Mini brioche

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

Mini brioche

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

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

Serves 6

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

Method:

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

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

Beetroot & white bean soup

July 29, 2016 10:06 am / 5 Comments /

Beetroot & white bean soup

Except for a stock here I haven’t done any soups in the steam oven yet.  I had this idea to cook a roast beetroot soup, thinking that roasting the beetroot in their skins gives a more intense flavour until I realised that it would be a waste of time as steaming retains all the nutrients and flavour anyway.

So why is it that I haven’t cooked soups in here before?  I guess I didn’t have a deep enough solid steam oven tray until I purchased one and also I was concerned about the difficulty of moving a deep pan of liquid in and out.  In fact I shouldn’t have worried about either of these things.  Yes, I did buy a deeper pan but to be honest you could use any oven proof container you own that will fit into your steam oven and secondly, although you have to be careful of not tilting the dish full of soup it isn’t that difficult to maneuver you just have to be careful to keep it level.  It certainly was great not having to worry about the soup reducing or catching on the bottom of a pot and washing up one shallow container was a breeze.

I also liked that the finished soup was exactly as I made it, no need to add any water as the extra liquid generated by the steam oven was enough.  Perfect in fact, the soup was delicious, quick, with no extra salt (except what was in the packaged stock) and easy to make.  A delicious, well balanced soup that everyone will enjoy.  Serve with a dollop of Greek yoghurt and chopped fresh dill to garnish.

Ingredients:  Serves 6-8

600g fresh beetroot, peeled and thinly sliced (I used 2 large)
1 large leek, thinly sliced up to the top leaves
2-3 carrots, sliced
2-4 cloves garlic, crushed
1 large knob ginger, grated
1 tsp ground cumin
1 litre good vegetable stock
1 x 400g tin white butter beans, drained
Greek yoghurt and fresh dill to serve

Method:

  1. Place all ingredients, except butter beans in a deep, solid steamer tray or pot that will hold 3.5 Litres of liquid and place on the bottom shelf of the steam oven.
  2. Cook at 100°C steam only for 35 minutes.
  3. Open the door and stir half-way through the cooking time.
  4. Add drained butter beans and cook another 15 minutes.
  5. Cool slightly and process in a blender or food processor until smooth.
  6. Taste for seasoning.  If you used packaged stock you won’t need to season it at all.
  7. Serve with a dollop of Greek yoghurt and a sprinkle of freshly chopped dill.
Posted in: Gluten free, Soups, Steam Oven, Vegetarian

Gluten free orange & almond cake

June 27, 2016 9:37 am / Leave a Comment /

SAMSUNG CAMERA PICTURES

Always on the look out for gluten free cake recipes, my gluten free friends say this is the best cake ever!

Taste your orange puree once cooked.  You must use Navel oranges that have thinner pith.  If the oranges are not very sweet or the pith is too thick then you will have a bitter cake.  I thought my oranges were really bitter and I added another half a cup of sugar.  The cake was perfect, not too sweet but still that ‘tart’ taste you want in this type of cake.  When I cooked it again my oranges were OK but I still added ¼ cup extra sugar and it was perfect, not too sweet.

More of a ‘dessert cake’ it was light, fluffy and was delicious served covered in whipped cream and chopped, toasted pistachio nuts and a few edible rose petals.  The perfect cake to serve after a Middle Eastern lunch.

Ingredients:

480g Navel oranges (I used 3 small ones) or 1½ large
6 x 70g eggs, beaten
220g castor sugar plus ¼-½ cup (see note above)
250g almond meal
1 tsp baking powder

Method:

  1. Boil whole oranges covered in water for ½ hour.  Drain and replace water.  If you are using large oranges you will have to cook two whole.  I ended up with a little over 500g.
  2. Boil oranges for another 1 hour.  Drain and set aside to cool to room temperature.  You can do this the day before.
  3. Puree in food processor and set aside.
  4. Beat eggs and sugar together until pale and creamy with an electric mixer until they reach the ‘ribbon’ stage (at least 10 minutes)
  5. Fold through oranges, baking powder and almond meal gently trying not to beat the mixture too much but ‘folding’ it to keep the eggs aerated.
  6. Grease and line a large 23cm springform tin. Go to the trouble of lining the sides of the tin as well, extending about 5cm above the tin.  It is a large cake, you may need this extra height to hold the mixture in the tin.
  7. Bake for 55-60 minutes on Cake Plus in Miele combi with the fan cover in place or on Fan Forced @ 160°C.  I found I had a more even cake when I cooked it with the fan cover on as this does restrict the fan a little and is usually removed when baking cakes.
  8. Test with a skewer.  Mine took 60 minutes.  It is a very moist cake but the skewer should come out clean.
  9. Allow the cake to cool upright in the pan. Do not attempt to turn out. When cool, remove the sides of the tin and the baking paper.  Move onto a cake plate and cover with whipped cream and nuts.

This is a big cake that will easily serve 12-14 (less for all the seconds that everyone will want!).

Posted in: Baking, Cakes and Biscuits, Desserts, Gluten free

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

Passionfruit souffle

May 22, 2016 4:59 pm / 1 Comment /

Passionfruit souffle

This has to be my favourite, easiest and most fool-proof soufflé.  It is always delicious, you can make it ahead of time up to beating the egg whites and it is also the perfect soufflé recipe to test your oven!  I mention that because you need a very even and accurate thermostat to cook a soufflé perfectly and you also need a Conventional, not Fan forced oven that won’t ‘blow’ the soufflé around.

This picture was taken at an in-home cooking class I did in Kim’s beautiful kitchen in Mosman.  You can see that the soufflés are well risen and evenly browned.  We actually cooked them in her combination oven and microwave.  She was very happy, we had a very successful class where she learnt to use her new appliances.  See my page here about how you can have a cooking class with me in your own home in Sydney too where you can also read Kim’s feedback.

Ingredients:  Serves 5 large or 8 small ramekins

3 egg yolks.  I use 70-80g eggs
5 tbsp castor sugar
5 Passionfruit (you need 4tbsp of passionfruit liquid)
5 egg whites (at room temp)

Method:

  1. Strain the pips from the passionfruit and set aside liquid, see note above.
  2. Beat egg yolks with 3 tbsp castor sugar until pale and thick.
  3. Grease 5 soufflé dishes with melted butter.
  4. Preheat oven to Conventional 200°C with baking tray in place.
  5. Whisk the 5 egg whites in a large, clean, dry bowl with a pinch of table or cooking salt until half beaten (this can be done with an electric mixer but not a food processor)
  6. Continue beating by hand adding the remaining sugar slowly and beat until stiff peaks form.
  7. Fold passionfruit liquid into egg yolk mixture and carefully fold in half the egg whites then the remaining.
  8. Spoon into prepared dishes and bake on a hot tray for 10 minutes.

Sprinkle with icing sugar to serve.  Delicious with whipped cream served on the side.

Hint:  Serve on folded napkins on plates to take to the table.  The napkin will keep the souffle warm on the plate to protect it from dropping.

Posted in: Cooking classes, Desserts

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 6 small 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.  Larger muffin tins may take up to twice the cooking time.
  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

Caramalised onion & goats cheese quiche

March 29, 2016 11:21 am / Leave a Comment /

Caramalised onion and goats cheese quiche

As my daughter said “it’s been ages since we had a decent quiche!”.

Not something I cook a lot, I guess it is not on the low fat radar and still considered a bit of a treat in our house.  There is nothing like a decent quiche with delicious, short pastry and a melt in the mouth filling.

This one was particularly delicious for Easter with a side salad.

Ingredients:

Pastry:
250g plain flour
125g butter
60ml iced water

Filling:
5 large onions, sliced thinly
Olive oil
6 eggs
½ cup cream
pinch salt
115g soft goats cheese or goats curd
fresh thyme leaves

Ingredients:

  1. For the caramalised onion, heat olive oil in a large, heavy based, non-stick frypan and saute onions.  Start on a medium heat until they start to break down and then drop to a lower temperature.  Cook until they turn a light, golden brown and all the sugars are released from the onions.  This can take up to an hour and a half.  Stir frequently so they don’t catch on the base of the pan.  This can be done up to two days before and stored in a covered container in the fridge.
  2. For the pastry, blend the flour with the cold, cubed butter in a food processor until the flour looks like breadcrumbs.  With the motor running add the cold water through the feed tube until the dough just starts to come together.  You may need a couple of teaspoons more water.  Remove from the processor and knead lightly together.   The dough should be soft but not sticky and just come together.  Wrap dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least an hour.
  3. To assemble the quiche:  Roll out the pastry thinly.  This quantity made 2 x 35x10mm rectangle tins or one large round quiche.
  4. Line the pastry with baking paper and rice or baking weights.  Bake on Fan forced @ 160°C for 15 minutes.  Remove paper and weights and return to the oven for about another 10 minutes until the pastry is cooked, lightly browned and shrinking from the edges of the tin.
  5. In a large jug whisk the eggs, cream and seasonings together.  Spread the cold, caramalised onion onto the pastry base.  Add a reasonable amount, you don’t have to use it all but make sure there is enough for a generous layer.  Pour over the egg mixture, break the goats cheese evenly over the top, sprinkle with thyme leaves and bake Fan forced @ 160°C until the filling is set, about 15-20 minutes.  If you have one deeper quiche use Conventional oven without the fan as it is a more gentle heat.

Slice into generous pieces and serve warm with a side salad.

Posted in: Baking, Dinner parties, Easter, Eggs, Party Food, Pastry, Traditional Ovens, Vegetarian