Category Archives: Steam Oven

Time to make the Christmas pudding!

November 4, 2018 6:45 pm / 7 Comments /

making-pudding

As the festive season fast approaches now is the perfect time to make the Christmas pudding!

Number one on Google for cooking in the steam oven for several years this recipe has become a firm favourite in my family.  Moist and delicious, it will easily serve 12-15.  There are many comments over the years for cooking instructions to make smaller puddings as well.  See the recipe here.  There is also a gluten free, quick sago pudding option here as well.

So if you didn’t make this pudding in your steam oven last year then try it now.  So much easier than watching a pot on the stove in case it boils dry, cooking it in the steam oven for six hours only means you have to refill the water container a few times which frees you up to do other things with your day!

Christmas pudding

Posted in: Christmas cookery, Desserts, Steam Oven

Roasted carrot & chicken salad

July 8, 2018 9:40 am / Leave a Comment /

This is one of those salads that you could just live on!

A perfect one-dish lunch, dinner or picnic dish that you can effortlessly cook in the combi all in the same pan.  Less mess, washing up and really only three stages.  Another fantastic thing about the combi is that you can be doing other things while these elements are cooking.  You don’t have to be worrying about forgetting what is on the stove, it burning or boiling dry.

Another one of my salads that will become a favourite, remember to use other things in it that you may have on hand or something you need to eat up in the fridge.

Ingredients:  Serves 4-6

3 large carrots, peeled and cut into julienne sticks
1 cup freekah, washed thoroughly
1¼ cups chicken or vegetable stock
1 large chicken breast, trimmed and cut open on thick side
¼ cup currants
bunch of fresh asparagus, cut into thirds
handful of fresh parsley and coriander, chopped
Juice and rind of one lemon
Salt and pepper to taste
Sunflower kernels, nuts or seeds of choice to sprinkle

Method:

  1. Line a sold tray with baking paper, toss carrots in a little olive oil and roast in combi @ 200°C for approximately 20 minutes until soft.
  2. Slide out of tray onto a rack to cool.
  3. Now add the drained grains to the same tray, cover with stock and cook on 100°C steam only for 20 minutes.
  4. In the last two minutes, open the steam oven and add the asparagus.  Close the door to cook.
  5. Remove from steam oven, stir through the lemon zest and juice and scrape into a serving bowl.
  6. Reset the steam oven at a lower temperature to cook the chicken breast here. Slice on the angle when cool and set aside.  Don’t overcook, it is easier to add another minute if need be.
  7. Combine all the ingredients together, toss well and add fresh herbs and currants.
  8. Sprinkle with seeds and serve.
Posted in: Chicken, Combi Steamer, Gluten free, Healthy eating, Salads, Steam Oven

Spicy silken tofu

June 23, 2018 8:02 pm / Leave a Comment /

There seem to be lots of soy-tofu recipes around but it’s something I haven’t done before in the steam oven.  Remember the benefit of buying a quality steam oven is that you can have accurate control over the temperature.  Yes, I guess I could put this in at full 100 percent steam but I like to heat it slowly like a custard almost, giving it adequate time to heat evenly before you drench it in the delicious sauce.

You can adjust the sauce to taste but love it or hate it, tofu does need some flavour so this packs a punch 🙂

Ingredients:

1 block silken or soft tofu, removed from packet and drained
1 tablespoon peanut or vegetable oil
1 large clove garlic, crushed
a small knob of ginger, grated
2 tablespoons of soy
1 tablespoon of miso
1-2 tablespoons of water
pinch dried chilli flakes (optional)
¼ tsp sesame oil
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp white sesame seeds
Fresh coriander to garnish

Method:

Place drained tofu on baking paper in the perforated steamer tray.

  1. Heat the oil on medium heat, add the garlic and ginger and stir well being careful not to burn it.
  2. Add the chilli flakes if using then all the other ingredients
  3. Remove from heat and stir well until you have a smooth consistency, taste to balance flavours.
  4. Steam the tofu at 90°C for 8 minutes.
  5. Remove from steam oven and put onto a warm serving plate.  You can warm the plate in the steam oven while the tofu is heating.
  6. Heat the sauce again until hot and pour over tofu to serve.
  7. Cut into cubes and garnish with fresh coriander.  You could also top with chopped green onions which would be delicious too.

Serve as part of a shared meal.

 

 

 

Posted in: Japanese, Main Courses, Side dishes, Steam Oven

Rocket risotto

June 3, 2018 3:34 pm / 4 Comments /

I made this rocket pesto the other day and thought that I would extend its use to a  risotto with all those fabulous green vegetables that you can achieve in the steam oven.  Remember, they not only look better cooked in the steam oven but taste better too as all the nutrients are retained.

Use whatever vegetables you have on hand.  It would also be delicious with a very thinly sliced chicken breast added.  Just add in the last few minutes of cooking so the chicken is melt in the mouth tender, stir it through at the end of cooking, rest for a few minutes and taste for seasoning for best results.

Ingredients:  Serves 4

Rocket pesto:
1 cup tightly packed rocket leaves, washed
2 cloves garlic, crushed
¼ cup toasted, peeled pistachio nuts
¼ cup grated parmesan cheese
pinch salt
¼-½ cup Olive oil
pinch salt

Risotto

1 cup arborio rice
2 cups vegetable or chicken stock
1 medium onion, diced
1 zucchini, sliced diagonally
1 handful sugar snap or snow peas
½ cup frozen peas
Salt and pepper and shaved parmesan to finish

Method:

  1. For the pesto: blend rocket, nuts & garlic in a food processor until finely chopped.
  2. Add the Olive oil in a thin stream with the motor running until incorporated.
  3. Now add the parmesan cheese and season to taste.  I think it needs a pinch of salt and some black pepper.
  4. Heat a frypan that can go into the steam oven with a dash of olive oil.
  5. Saute the chopped onion and garlic until softened over medium heat.
  6. Add the rice and stir well to coat with the mixture.
  7. Now add the stock, stir well and place into the steam oven.
  8. Cook @ 100°C steam for 17 minutes.
  9. Open the oven, add half the pesto and all the vegetables, stir well and cook for another 2 minutes.  Add the thinly sliced chicken breast if you are using it with the vegetables too, it will also only take 2 minutes if sliced thinly and I think the chicken does need a sprinkle of salt.
  10. Taste and season if necessary.  Some black pepper would work.
  11. Serve with extra grated parmesan and crusty bread.

(Note:  You only use half the pesto in this recipe, keep the remainder in a sealed jar in the fridge for up to two weeks.  Flatten the top in the jar and pour over a little extra olive oil to retain the colour and keep it fresh)

Posted in: Gluten free, Main Courses, Steam Oven, Vegetarian

Thai pumpkin soup

May 28, 2018 1:37 pm / Leave a Comment /

I said last year that I wanted to do some more soups and now that it has become chilly in Sydney after a long, hot summer it is a good time to test a soup using the combi oven.

Roasting your vegetables first is a great way to get more flavour and in this version cook your curry paste at the same time.  If you don’t have a combi then saute the vegetables in a splash of oil and the curry paste over a low heat and then transfer to the steam oven to finish the cooking.  You do need to cook out the curry paste.

This is a recipe that you can adapt and play around with yourself.  You might like to roast the vegetables in the first stage a lot longer to give them some colour and try it without the curry paste or use the spices from my Spicy pumpkin soup here.

Whatever option you choose remember to use the one deep dish for the roasting and steaming the soup so that all the flavours you have in the base of the pan will go into your soup, making it even more delicious 🙂

Ingredients:  Serves 6-8

½ Butternut pumpkin, chopped into chunks
½ large Kumera, chopped
4 cloves garlic
knob ginger, sliced
1-2 tablespoons of Red Curry Paste
1 Pandan leaf, split and tied in a knot (optional but nice)
1 leek sliced and washed well OR 1 onion chopped roughly and added with roasting stage.
3 cups chicken or vegetable stock
1 cup water
1 cup coconut milk
Fresh coriander leaves to garnish

Method:

  1. Chop all the vegetables except the leek if using into similar size chunks.
  2. Put into a deep steam oven tray or deep large container that will hold over one litre.
  3. Add the curry paste & pandan leaf if using to the centre, cover with the vegetables and cook on Combination mode 180°C plus 90% steam for 30 minutes.
  4. Carefully remove dish from the oven and add the stock, water and leek if using.
  5. Return and change to steam oven mode and cook 100°C for 30 minutes, stirring 10 minutes or so into the cooking time.  This will break up the curry paste now that it has been cooked and remove all the yummy bits from the bottom of the pan.
  6. Test that everything is soft and remove from the steam oven.
  7. Set aside to cool.  Add the coconut milk if using and puree until smooth.
  8. Check for seasoning.  If you have used commercial stock the flavour should be OK otherwise season with fish sauce and a little brown sugar for that true Thai taste.
  9. Garnish with fresh coriander to serve.  Yum 🙂
Posted in: Combi Steamer, Soups, Steam Oven, Thai

Teriyaki salmon

July 7, 2017 4:35 pm / 8 Comments /

After our server was recently migrated I lost this last post, so here it is again in case you missed it.

Want perfectly crispy skin salmon without overcooking the salmon in the process?

Then try this method of marinading the salmon for a few minutes, steaming it and finishing it off in a pan if you don’t have a combi oven.  A great way to utilise the steam oven away from the traditional thinking that ‘steaming’ is always wet, pale food.  It is an excellent appliance for pre-cooking food that will save time plus retain the nutrients and flavours.

The results were excellent, quicker than cooking in the pan alone and with more accurate results the flesh was slightly pink in the centre which is the way we like to eat our salmon but with crispy skin which was slightly caramalised from the sugar in the sauce.  Exactly what you want with a decent teriyaki sauce.

I have utilised the pan for cooking some eggplant as well.  Apart from having an extra pan to wash up with this recipe it was all delicious!

Ingredients:  Serves 2

Teriyaki Sauce:  (This makes enough to put in a jar for other meals)

1/3 cup Mirin
½ cup soy (remember to use GF option)
2 tsp rice vinegar
½ tsp sesame oil
¼ cup castor sugar
3 cloves garlic, crushed
1 tbsp grated ginger
2 small pieces salmon, skin on
½ eggplant
dash of peanut oil

Steam oven rice here to serve and steamed green vegetables here.

Method:

  1. For the Teriyaki sauce, mix all ingredients into a screw top jar. Shake then open and stir until sugar dissolves.  Set aside.
  2. Check the salmon for any bones, wipe over with kitchen paper and place into the solid, perforated tray which has been lined with baking paper. Spoon over a little of the Teriyaki sauce to marinade the fish while you are waiting for the rice to cook.
  3. Now, wash your rice and follow the instructions on cooking
  4. Place into steam oven and set timer for 100°C for 17 minutes. Set another timer somewhere else to alert you in the last couple of minutes of this cooking time.
  5. Slice eggplant and salt to remove any bitter juices. Rinse off and pat dry.  Cut slices into quarters.
  6. Heat a non-stick frypan with a dash of peanut oil. Add eggplant and stir fry until golden and almost cooked through.
  7. When you have 1½ minutes remaining on the rice, open the steam oven and add the salmon and green vegetables. They can either be in a separate tray or just placed on top of the rice.  Close the door, depending on your steam oven the appliance hopefully will reheat again to 100°C.
  8. Remove the salmon, add skin side down to medium-hot pan with the eggplant pushed away to the sides. Now add 2 tablespoons of the Teriyaki sauce, let the skin fry a little then turn it over.  Don’t have the pan too hot or it will burn.  Cook for exactly 2 minutes in total.  Cooking times will depend on the size of your fish.

Remove and serve with the rice, steamed vegetables and drizzle over the sauce that has collected in the baking paper from the salmon.  You will have extra Teriyaki sauce if you wish to use that too.

 

Posted in: Fish, Gluten free, Japanese, Main Courses, Steam Oven

Sous vide wagyu with wasabi dipping sauce

January 19, 2017 9:09 am / 6 Comments /

Sous vide wagyu with wasabi dipping sauce

I had a great In-home cooking class with a lovely lady in Milsons Point who gave me a gift of two beautiful wagyu steaks.  I put them in my freezer before Christmas but had in mind what I wanted to do with them.  They weighed 320g and were already vac packed.  Perfect for sous vide as no need to even bag them up again.  They were quite thin so I reduced the cooking time from my previous sous vide attempt here.

Perfectly cooked to medium rare the sous vide method is definitely the way to go with good quality cuts of meat.  Apart from a very quick searing of one minute on each side in a smoking hot pan or BBQ you don’t have to worry that you are overcooking it; something that can easily happen, especially on the BBQ or with thinner cuts of meat.  Cooking at such a low temperature will allow the fat marbelling to melt away.

Try this, the sauce is amazing.  You can adjust the amount of wasabi to suit your tastes but start with these quantities unless you have a real issue with spicy food.  Remember to taste as you go.  Great with a green salad (also even better dipped in the sauce!) and a bowl of steamed rice here.

Ingredients:  Serves 2

2 x Wagyu beef steaks as above
2 bowls of pre-cooked steam oven rice
Cucumber and mixed salad to serve

Dipping sauce:
1-2 tsp wasabi (from the tube)
1 garlic clove, crushed
1 tablespoon sweet chilli sauce
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 tablespoon lime juice
2 tsp rice vinegar
2 tsp Canola oil
Spring onions

Method:

  1. For dipping sauce mix all ingredients together in a small bowl except oil & spring onions.
  2. Whisk in oil to emulsify.  Set aside.
  3. Bring steaks to room temperature in bag, about 15 minutes from the refrigerator should be enough.
  4. Place steaks, in unopened plastic bag in perforated steam oven tray and cook @ 56ºC for 30 minutes for thin steaks of 320g.  If your steak is thicker you will need to adjust the time.
  5. Preheat a non-stick frypan or BBQ until smoking hot.  Add a dash of olive oil just before you are ready to sear them.
  6. Cook for ONLY 1 minute on each side, sprinkle with a little sea salt and remove to a plate to rest while you reheat your rice in the steam oven for 4 minutes @ 100ºC.

Serve with warm steamed rice, dipping sauce and a fresh green salad.  Yum!

 

 

Posted in: Cooking classes, Japanese, Main Courses, Rice, Sauces & custards, Steam Oven

Buckwheat salad with horseradish dressing

November 13, 2016 10:59 am / 1 Comment /

Buckwheat salad with horseradish dressing

Need to lose those extra kilograms that have ‘sneaked’ up on you over Winter?  Then the steam oven is fantastic for this.  Honestly, I use it everyday for all sorts of grains and ingredients to create delicious, light and healthy salads and basically, fat free cooking.  Yes, healthy because you are not adding fat or salt to most things but most importantly because the nutrients are retained, giving everything natural flavours and tastes.

I really appreciate and use my steam oven even more in the Spring and Summer.  It is great to be able to cook multiple levels all at once without heating up the kitchen and without being bogged down with heaps of saucepans to wash!  Look at my ‘Salad’ catagory on the right hand side of the home page and you will see why I love the steam oven so much 🙂

In this recipe you can substitute other vegetables you may have on hand.  The dressing really lifts the overall flavour which is needed for buckwheat.  For a more substantial meal try it with some steamed fish on top, another drizzle of dressing and some crunchy bread.

Ingredients:  Serves 4

1 cup buckwheat, washed
1¼ cups vegetable stock
1 bunch baby broccoli, stems cut into thirds and halved lenghwise
½ pomegranate, seeds removed
½ bulb fennel, thinly sliced
large handful of parsley, roughly chopped
Grated rind 1 lemon plus 1-2 tbsp lemon juice (extra)

Dressing:  3 tbsp Extra virgin olive oil
2 tbsp lemon juice
heaped tbsp horseradish cream or freshly grated to taste
pinch sea salt & pepper

Method:

  1. Place washed buckwheat and stock into the solid steam oven tray.
  2. Cook @ 100°C steam for 20 minutes.
    While the buckwheat is cooking open the steam oven and add the baby broccoli in the small perforated tray and cook for 1-2 minutes depending on the size.  There is no need to adjust the cooking time of the buckwheat, just add the vegetables in the last couple of minutes.
  3. Remove baby broccoli and plunge into iced water.
  4. Stir the lemon rind and extra juice into the buckwheat and set aside to cool.
  5. Finely slice fennel on a mandolin into a large serving bowl & tap over pomegranate to remove seeds.  Remove any pith that may fall out.
  6. Mix together all other ingredients into the salad and add dressing before serving.
  7. For dressing:  Mix all ingredients into a small jar and shake well.

 

 

 

 

Posted in: Gluten free, Healthy eating, Salads, Steam Oven

Healthy stuffed mushrooms & buckwheat

October 27, 2016 10:56 am / Leave a Comment /

Healthy stuffed mushrooms

After over indulging in France I now find myself desperately trying to lose not only the extra weight I have gained from our recent trip but the weight that I didn’t lose from last year!

Bring on the Sirtfood diet.  Now in the middle of week three it is going well.  It is basically a Mediterranean diet which highlights a group of ‘sirt foods’ which have added health benefits.

The steam oven has been fabulous.  Such a great appliance for healthy cooking as it really does highlight the flavours of the food by retaining all the nutrients.  I have been adapting some of the recipes from the book to the steam oven which I may post later but in the meantime this is a quick and healthy mushroom dish I have cooked in the combi oven.  If you only have a conventional oven you could try cooking them with a little water in the base of the pan under the mushrooms.

This is the first time I have cooked buckwheat grains in the steam oven.  A vast improvement I have to say!  Delicious cooked in vegetable stock but you will need to add a pinch of sea salt if you are using your own, home made stock.

Ingredients:  Serves 2

6 large Field or Portabello mushrooms, wiped, stalks removed and chopped
1 tbsp Extra virgin olive oil
2 large cloves garlic, crushed
1 red birds eye chilli, seeded & chopped finely
3 spring onions, finely sliced
2 large handfuls of green kale, thinly sliced
Chopped walnuts
Grated good quality Parmesan cheese
Buckwheat to serve:
½ cup buckwheat, washed
¾ cup vegetable stock
pinch salt if using home made stock

Method:

  1. Place the buckwheat and stock into the solid tray and steam @ 100°C for 20 minutes.
  2. Remove from steam oven, wipe out cavity to prepare to turn to combi mode and set aside.
  3. Line the solid tray with baking paper.  Remove the stems of the mushrooms and lay the whole mushrooms on the paper.  Chop the mushroom stalks finely.
  4. Heat the oil in a heavy based pan and saute the spring onions, garlic, mushroom stalks and chilli.  Reduce the heat and cook for 5 minutes until soft.
  5. Increase the heat a little, add the kale and stir well.  Cover pan and cook for another few minutes until just cooked but still a great colour with a little bite.
  6. Brush the base of the mushrooms with a little olive oil.
  7. Spoon the filling into the mushroom cavities pressing down the kale.  Sprinkle with chopped walnuts and the finely grated parmesan cheese.
  8. Bake in the combi oven on Combination mode @ 180°C + 30% steam for 15-20 minutes depending on the size of your mushrooms.

Serve with the buckwheat on the side for a delicious sirt dinner 🙂

Posted in: Combi Steamer, Gluten free, Healthy eating, Steam Oven, Vegetarian / Tagged: , , ,

Little chocolate puddings

August 28, 2016 9:45 am / 9 Comments /

Little chocolate puddings

These little puddings are perfect in the steam oven as the mixture ends up making a delicious chocolate custard under the pudding.  We all know that the steam oven is great for delicate things like custard and everyone loves a little surprise in their pudding!

Quick and easy to make if you have all the separate elements ready to go at the last moment.  I would suggest only cooking this in individual dishes that can be filled almost to the top as the mixture will drop a little when removed from the oven.  *If you want to stretch it to 5 puddings then use one cup of milk for the custard.

This is a really old recipe that I cooked when I was a teenager, altered of course for today’s tastes and converted to cook in the steam oven for you all to enjoy 🙂

Ingredients:  Serves 4*

1 heaped tbsp soft butter
½ cup castor sugar
2 eggs, separated
1 very heaped tbsp good quality cocoa.  I used ‘Josephine’s’ but any good brand is OK.
1 heaped tbsp self-raising flour
Pinch salt
2 level tbsp desiccated coconut
¾ cup milk
Grated dark 70% dark chocolate to serve

Method:

  1. Grease 4 x ¾ cup ramekins or small pudding basins well and set aside.
  2. Mix the softened butter into the sugar, set aside.
  3. Separate eggs, place whites into a separate bowl.
  4. Sift cocoa, flour and salt together into a medium size bowl with a pouring lip or jug.  Add coconut and set aside.
  5. Just before you are ready to cook, whip egg whites until soft peaks form.
  6. Fold egg yolks into sugar mixture, mix well.
  7. Slowly fold in milk mixing well.
  8. Stir in flour mixture, gently fold in beaten egg whites and pour into greased dishes.
  9. Place into the solid steamer tray, group together and cover with one piece of baking paper that should be wide enough to be tucked down the sides of the containers.
  10. Steam @ 100°C for 15 minutes.
  11. Uncover, top with grated dark chocolate and serve with pouring cream. Yum!
Posted in: Desserts, Dinner parties, Steam Oven