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Hello!
I’ve had a few of you ask about steam oven risotto, so that’s what we’re going to cover in today’s new recipe. Although I have a (verrrry old) post with a risotto recipe on the website, the recipe below is how I’ve since evolved to cooking risotto in my steam oven, and I want you to discover how wonderful it is too!
In what is definitely not the smoothest segue I’ve ever made, pumpkin (squash) risotto leads us to…pumpkin for Thanksgiving? And then on to Christmas. Yes, it’s that time of year again already, where I’m trying to narrow down my always-long list of festive foods to share with you. If you have festive season questions, or favorite recipes you would love to see converted for steam oven cooking, now’s the time to send those to me! I’ve got lists of Thanksgiving and Christmas topics literally pinned above my desk, and I’m happy to cover whatever is most requested or relevant to you in a couple of future Insiders issues!
Happy steam oven cooking, see you at the end of the month.
Emily x
New to Cook
Butternut Squash and Sage Steamed Risotto
Tender roasted squash, crispy fried sage and plenty of parmesan cheese make this risotto luxurious and well worth cooking. So does the fact that steamed risotto requires almost no stirring and still has the most amazing creamy texture. But the real secret weapon here is a thing called acid butter.
Instead of frying onions and reducing wine while you start off your risotto, you do those little jobs ahead of time, turning them into a compound butter that’s packed with depth and flavor, and which lives in your freezer until the busy future evening you decide you want amazing risotto with minimal effort.
The Season Flip
Shall we stick with rice dinners and pumpkin? I think so!
Southern Hemisphere
No pumpkin here, just savory delicious rice with a big umami hit. This can be a side dish to other Asian style foods, but we most often eat it with a fried egg and lightly pickled veg on top, for a very easy weeknight meal.
Northern Hemisphere
Because a great number of you are headed into pumpkin season in the Northern part of the world, and a proportion of that great number will be needing pumpkin puree for fall and festive baking, can I recommend you try roasting (and pureeing) your own pumpkin? It’s so easy, inexpensive and you get the most amazing flavor out of it that you can never find in canned pumpkin.
A Thing I'm Loving
It is a secret to nobody how much I love a good cookbook, and I have a beauty for you! The wonderful Malaysian-born, Aussie-raised and English-dwelling Helen Goh has released her first solo book, after previously publishing a couple of brilliant titles with Yotam Ottolenghi. Baking and the Meaning of Life contains some of the most inspired baking recipes I’ve seen (including lots of great savory bakes!), and is filled with the loveliest interweaving of Helen’s other area of expertise, psychology. Maybe it sounds like a weird combination, but the meaning behind cooking, especially baking, for others, is so close to my heart and I just love the way she’s explored the topics together. Easily my top 5 for cookbooks this year (try the cinnamon donut bread made with potato dough; the chili crisp cheese biscuits and the hojichi shortbread for starters).
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 will do my best to answer as many as possible. Though I may not be able to get to every single question, I will carefully curate ones which are relevant and represent a variety of topics. 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 Denise
Q: Can you remind me how and when to use a perforated pan.
A: This is a question I actually get quite a lot! I’m not sure I have a great answer for you, either, if I’m honest.
I use the perforated pans that came with my steam ovens for steaming vegetables, so they don’t have too much water pooling in the pan during cooking. And occasionally I’ll line one with baking paper/silicone paper to reheat a pastry or something else that I want to not get soggy on the base. But that’s about it. If I were deciding on accessories to include with steam ovens, I’d get rid of the perforated pans and provide additional solid pans instead!