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Hello!
We are about to hit my favorite cooking month of the entire year, and the time where my steam oven gets an even bigger workout than normal.
Given you are my Insiders, I thought perhaps you’d enjoy an inside look at the Christmas menu for my own table this year. I get my best ideas from looking at other people’s menus and I hope the same will be true for you!
Christmas day will be a smaller affair than we usually have. We’re staying home, and we aren’t hosting, so we can do whatever we want! I’m not sure that’s ever happened, so I’m taking full advantage and keeping things delicious but very low-key. I’ve let the kids choose most of the foods we’ll be eating, provided they’re simple or can be made ahead of time.
I hope there’s a dish or two you can take away from this, whether you’re also feeding a small number or you need ideas to add to a huge feast.
Dessert first, because it’s also your new Insiders recipe for today! This year I’m serving a steamed gingerbread pudding with butterscotch sauce. After a couple of very successful test runs, I can safely say this ticks all the boxes for simple, make-ahead-and-reheat, and widely appealing. I know I’ll see a lot of you adding it to your own menus.
See below for the rest of the plan, and happy December cooking! See you in a couple of weeks with some last minute Christmas food ideas.
Emily x
PS I love alllll the traditional Christmas foods, and I’ve published plenty of my own steam oven versions over the years. I’ll still be making some of those recipes this year and enjoying them with loved ones through the holiday period – perhaps you will be too?! If you’re new-ish around here, you can find all the good Christmas stuff in my recipe index.
My Christmas Day Menu
Breakfast/brunch
(I know, not really part of ‘the meal’, but fun to share)
Ham and cheese croissants. These are a staple Christmas morning thing here. I buy very good croissants from a local bakery and fill them with leg ham and Swiss cheese. Then they take a spin on Combi Steam, 350°F/180°C, 50% (med) humidity until the cheese is melted. If I can be bothered I’ll make a bechamel sauce and chill it the day before, and smear a little of that into the croissants with the other fillings.
Very nice fruit. By this I mean all the best summer fruits, which will be in full season here by Christmas: mangoes, peaches, cherries and berries, and kiwi fruit for my big kid who loves them. I arrange everything on my biggest platter, ready for grazing throughout the morning. If you’re working with winter fruit, I recommend lots of beautiful citrus and perhaps some poached or stewed fruit – poached dried apricots and peaches are lovely and bring a little taste of summer to the table.
Charcuterie board. We’ll get fancy salami, prosciutto and leg ham from the Italian deli nearby, and perhaps some of their olives and pickled vegetables. The kids far prefer this to a large hot ham or a turkey, and it’s much easier for a small group.
Late lunch/dinner
(we’re planning just one rolling feast all afternoon long; it’s more fun for everyone)
Mini quiche. I have one kid who, every time I ask him to suggest something for a meal, just asks for mini quiche. He’s generally a picky eater but I can put almost anything into these and he’ll happily inhale them. We’ll make a big batch together in the week before Christmas, then freeze and reheat when we feel like eating them on the day.
Steamed green veg with soft cheese and chilli. Ok, the kids didn’t pick this one! But the adults here like vegetables, and this is such a great low-fuss dish that looks beautiful and is lovely served at room temperature.
Roasted salmon with lemon and burnt butter. This has something for everyone, with luxurious butter sauce and roasted potatoes alongside perfectly cooked salmon. It’s fancy enough for Christmas and I can prep it at my leisure early in the day.
Gingerbread pudding with butterscotch sauce. Today’s new recipe for you, and a new dessert for our table. I previewed this at home last week after a couple of test versions, and it was a huge hit.
But that’s not all for dessert – you didn’t think we could get away with a single dessert when three kids are involved in menu selection, did you?! I’m also making sous vide cheesecake AND ice cream sandwiches And yes, I know that 5 people cannot possibly eat that much dessert in a single meal. But everyone wanted to choose something, and it’s Christmas so I’m letting them! They’ll all keep for leftovers, and there are many days after Christmas when we’ll need to eat too.
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*Details of the ice cream sandwiches: we’ll use Smitten Kitchen’s salted chocolate chunk cookies (my all-time favorite chocolate chip cookie, hands down), and dulce de leche gelato from the excellent Gelato Messina, which finally arrived in my city this year.
New to Cook: Steamed Gingerbread Pudding with Butterscotch Sauce
This sticky and soft gingerbread steamed pudding is simple to make and fills the house with warm, Christmassy aromas reminiscent of cookies! Served with a rich, glossy butterscotch sauce, it’s a fantastic festive season dessert that pleases young and old alike.
If you want to get prepared ahead of time, the pudding and sauce can both be made up to 3 days before you need them. Chill the cooked gingerbread pudding in its pudding bowl or baking pan, and just reheat using steam when it’s time to serve.
A Thing I'm Loving
Australia’s most beloved food blogger, Nagi Maehashi, has released not one but two books over the past year, and they are fabulous no matter what part of the world you live in.
I bought Dinner when it was first published and it’s become a go-to in my kitchen, especially for Nagi’s quick, Asian-inspired noodle and rice dishes. My eldest son is working his way through learning to make a couple of his favorites, which makes me very happy.
Nagi’s new book, Tonight, hit my shelf a few weeks ago and it’s every bit as good as her first. I highly recommend either book as a Christmas gift for just about any cook in your life.
*the above are affiliate links; if you make a purchase I receive a small commission at no cost to you. If you prefer (I do!), ask your local independent bookstore if they carry these titles and support a small business instead.
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 emily@steamandbake.com. Make sure you include the phrase INSIDERS AMA in the subject line so I can collate and read all your submissions.
From Sarah
Q: Does cooking a glazed ham on the bone in a combi steam oven produce a better result than in a conventional oven? If yes, do you have a recipe or can suggest oven settings and timing?
Also I’ll have a glazed leg ham and turkey on Christmas Day (yes, I know – a bit overboard!). Do you have any tips about juggling timing between the two, assuming I’m using the combi steam oven to cook both? For example, should I cook the ham the day before and then just carve and reheat slices on Christmas Day to free up the CSO for the turkey? Any other time-saving or prep-in-advance tips would be great. Thank you!
A: I love combi steam glazed ham – I think it produces a more even result than a conventional oven, by which I mean the texture of the meat is juicy and similar throughout, rather than the edges tending to dryness. I also find that the glaze retains moisture better and doesn’t burn so quickly. There is a full glazed ham recipe in my Steam Oven Christmas cookbook, but if you don’t have that, you can use any glaze you like and the following settings: Combi Steam, 340°F/170°C, 50% (medium) humidity. I baste every 15-20 minutes, and an 11lb (5kg) ham takes around an hour to heat all the way through.
As far as your oven-juggling goes, I think I’d keep things very simple and either serve the ham cold (cooked the day before and chilled – I actually prefer ham thinly sliced and cold, if I’m honest!), or, as you mentioned, reheat a plate of carved ham. Save the oven for the turkey on the day, and any other sides you’re going to cook.
From Bronwen
Q: Please can you tell me how to sous vide cranberries for sauce, without the vacuum bag?
Do they need to be covered?
A: Sous vide makes great cranberry sauce, but yes, I do like to cover it if it’s not in a vacuum bag. You can use any flavorings you like (think cinnamon, orange zest or juice, clove) but even if you just go for a basic cranberries, sugar and water version it’s so superior to a bought sauce.
At its most basic, here’s what to do: put 12oz (340g) cranberries (frozen and thawed is fine) into a baking dish or stainless steel tray. Add a cup of sugar and about a quarter cup of water and give everything a quick stir. Cover the dish with aluminum foil (you could go uncovered, but I like the control of not having any additional liquid dripping into my sauce). Put it in your steam oven and set to 190°F/88°C, and cook for an hour. That’s it! I like to grab a potato masher and squash the berries when they’re done cooking, but that’s completely up to you. Because cranberries are high in pectin, the sauce should set well when it cools down. It’ll be a thick chunky texture when warmed. You can store the sauce in the fridge for about a week, or in the freezer for months.
