Category Archives: 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

Lamb jus

June 3, 2016 11:36 am / 4 Comments /

SAMSUNG CAMERA PICTURES

I needed to make a lamb jus for a group combi steam oven cooking class this week.  See the review from Jen about the class here.  Instead of cooking it on the cooktop as I normally do I decided to utilise the fact that I had to roast the bones in the combi first so I may as well switch modes to steam and finish cooking my stock in there.

Soups and stocks are one thing that I haven’t done yet in the steam oven.  No reason, just haven’t got around to it.  I did buy a deeper stainless steel solid tray that I can use which will be perfect for this occasion.  Certainly an easy way to make a stock as you don’t have to be watching it on the cooktop and you can even leave it unattended (apart from having to refill the water container).  Check your manufacturers information to see how long your water container will last before it needs a refill.

Whilst the whole process took a long time it was worth it!

Ingredients:

2kg lamb bones & meat such as neck chops.  I also used two large veal osso bucco bones.
1 onion, sliced
1 carrot, sliced
1 stick celery, sliced
2 bay leaves
few black peppercorns
Water to cover
(Plus extra ingredients listed below)

Method:

  1. If you are using lamb chops then trim of any excess, visible fat.
  2. In a deep dish roast all the bones & chops in the combi on Fan forced @ 180°C for 30-45 minutes until well browned.  If you are using just bones then they should be well browned too.
  3. Add all other ingredients.  Don’t worry about removing the fat we will deal with that later. Just cover meat & vegetables with water and switch combi to steam only 100°C and cook for 3 hours.  Make sure that your dish isn’t too full as the steam oven will add more liquid over the cooking time.  This will actually dilute the stock a little so keep the liquid to a minimum.  Just covering the meat and vegetables is fine.  Interesting, but for some reason there didn’t appear to be any scum to skim off the top as you normally get when cooking a stock.
  4. Stain into a large bowl, cover and refrigerate overnight to let the fat rise to the top.  Remove. You should have a rich, jellied stock.
  5. Next day pour into a large saucepan add the following:-
    4 cloves garlic, sliced
    handful of fresh rosemary and thyme
    2 large ripe tomatoes, cut into chunks
    200ml good white wine
    1 tbsp orange marmalade
  6. Boil to reduce by half.  Season to taste with a dash of thick Malaysian ‘caramel’ soy sauce which will darken it up, sea salt and black pepper.
  7. Strain again and set aside to cool.

You should have a thick, delicious jus 🙂

Note:  If it is not thick enough then mix a slurry of 1 teaspoon of cornflour with a little water and stir in over the heat.  Bring to the boil to cook off the flour for one minute and it should bring it together.  Do not over-thicken otherwise you will have gravy…..

Posted in: Combi Steamer, Steam Oven, Stocks & Sauces

Little baby cheesecakes

April 21, 2016 2:05 pm / 10 Comments /

Little baby cheesecakes

I found this new baby cheesecake tin in my local kitchenware shop and had to try a quick and simple cheesecake version in my steam oven.  Pretty easy to produce a baked cheesecake in 15 minutes, the steam oven is excellent for this type of baking due to its low and even temperature.

You can basically use any biscuits you have on hand and add any flavourings you like.  I have gone for simple lemon, topped with toasted almonds.  They were really delicious served with my steamed pears here.  Stone fruits or fresh berries would also be great made into a little sauce.

Serve with a dollop of whipped cream.

Ingredients:  Makes 12 baby size or 8 regular muffin size

¾ cup crushed sweet biscuits.  I used Butternut snaps
50g butter melted
¼ tsp cinnamon

Filling:
125g full fat cream cheese at room temperature
125g smooth ricotta
1/3 cup castor sugar
¼ cup cream
2 eggs
rind ½ lemon
1 tbsp lemon juice
½ tsp baking powder
1 tbsp cornflour
¼ cup toasted, slivered almonds

Method:

  1. Brush tins all over with melted butter.  If your not using pans with removable bases then add little circles of baking paper.
  2. Combine biscuit crumbs, cinnamon & melted butter together.
  3. Press into bases and refrigerate while you prepare the filling.
  4. In a bowl or jug with a spout for pouring, beat together the room temperature cream cheese, ricotta, cream, sugar and lemon rind until smooth.
  5. Now all all the other ingredients and mix well.
  6. Pour carefully into tiny tins over the biscuit base.  If you are using the removable bases make sure you sit it in a solid steamer tray as the butter will escape.
  7. Cover with foil and steam baby size @ 100°C for 15 minutes.  Regular muffin tins will take 25 minutes but larger tins say another 10 minutes.
  8. Uncover and cool.  They will firm up and sink a little on cooling but should be just set.
  9. Chill until required.  I actually like the texture better at room temperature.

Top with a dollop of cream, toasted almonds and fruit in season.

Posted in: Desserts, Party Food, Steam Oven

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

In-home cooking classes!

March 3, 2016 8:03 pm / 7 Comments /

Don’t know how to use your oven?  Spent heaps of money on all those appliances but can’t even work out how to use the main oven let alone your steam oven or combi steam oven?

I am happy to announce that I am now offering in-home cooking classes in the Sydney metropolitan area!

I will come to your home  and give you an overview demonstration cooking class on how to use your products plus I will prepare you a delicious lunch using those appliances!

For more information please see my cooking classes page here.

In-home cooking classes

Posted in: Appliances, Combi Steamer, Cooking classes, Steam Oven, Traditional Ovens

Pearl barley risotto

November 24, 2015 4:22 pm / 2 Comments /

Barley risotto

I have been wanting to try cooking pearl barley in the steam oven for sometime.  Such an under-rated grain and sometimes passed off as only being for soups, pearl barley has had a revamp as one of the new, healthy grains suitable for all sorts of dishes.  Although it does contain gluten in its current form I believe that the CSIRO have developed a gluten free barley grain that is currently being grown and marketed for commercial sale.  Keep an eye out for this 🙂

Cooking pearl barley in the steam oven is similar to that of brown rice.  It needs washing and picking over and the same amount of liquid as brown rice for cooking (1 to 1.25).  So much easier to cook this all in one pan.  I chose the base of my Le Creuset flat casserole but any cooktop to oven dish that will fit into your steam oven will do.  Great for serving in and less washing up.

I have added fennel and roasted pumpkin to this risotto but play around and change the flavours to suit what you have on hand.  Cooking in the steam oven retained the shape and texture of the grain which is perfect for risotto or salads.  I served it with crumbled fetta which gave it that little extra flavour and another texture.  Would be excellent served under any fish for a more substantial main course.

Fantastic the next day as a salad served at room temperature with rocket, quartered freshly cooked beetroot, goats cheese and a drizzle of good quality extra virgin olive oil.

Ingredients:  Serves 6

1½ cups pearl barley, washed
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1 small or ½ large fennel, thinly sliced
splash white wine (optional)
2 cups chicken or vegetable stock
pinch sea salt & ground black pepper
½ small butternut pumpkin, roasted prior
handful of fresh parsley or dill chopped
fetta cheese to serve

Method:

  1. Roast pumpkin, cubed with a splash of olive oil @ 200°C Fan forced for 15-20 minutes until browned.  Set aside.
  2. If your using your combi oven open it to cool down while you prepare the rest of the dish.
  3. In a deep, flat pan that will fit into the steam oven saute the onion & garlic in a splash of olive oil.
  4. Add drained pearl barley and very thinly sliced fennel and stir until coated with the oil and onion mixture.
  5. Add a splash of white wine and let it bubble away the alcohol for a couple of minutes.
  6. Add the stock.  It should just cover the vegetables and barley and cook @ 100°C steam for 40 minutes, stirring after 30 minutes.
  7. Remove from steam oven, taste for seasoning (I needed a pinch of salt even though I used commercial stock for this).
  8. Add the roast pumpkin, herbs and seasoning and stir well.
  9. Cover pan with lid and let it rest for 5 minutes.  This will warm the pumpkin through.
  10. Serve with crumbled fetta cheese if desired.
Posted in: Combi Steamer, Healthy eating, Main Courses, Steam Oven, Vegetarian

Homemade yoghurt from the steam oven

July 12, 2015 10:08 pm / 6 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

Mexican beef short-ribs

July 6, 2015 1:54 pm / 3 Comments /

Mexican beef short-ribs

This is Neil Perry’s recipe which hit the top 2013 list here. The difference is that I have converted it to cook in the steam or combi oven.  Neil firstly boiled the short ribs for over an hour in a pot on the stove, changing the water twice then baked them in the oven for about an hour and a half so that the meat was falling off the bone. No need for all that messing around with a steam oven.  You can steam them instead of simmering (no need to bring to boil, replace water and wash up another pot) and then either cook them in the combi with extra moisture if you want a thinner sauce or if you only have a steam oven, bake them covered in a conventional oven.  Only one dish to wash up and preparation time is less.

Ingredients:  Serves 4

1 kg beef short ribs (ask the butcher for the thick, meaty end)
2 tbsp olive oil
1 long green chilli, seeds removed, finely chopped
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
large pinch sea salt
freshly ground white pepper
1 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp ground chilli powder
1 tsp ground coriander
1/2 tsp ground all-spice
400g tinned tomatoes, chopped
1-2 tbsp pickled jalapeño chillies, chopped
1 tbsp brown sugar
1 tbsp red wine vinegar
350ml chicken stock (I have reduced it, use more for a thinner sauce)
juice of 1 fresh lime
1 bunch coriander, leaves picked

Method

  1. Start this preparation a day ahead if possible.
  2. Place the ribs in the solid steamer tray.  Steam @ 95°C for one hour.
  3. Drain and set aside to cool.
  4. While they are cooking make the sauce:
  5. Heat the olive oil in a deep frypan that will fit into your oven or combi.
  6. Add the green chilli, garlic and spices and saute for 1 minute until fragrant.
  7. Now add all the other ingredients except the lime and coriander.
  8. Return the cooled ribs to the sauce and marinade overnight if possible.  Neil didn’t do this but it’s bound to give the ribs more flavour 🙂
  9. Next day cook in the combi oven on Combination mode 160°C + 30% steam, uncovered for 2 hours.  Stir and turn occasionally.  If you don’t have a combi then cook, covered in a conventional oven at 150°C.   I wanted a thick sauce that stuck to the ribs so I cooked mine, covered in a conventional oven for 3 hours.  They were delicious and the meat was falling off the bone.
  10. To serve stir in the lime juice and sprinkle with fresh coriander.
Posted in: Combi Steamer, Main Courses, Mexican, Party Food, Steam Oven