened edge back over itself and continue to the other end forming a neat braid
  10. Brush each puff with beaten egg or milk and bake on Combination mode 180°C + 30% steam for 45 minutes for frozen or 25 min fresh until puffed and golden brown

Serve with tomato sauce, spiked with a little chilli, fresh mint chutney or sweet chilli sauce.

Posted in: Combi Steamer, Party Food, Pastry

Chicken & coriander empanadas

June 16, 2014 3:07 pm / Leave a Comment /

Empanadas

These would have to be the ultimate food to serve for the World Cup!

We loved eating the empanadas in South America and as I am never shy of an opportunity for a new post I had to make these for the blog.   A perfect thing to cook at home in the combi steam oven, especially when the soccer is on.

From when we found the tiny basement restaurant in Buenos Aires where we tried our first ‘carne picante’ empanada (spicy meat) then the local market in Santiago when we devoured the classic ‘carne’ (meat) empanadas, we were hooked.  The perfect ‘fast food’ they were being carried around the market on a tray, straight from the oven wrapped in towels to keep them warm for the locals lunchtime treat.  This is the type of thing that us foodies just love.  Local authentic food that is cooked to perfection!

We then tried a few different varieties, ham and cheese, chicken and corn.  I thought I would adapt the chicken recipe from a cookbook we were given, Argentinian Street Food by Enrique Zanoni & Gaston Stivelmaher.  This recipe is definitely tastier than the standard chicken empanada we ate in the streets.  Absolutely delicious served with a fresh tomato and chilli salsa (or a fresh tomato sauce if you have one with a bit of chilli added).

There are heaps of other fillings you can do, the options are endless.

Ingredients:  Makes approx. 12 for the filling with a little pastry remaining

Pastry:  Classic dough for baking

165g unsalted butter
500g plain flour
pinch salt
175ml water

  1. Cut the butter into cubes.
  2. Put the flour and salt into a food processor, add the cubed butter and process until combined.
  3. Pour in water and process until it starts to come together.
  4. Remove from processor and knead into a ball.  Wrap in plastic and set aside in the fridge to rest for 1 hour.

Now make the filling:

250g chicken thigh fillets, cut into very small dice.  Extra fat removed
1 tbsp. olive oil
1 onion, diced finely
1/2 red or yellow capsicum, diced
1 tbsp. grated ginger
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 tbsp. tomato paste
little chicken stock or water
1½ tsp ground cumin
1½ tsp dried oregano
2 tbsp. chopped fresh coriander

  1. Heat oil in shallow frypan and sauté onion, garlic, ginger.
  2. Add chicken and stir well until sealed and mixed well together
  3. Add tomato paste and cook 1 minute
  4. Now add the cumin and oregano and cook another minute.  You may need to add a little water now or chicken stock.
  5. Add capsicum and continue to cook with the lid off for 5-8 minutes.  It should be dry but well combined and not sticking to the base of the pan.
  6. Set aside to cool, add coriander just before filling.

Assembly:

  1. Roll the dough out until a little thicker than you would roll puff pastry.  The pastry doesn’t rise but an empanada should have thicker pastry than say a curry puff.
  2. Cut into 14cm circles and set aside, rolling out the remainder until all used.
  3. Pick up one circle, add a heaped dessertspoon full of cool chicken mixture on one side
  4. With your finger spread some water on half of the pastry circle and fold the top over to make a half circle.
  5. Now wrap the pastry over itself along the edges which makes the lovely scrolled edge.
  6. Lay on baking tray lined with baking paper and when finished put in the fridge to cool before baking.
  7. Brush with beaten egg yolk before cooking
  8. Bake @ 190°C + 30% steam for 20 minutes.  If you don’t wish to serve them all then freeze uncooked ones layered with baking paper in a plastic container.  Defrost at room temperature before baking then brush with egg wash.

Serve with a fresh tomato salsa made with tomatoes, red onion, chopped coriander and a seeded and finely chopped chilli.

Yum, pastry is so much better cooked in a combi steam oven 🙂

 

 

 

 

 

Posted in: Baking, Chicken, Combi Steamer, Party Food, Pastry

Moroccan chicken

March 2, 2014 8:41 pm / Leave a Comment /

Moroccan chicken

I wanted to try a combi-steamer recipe that wasn’t a roast.  As good as a roast is in this appliance, it is good to try other ideas and see what the benefit is of the added moisture with the radiant heat when applied to smaller cuts of meat or chicken.

With this type of dish you want the radiant heat to brown or almost caramelise the chicken and the vegetables so that you get moist, tender chicken with just the juices from the meat and vegetables.  It isn’t meant to be a saucy curry.  If you want that see my eggplant curry here 

Delicious comfort food, this dish is impressive enough to serve for a casual dinner or a family meal.  No cleaning required in the combi on this occasion.

Excellent with the added moisture when reheated, we couldn’t tell that it wasn’t freshly cooked.  As with all spicy dishes, they always taste better the next day!

Apologies, not my best pic 🙂

Ingredients:  Serves 6

6 chicken thigh fillets, each cut into half or thirds for large ones
2 tbsp. olive oil
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 tbsp. grated ginger
2 tsp ground cumin
½ salt
1½ tsp turmeric
2 tsp sweet paprika

1 large red onion, cut into thin wedges
1 small eggplant, sliced and slices halved
2 tbsp. olive oil, extra
juice 1 lemon juice
1-2 tbsp. honey
8 fresh dates, pitted and quartered (substitute pitted dried dates or prunes)
½ can chickpeas, rinsed
2 tbsp. chopped preserved lemon (about one half, chopped finely)
¼ cup toasted slivered almonds to serve (optional but would be nice for texture)
Chopped parsley or coriander to serve (it needs something green)

Method:

  1. Mix spices & salt together then add garlic, ginger and oil.  Mix well.
  2. Combine with chicken.  Cover and refrigerate 4 hours or overnight.
  3. Position grease filter in rear of Combi steam oven.  Preheat on Fan Plus 200°C.
  4. Combine onion, eggplant and extra oil.  Line a solid tray with baking paper and add vegetables.  Cook for 10 minutes.
  5. Remove from oven, add lemon juice, honey, dates, preserved lemon and chicken to onion mixture and mix to combine.  Return to oven.  If using dried fruit ‘hide’ them under the chicken pieces so they don’t dry out.
  6. Select Combination mode 200°C + 50% moisture for 25 minutes.  Remove from oven, place the chickpeas around the chicken and rest for 5 minutes before serving.
  7. You can literally slide the whole dish out of the steamer tray onto your serving platter and pull out the paper.  Great, less washing up!

Serve with cous cous here.  Would also be great with Pearl cous cous.

Remember you can’t add the cous cous to the combi whilst the chicken is cooking as you are also using radiant heat, not just steam alone.  As it only takes a few minutes you can cook it when the chicken is resting.  Keep the door open to cool down when you remove the chicken.

Recipe adapted from Miele

Posted in: Chicken, Combi Steamer, Dinner parties, Main Courses

Perfect rack of lamb

February 23, 2014 11:09 am / Leave a Comment /

Rack of lamb

As we know, roasting with a percentage of steam gives the most tender and juicy meat.  That is the beauty of a combi steam oven; the best appliance for perfect roasting!

You can adjust the percentage of radiant heat and steam to suit what type of dish you are cooking.  In this case, for roasting meat, 200°C plus 30% steam is adequate or you can use one of the automatic programs that you may have in your appliance.

Add some extra flavouring on the top or just mustard or garlic and rosemary and you will never cook a rack of lamb in a traditional oven again 🙂

This was the main course that I cooked for Jen’s in-home cooking class recently.  See the review from her of my class here.

Ingredients:

1-2 French-cut racks of lamb
Sea salt & pepper
1 tbsp. cumquat marmalade or quince paste dissolved in a little boiling water
1 large clove of garlic, crushed
2 tbsp. chopped fresh rosemary

Method:

  1. Season lamb and spread the cumquat marmalade or quince paste which has been mixed with the garlic on the back of the racks.
  2. Sprinkle with fresh rosemary and set aside to come to room temperature.
  3. If your combi has a filter over the fan make sure it is in place now.  Combi ovens do get dirty – see cleaning info here
  4. If you want to roast a few vegetables to serve with the lamb then cut them in small pieces, toss in a little olive oil and roast @ 200°C for 15 minutes to start in a solid stainless steel tray that has been lined with baking paper.
  5. Add the lamb if it will fit or place into another tray and change the function to cook on Combination mode @ 200°C + 30% steam for 18-20 minutes for a small to medium size racks.  If you have a probe then insert and set core temperature to 65C.  My combi doesn’t have a probe so don’t worry if yours doesn’t either.  My rack was just over 300g and I cooked it for 18 minutes.
  6. Remove from tray and wrap in foil.
  7. Rest for 10 minutes before slicing to serve.  It was perfect….

If you want to cook vegetables in the steam oven to serve with the lamb make sure you leave open the door to cool the appliance down before switching to the steam only mode.  There is plenty of time to cook perfect vegetables or make a little sauce while the meat is resting.  There is a little juice from the meat you can add into a sauce.

 

 

 

Posted in: Combi Steamer, Gluten free, Main Courses

Sous vide steak

February 4, 2014 8:04 pm / 8 Comments /

Sous vide steak

This is something I have been dying to try.  No, you don’t need to have a water bath or a Sous vide machine – you have a steam oven!

We have tried the slow cooked 60/60 eggs here which are magnificent and we have been eating and talking about trying a steak since eating two really good steaks last year.  The first one was a 12oz rib eye in a steak restaurant in Bellevue near Seattle, USA and the other was an eye fillet at a French restaurant in Surry Hills.  Both these steaks had been cooked with this method.  You can guess this.  The give away is they don’t ask you how you would like your steak cooked.  Don’t be alarmed, it is probably going to be the best steak you have ever eaten!

We had further inspiration from a fantastic book that I brought Simon for Christmas, Modernist Cuisine at home by Nathan Myhrvold with Maxime Bilet.  It is a huge book (probably the biggest cooking/reference book I have ever seen) which also comes with a great ‘kitchen manual’ with wipe-clean pages.  Sensible, I liked that.  This is the book for the closet scientist.  Every budding Heston Blumenthal must have a copy as you will be stunned by the level of detail, explanation and beautiful photography.  I loved the articles on the kitchen appliances, particularly the combi steam oven which they say “The combi oven is the most versatile kitchen tool we know.  It can do just about anything a conventional oven, convection oven, steamer or sous vide water bath can do: steaming, proofing, incubating, dehydrating and baking.”

The 400g aged rib eye steak I have purchased is already vac packed.  Perfect, I don’t even need to bag it.  If you do need to bag your meat then put each piece into individual snap-lock bags with a dash of olive oil and seal tightly so there isn’t any air in the bag.

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Put it onto a perforated steamer tray.  I have also added some halved potatoes to cook at the same time.  For this 400g steak I cooked it @ 56°C for 50 minutes for a medium rare steak.

In the book there are several ways to sear the meat after the slow cooking process.  I used the simplest method which is preheating a frypan with a touch of oil until smoking hot and searing the meat for one minute on each side.  Season before cooking with sea salt and ground black pepper.  You will notice that meat cooked like this doesn’t really need to rest after searing which is strange as we are so accustomed to resting so just five minutes or so seemed to be enough.

The result was the most tender, juicy and succulent medium rare steak.  Restaurant quality meat.  I wouldn’t be cooking steak in a traditional way for a large dinner party after trying this method.  Why don’t you try it too?

Note:  The potatoes needed to be quartered then another 10 minutes @ 100°C to cook.  I thought as much, root vegetables will not cook at a lower temperature.  Delicious made into a quick potato salad with a mixture of good quality mayonnaise, natural yoghurt, spring onions, parsley and chopped, grilled prosciutto.  Yum…..

 

 

 

Posted in: Combi Steamer, Dinner parties, Gluten free, Main Courses, Steam Oven

Spiced chicken

January 13, 2014 8:48 am / 4 Comments /

Spicy chicken

This is my lighter version of a recipe from Frank Camorra from the SMH last year that I thought would be a perfectly delicious thing to cook in the combi steamer.  You will get succulent, juicy chicken with a crispy skin as the steam and radiant heat will work together.  The automatic chicken program on the Miele is excellent but this time I have taken the back-bone out of the chicken and flattened it which will make it quicker to cook so use Combination mode for this one.

If you don’t have a Miele then some of the the other brands will also allow you to put in your time, temperature and moisture level.

Serve it with the Pearl Couscous with dried fig and coriander that I am also posting (and cooking in the steam oven).

Ingredients:

1 x 1.2kg Chicken
2 cloves garlic, crushed
2 heaped teaspoons smoked paprika
2 heaped teaspoons ground cumin
2 heaped teaspoons ground coriander
1 tsp turmeric
pinch salt
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
2 tbsp. chopped flat leaf parsley
1 lemon, rind & juice
Olive oil to moisten marinade to a paste

Method:

  1. Mix all ingredients except chicken in a freezer bag or flat dish.  You may add a little oil here if you wish.  I find it turns the spices into a paste with the lemon juice which is better than a dry spice rub.
  2. Add flattened chicken and rub the paste all over the bird.
  3. Marinate overnight
  4. Before cooking, remove from fridge and place into the solid steamer tray
  5. Let it sit to come to room temperature, just before cooking drizzle with about 1/4 cup of olive oil.  I tend not to add the extra oil if I added it to the marinade paste.
  6. Ensure that fan cover is in place on the back wall to protect the fan
  7. Cook @ Combination mode 180°C plus 30% moisture for 45 minutes.  If your chicken is larger you will need to increase this time up to 1 hour.  I have also cooked a 2kg chicken for 1 hour 15 minutes (turning it over for the last 20 minutes) and it was cooked perfectly.  For a larger chicken baste about half way through cooking.  Turning did moisten the breast too.
  8. Remove from the oven, baste with the juices and allow to rest for at least 5 minutes.
  9. Cut into portions to serve with a bowl of natural yoghurt that has a little garlic added.

You can see the chicken is perfectly cooked.  It was so juicy and tender!  If you are cooking for a longer time I would probably cover it with foil for the last 15 minutes.  The juices were delicious, remove the fat and serve with the chicken too.

 

 

 

Posted in: Chicken, Combi Steamer, Gluten free, Main Courses

Brioche pear tart

December 7, 2013 2:02 pm / Leave a Comment /

Brioche pear tart

This is an old recipe from a 1994 Gourmet magazine that I baked years ago.  I thought I would give it another go using the combi-steam oven and see what all the fuss is about.  I wanted to know if I can bake a yeast dough at home that is as good as you can buy in a patisserie.   We know that the commercial bakers use a combination of moisture and radiant heat for baking bread and yeast based dough so I assume this is going to be fabulous!  I have had a lot of hits on my ‘bread’ section so I will try to increase this category.

You will see below that I am cooking it on a ‘Combination program’.  Add your stages one by one, it will ask you for all the information.  If you don’t have a Miele combi steamer then you should still be able to stage cook or otherwise select an automatic program that is a yeast based dough with a fruit topping, or even just a yeast based dough setting would work.  Keep in mind that the overall cooking time is approximately 30 minutes and you can’t go wrong.  Remember you don’t need to pre-heat (which is just amazing!)

I have altered the old recipe a little and used ripe pears.  I still remember when I baked it last time it was  a lot of messing around with a syrup and you really don’t need a syrup with it.  If you don’t have ripe pears you will need to poach them first in a light sugar syrup with a cinnamon stick and the rind of a lemon and orange.  I am just going to glaze it with a little orange marmalade when it comes out of the oven.  It does need this and the strips of orange rind really made the dish.

Ingredients:  Serves 8

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
5 small ripe pears

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 with Glad Wrap and place in the combi steamer on Auto-Special Program- Prove yeast dough.  It will take 15 minutes but turn off the oven when finished and leave the bowl to sit in the warm oven for 1 hour or until doubled in size.  You can preheat the oven to 30° and leave in this temperature if you prefer or if it’s a particularly cold day.
  6. Now remove the dough to a lightly floured bench.  It will still be soft but just turn it over and place in a well-greased 26cm tart tin with removable base. It was too soft to roll out, I just patted it to the edges of the tin.
  7. Cover with a clean tea towel while you peel and core the pears.  Arrange over the dough leaving plenty of room for the dough to rise up around the edge of the tin.
  8. Cover again and leave to rise up around the pears.  This should take approximately 30 minutes.  Sprinkle with a little castor sugar.  The fresh pears will discolour a little, toss them in some lemon juice before laying over the dough if you prefer but it didn’t show once cooked.
  9. Bake in combi steamer in Combination mode Stage 1 -190°C + 90% moisture for 20 minutes then Stage 2- 160°C + 30% moisture for 10 minutes
  10. Remove from oven to a wire rack.
  11. While it is cooking heat a little orange marmalade with a touch of water in a saucepan and brush over warm brioche.

Serve warm 🙂

Conclusion:  It was fabulous!  So light and fluffy a with a golden base and definitely exactly like you would buy from a Patisserie!  The addition of the steam really enhanced the texture and finish of this brioche.

Posted in: Bread, Cakes and Biscuits, Combi Steamer

Slow baked lamb leg or shoulder

August 12, 2013 12:27 pm / 19 Comments /

Slow baked lamb leg or shoulder

One of the best things in the combi steamer is the ability to cook meat at a long, slow time with the added advantage of moisture.  This is called Combination mode.  Yes, the moisture is what makes that lamb melt in your mouth and the bone literally fall out at the end of the cooking time.  This is the timing for slow roasted lamb.  You can also do Combination mode with less moisture (usually 30%) for a traditional roast which is also excellent.  Lamb will traditionally be ‘pink’ cooked in this way due to the shorter cooking time if you prefer it done in that manner.

There are numerous options you can do with this meat.  You can just rub it with a little olive oil and tuck little pieces of fresh rosemary, garlic and lemon rind into the holes like you were roasting a traditional leg or shoulder of lamb or you can combine it into the Moroccan eggplant curry recipe here.  In this instance then rub the meat with approximately 3 teaspoons of the spice mix from the curry recipe before you roast.

You can also cook it rubbed with the Sumac and Cumin mixture I did here.

Ingredients:

1.5kg lamb shoulder or half leg (I think the shoulder was a better choice)
either 3 tsp spice mix OR
Fresh rosemary, garlic and lemon rind

Method:

  1. Position grease filter on rear of combi steam oven
  2. Place lamb on solid stainless steel tray with flavourings as above
  3. If you are using a small or half leg then cut it in half toward the bone to flatten a little.  There is no need to remove the bone.
  4. Select Combination mode 120°C + 80% moisture for 3½ hours for a lamb shoulder or 4 hours for a lamb leg (see note below).
  5. Meat is cooked when bone can easily be removed from the joint.  You cannot overcook the meat with this combination cooking.

If the meat requires more time then return to oven for a further 30 minutes.

Note:  For a larger 1.9kg shoulder cook on Combination Mode 110°C + 80% moisture for 5 hours.

Posted in: Combi Steamer, Dinner parties, Gluten free, Main Courses