Category Archives: Dinner Parties

Steamed Thai fish cakes

June 12, 2014 9:45 am / Leave a Comment /

Thai fish cakes

Traditionally fried, there is no reason why traditional Thai fish cakes can’t be steamed and become healthy Thai fish cakes!

No fat, quicker to cook and a lot less washing up than a greasy pan with oil the flavour is just as good and cooking in this manner allows you to also be steaming other things at the same time 🙂

Try serving these along-side the Steamed prawns with soy dressing here or the Chicken & spinach gow gees  here.

I have jazzed them up a bit by putting a drop of sweet chilli on top with some chopped toasted cashew nuts, coriander & mint leaves for garnish.  Everyone enjoyed them and the texture wasn’t as ‘rubbery’ as your traditional fish cake.

Ingredients:  Makes approx. 16

300g white fish fillets
2 tsp Thai red curry paste
1 tbsp. fish sauce
2 tbsp. cornflour
1 egg, beaten
1 tsp finely chopped red chilli
2 tbsp. chopped spring onions
1 tbsp. chopped coriander

Sweet chilli sauce, toasted cashews or peanuts and fresh herbs to serve

Method:

  1. Remove any trace of skin or bone from the fish and cut into small pieces
  2. Put into food processor and process until smooth
  3. Add red curry paste, fish sauce, cornflour and egg.  Process until well mixed.
  4. Scrape into a clean bowl and stir through red chilli, coriander and spring onions
  5. With wet hands shape into small, flat discs about the size of a 50c piece.
  6. Line a perforated steamer tray with baking paper and place the fish cakes in a single layer
  7. Cook @ 85°C for 8 minutes.  Test one to ensure it is cooked all the way through.
  8. Spoon over a little sweet chilli sauce and top with nuts and herbs.

Serve with toothpicks for an all in the mouth at once flavour hit!

 

 

Posted in: Dinner parties, Party Food, Steam Oven, Thai

Peach and amaretto trifle

March 24, 2014 9:46 am / Leave a Comment /

Peach & ameretto trifle

This trifle is a far cry from the trifle I grew up on but, as is often the case, we occasionally have a secret desire to eat Nan-nan’s trifle.  Her trifle was made from Swiss roll cake, sliced and layered around the base of the bowl.  It was then topped with what we thought was a really good mixture of sweet sherry and fresh orange juice so you didn’t get knocked over by too much grog. No jelly or fruit, just a lot of  boiled custard and topped with whipped cream.

Now I like to create different types of trifles and this one was developed out of an idea I had to use all the poached peaches from the steam oven.  Everyone knows that peaches and amaretto work so well together so I am sure this will become a family favourite too.

Ingredients:  Serves 4

½ x 200g packet Amaretto biscuits, roughly crushed
2-3 poached peaches, skins removed and sliced
150ml thickened cream, whipped
Extra amaretto biscuits to garnish
2 tbsp. Peach Schnapps or alcohol of your choice

Custard:

3 egg yolks
150ml cream
150ml milk
1½ Tbsp castor sugar
½ vanilla bean, halved lengthways and seeds scraped out or use ½ tsp vanilla paste
2tsp cornflour

Method:

  1. For custard: heat milk, cream & vanilla pod together until hot.
  2. Beat egg yolks with sugar and cornflour until pale and fluffy.
  3. Pour milk over and whisk well to combine.  Scrape the vanilla seeds into the cream mixture and discard pod.  If using vanilla paste you can also add it now.
  4. Return to saucepan and stir over a medium heat until it just comes to the boil.  This will cook the flour.  Simmer for 1 minute stirring well.
  5. Pour into a glass jug to cool a little.
  6. Meanwhile crush amaretto biscuits slightly and place into base of 4 glasses.
  7. Drizzle with the alcohol of your choice, I used a peach schnapps.  Not too much, about 1tsp over biscuits in each glass on each layer of amaretto.
  8. Alternate with sliced chopped peaches, custard and more amaretto.
  9. Top with a large dollop of whipped cream and some extra peaches.
  10. Refrigerate until required.  Add the biscuit to garnish just prior to serving.

 

Posted in: Desserts, Dinner parties

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

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

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.

SAM_0450

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

Pomegranate duck breasts

December 25, 2013 4:10 pm / Leave a Comment /

Pomegranate duck breasts

I cooked this for the family for Christmas 2012 and it was a hit!  The pomegranate really cuts back the richness of the duck and it was fantastic with a good red.  This year I added fresh pomegranate seeds and it gave that great texture and ‘crunch’ as my brother said!

I served it on my soft polenta recipe here and our traditional ‘Christmas salad’.  It was a perfect Christmas lunch, elaborate and special without being too large a portion or too heavy.  The only problem with this dish is there aren’t any left overs!

Ingredients:  Serves 4

4 duck breasts, scored across the skin a few times
1tbsp sea salt
¼ tsp ground coriander
¼ tsp 5 spice mix
¼ tsp black pepper

Seeds from 1/2 fresh pomegranate to serve

Sauce:

1 cup orange juice
½ cup soft brown sugar
1tbsp honey
3 star anise
1tbsp pomegranate molasses

Method:

  1. For duck breasts – combine all the spices and seasoning and rub into breasts that have been scored through the skin across ways several times.  Set aside to reach room temperature.
  2. Mix all the sauce ingredients together except pomegranate molasses
  3. In a small saucepan cook for 10 minutes until reduced by half then add pomegranate molasses and set aside
  4. Put duck into a cold frypan on medium heat with skin side down.  This enables the fat to be rendered off.
  5. Turn after 5-10 minutes, the skin should be golden and crispy.
  6. Place in a 160ºC oven on Fan Forced for 8 minutes until still pink in the middle.  OR, combi oven on Combination mode 190°C + 30% moisture for 6 minutes.  Don’t overcook.
  7. Remove from oven and rest 10 minutes before slicing to serve.  You have to rest for this time otherwise it will be tough.
  8. Slice to serve and pour over sauce.
  9. Scatter with fresh pomegranate seeds to serve.

 

 

Posted in: Christmas cookery, Dinner parties, Gluten free, Main Courses

Salmon with fennel & garlic bean salad

August 16, 2013 8:27 pm / 3 Comments /

Salmon with fennel & garlic bean salad

I am not sure if it’s the fact that I am trying to eat well on the Healthy eating program or the fact that it has been brilliant, spring like weather that I have an urge to cook and eat this type of food.  It may have something to do with the fact that the dinner out last night didn’t live up to expectations, or that I didn’t post or cook last night.  I am surprised that the weather has inspired me to eat and cook like this – even on a Friday night!

My son may have inspired me to do this today when I got a message from him on the way back from a lovely walk in the sunshine.  He works nearby and will drop over after work for dinner sometimes which is lovely considering I had years when either or both of them were living overseas.  I am definitely in the summer eating mode already and I haven’t even arrived in New York yet.  Only a week to go until I will be eating all sorts of amazing things!

Enjoy this at any time of the year, with or without the fish or perhaps with a different type of fish as I have done a lot of salmon recently.  The beans soak up the garlic dressing to make this just perfect!

Ingredients:  Serves 4

2-4 pieces of Salmon or fish of your choice.  If you want to serve as a buffet salad then cook the salmon @ 100°C so it will ‘flake’ over the salad.

Salad:

1-2 bulbs of fennel, thinly sliced with a mandolin.  Include thinly sliced stalks and tops
2 tablespoons of tiny, salted capers rinsed and drained
1 can drained and rinsed cannellini beans
good handful of green beans, trimmed and steamed in steam oven @ 100C 2 min then refreshed in iced water
2 tablespoons chopped parsley
1 tablespoon chopped dill
1 small clove garlic, crushed
3 tablespoons lemon juice & rind grated
1 tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
salt and pepper

Method:

  1. Mix sliced fennel, parsley, lemon rind, washed capers and both beans in a large bowl
  2. Mix all other ingredients in a small jar, shake well.  Try to do this at least 10 minutes before so flavours will develop
  3. Stir most of the dressing into the fennel mixture and set aside.  About another 10 minutes, not any earlier.
  4. Steam the salmon or fish of your choice @ 95°C for 3-5 minutes depending on the size of the fillet and type of the fish.  This salmon pictured was 3 minutes and was perfectly cooked.
  5. Plate with salmon on the top and spoon over a little extra dressing.

Serve with crusty bread to wipe up the dressing 🙂

Note: If you have a large fennel and a lot of salad you will need to double the quantity of the dressing. 

 

 

 

Posted in: Dinner parties, Fish, Gluten free, Healthy eating, Main Courses, Salads, Steam Oven, Vegetarian

Pear, zucchini & pistachio nut salad

August 14, 2013 7:55 pm / Leave a Comment /

 

Pear, zuchinni & pistachio nut salad

I had a delicious salad like this at The Grounds in Alexandria in January this year.  Yes, it was summer then and I am not sure if they still have it on their menu but it brings a little bit of summer back to me whenever I make it – even in winter!  This recipe is my version.

It is fresh, light and delicious and works really well in a meal with some grilled or barbequed meat, fish or chicken.  It would be perfect served as an entrée.

I am going to cut the oil down in this recipe for the Healthy eating program this week so you can adjust this to your liking.  It does need the oil but I actually prefer to mix the dressing as is and drizzle with a little bit of extra virgin olive oil on serving.  It is best served at room temperature and can only be made immediately before serving.

Ingredients:  Serves 4 as an entrée

2 large zucchini washed and sliced lengthwise with a mandolin
1 large very green and crunchy pear sliced the same as zucchini
¼ cup roasted, shelled pistachio nuts, chopped
¼ cup chopped mint
¼ cup chopped parsley
handful of baby rocket
Juice 1 lemon
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp honey
salt and black pepper
100g Persian or good Danish fetta crumbled

Method:

  1. Slice the zucchini and pear into a large bowl.
  2. Mix the ingredients for the dressing.
  3. Place the sliced zucchini, pear, mint & parsley in a large bowl and toss with about half of the dressing.  Try not to break the lovely thin slices (you will need to split them up a bit as they will stick together)  Retain a little dressing for the top.  Add a touch more salt.
  4. Put the rocket onto the base of your serving plate.  Pile the salad mix as high as you can in the middle, layering with some nuts, pepper and a bit more dressing as you go.
  5. Top with crumbled fetta, extra black pepper and extra mint to garnish.  Pour over any remaining dressing and a little extra virgin olive oil.

This is a stunning dish!  Enjoy….

Posted in: Dinner parties, Entrees, Gluten free, Healthy eating, Party Food, Salads, Vegetarian

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

Steamed pears

August 3, 2013 4:17 pm / 2 Comments /

Steamed pears

I have done the Winter fruit salad here with pears in it but this time I just need some pears for a cake.  If your like me and don’t always anticipate when you need to buy your pears so they will be perfectly ripe to bake with then the steam oven is a life saver.  I need these to only be half-cooked to go on the cake before baking.  They cook really well in the steam oven and retain their shape so you don’t end up with a bowl of mush.

This is so quick and healthy with no added sugar.  Also great for baby too if they are cooked until soft and mashed.

There isn’t really a recipe.  Just peel and core the pears and pour over the juice of half to one orange.  You can also add some of the orange rind and a cinnamon stick if you like.

Cook @ 100°C for 10 minutes for very hard green pears.  Less if they are riper.  Test with a metal skewer and cook a bit longer if you think they need it or you are after softer fruit.

Posted in: Breakfast/Brunch, Cooking for baby, Desserts, Dinner parties, Steam Oven