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Hello!
Today we’re talking potatoes; specifically, smashed potatoes. If you follow viral food trends* you’ll know that smashed roasted potatoes have been all the rage for a while, and it’s easy to see why. Part regular roasted potato, part chip, they’re all about craggy edges and crispy bits.
Smashed potatoes are easy to do in your steam oven – you won’t have to boil and drain the potatoes because you can just steam them, then switch your oven to convection cooking and finish them off!
Rarely one to be satisfied with the status quo, though, I didn’t stop at smashing and roasting my potatoes. Instead, I give you my version of another viral social media hit, smashed potato salad. It is exactly what it says on the box: smashed potatoes and potato salad all tossed into one glorious bowl of year-round side dish appeal. It is firmly on my list of top 5 recipes at the moment, and it’s already appeared at numerous backyard barbecues and picnics. Sometimes those trending recipes trend for a reason!
There’s even more potato love in From the Archives, and a couple of excellent in-between-seasons dishes in the Season Flip below.
Happy steam oven cooking, see you in October.
Emily x
*I know. Not everyone gets into food trends like a kid at an all-you-can-eat dessert bar. But oh, the internet food-universe rabbit-holes I go down in the name of work research! In other viral trends, I’m yet to work out how to make Dubai chocolate in the steam oven. You’ll be first to know here if I manage it. 😉
Smashed Potato Salad
This recipe takes its cue from the viral smashed potato salads that have been all over social media for the past year, but it makes the most of your combi steam oven for foolproof texture. Steaming the potatoes until they’re soft, then squashing and crisping them up, gives you the foundation for a salad that’s hearty, flavorful and very hard to stop eating.
From the Archives
An ode to steamed potatoes was in the very first Insiders newsletter I ever wrote, and it’s still a good one! It came complete with a gorgeous recipe for Bombay potatoes that are a regular vegetarian meal in my house.
Hasselback potatoes got a steam oven spin a while back too. I love them with their ruffled tops and soft undersides.
The Season Flip
We’re in a weird kind of in-between cooking period at the moment. For most of us the weather is changeable and unpredictable as the seasons turn, and we need food that can swing happily to cool or warm temperatures depending on the day. These two fit the bill perfectly.
Southern Hemisphere
The proper name for this dish is Kale and Ricotta Pasta, but in my house it’s just green pasta. If you have a veggie garden overloaded with the last of the winter veg and the beginnings of spring greens, you can substitute almost any other kind of cooked and blitzed green for the kale, with excellent results.
Northern Hemisphere
A year-round favorite of mine (if not my kids’; they are horrified by the very idea!), mushrooms stuffed with hummus and loaded with toasty chickpeas is filling and flavor packed, but not heavy.
Ask Me Anything (AMA)
Here’s your opportunity to ask me anything you like related to combi steam cooking!
I really encourage you to submit questions, and I do my best to answer as many as possible. Sometimes I’ll answer you directly in an email and other times, if it’s a question that’s relevant to others as well, I’ll post the answer here, in an Insiders journal email. We all learn from each other, and I often learn new things based on questions from all of you!
If you have an AMA question, please email it to [email protected]. Make sure you include the phrase INSIDERS AMA in the subject line so I can collate and read all your submissions.
From Andy
Q: Do you ever start cooking sous vide in the steam oven, and then finish on the grill outside? I’ve done steaks and pork chops, but I’d like some other ideas or new techniques. In particular, I want to cook duck, and thought it would be good to cook it and render a lot of the fat sous vide, and then crisp the skin on the rotisserie on the grill. Any suggestions?
A: Yes, I do this frequently! Mostly with steaks or chicken pieces. Duck would work well too, although you may not render out as much of the fat as you’d like at sous vide temperatures (it depends on the cut you use and the recipe/temp/timing).
My rule of thumb with finishing sous vide proteins is to chill them thoroughly and have the grill absolutely screaming hot before I put the meat on. In the time it takes to brown and caramelize the outside, the meat is generally hot through but doesn’t cook much further. Again, this can be dependent on what you’re grilling – my preference is to do smaller cuts like a duck breast, as you won’t run into temperature and food safety issues.