The Steam Oven Meal Plan for real people #15

Or, what to cook in your combi steam oven, June 26-July 2, 2023

Welcome to my Steam Oven Meal Plan for this week!

Are you new to steam oven meal planning, or meal planning in general? Head over to my first Steam Oven Meal Plan for notes about how I do my planning and cooking, or just dive in and add this week’s recipes and ingredients to your shopping list.

You can find all my previous weekly meal plans over on the meal planning index page.

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A steam oven meal plan of tried and tested favorites

My Steam Oven Insiders membership is alive and kicking, and I’ve got a lot of ‘work cooking’ to do this week so I can create some fabulous new recipes for all the members who’ve already joined! I’m keeping things at home simple but interesting, with meals that are tried and tested favorites. Some I’ll twist slightly for different flavor variations, but overall these are dishes I know and return to repeatedly for either ease or popularity.

I hope this week’s meal plan will give you plenty of your own steam oven cooking ideas. Follow my lead and serve the same dishes, or cherry-pick the ones which appeal the most to make your own weekly meal plan.

Happy cooking, see you here again soon.

Monday

I’m making Monday’s slow cooked pork with watermelon salad on Sunday because the pork needs to spend the whole day in the oven. But it’ll do us for a couple of meals so it’s worth it. If you want to do the same, freeze the cooked meat, well wrapped, for another time.

Although I usually make muffins or a cake for lunchboxes, everyone’s a bit bored so this week we’re changing things up with my all-time favorite chocolate chunk cookies. I double the batch (always), scooping all the mixture and freezing about two thirds, raw, to bake straight from frozen next time we want fresh cookies. I cannot recommend it enough, apart from the fact you may end up baking those frozen cookie balls much sooner than you anticipated or needed!

Slow Cooked Sous Vide Pork Belly with Watermelon Salad

Don't let the sous vide part of the title throw you off here. Even if you've never cooked anything sous vide before, this is an approachable and simple way to give it a try, and the fabulous meat is well worth the slow cook time.

Check out this recipe

Smitten Kitchen’s Salted Chocolate Chunk Cookies

If you know of a better chocolate chip cookie recipe than this, I want to hear about it. I am yet to find one, and have returned to Deb's recipe countless times over the years.

Check out this recipe

Tuesday

Roast chicken as per my tandoori roast chicken recipe, except today I’m using a bought butter chicken paste from the supermarket. We’ll skip the potatoes and flatbreads in favor of steamed rice and a bright, fresh salad made with roughly chopped cucumbers, sliced red chili, rice wine vinegar, oil and poppy seeds. I know the poppy seeds sound weird but they give such a great textural hit. Thinly sliced red onion is a good optional extra in the salad.

30 Minute Steam Oven Tandoori Roast Chicken

Use this method and twist the flavors you rub onto the chicken for an endless variety of 'interesting chicken' dinners. Make up your own spice rub or go even easier with a bought curry paste or dry spice blend.

Check out this recipe

tandoori roasted butterflied chicken with roast potatoes, flatbread and yoghurt

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Wednesday

I love miso fish but the kids aren’t always sold on it. I’m going to follow the same method but with a mediterranean twist for something different. Cherry tomatoes, zucchini, olive oil, a little sliced onion and parsley. I’ll cook pasta to go on the side for the kids, too. That way even if they don’t love the fish they’ll be enticed to eat it. Because everything served with pasta suddenly becomes more appealing, ha.

Miso Fish Parcels with Ginger Dressing

Another 'make it your own way' meal; I love the miso ginger dressing but you could use any seasonings that go with fish! Make it Mediterranean style like I'm doing, go Southeast Asian with soy and sesame, or try a Middle Eastern spice blend for something different again.

Check out this recipe

A speckled plate with steamed fish and vegetables on a grey linen teatowel

Thursday

I bought a heap of mushrooms and one of my favorite ways to use them up is in an upside down tart. To make it more exciting for the people in my house who think a vegetable tart is not a ‘real’ dinner, I’ll add bacon and a fried egg as options. It’s kind of like a fancy cooked breakfast, but for dinner.

Leek and Mushroom Tart

A silky and soft vegetable filling hides under flaky puff pastry, ready to be turned out as a kind of magic trick just before serving. This is a lovely light lunch but it also makes a fantastic dinner if you add a little more protein.

Check out this recipe

Friday

I made a big batch of meatballs a couple of weeks ago, and froze some to make meatball subs. They’ll just need to be warmed before stuffing into (bought) crusty bread rolls. Cheese on top and a quick turn under a broiler/grill to make them oozy and fun and very Friday night worthy.

Oven Baked Meatballs with Tomato Sauce

Although meatballs and pasta is the classic combination, we frequently eat these in other ways too. Meatball subs are very popular, or sometimes I'll thin the sauce, adding tiny pasta shapes and more vegetables, turning it into meatball soup.

Check out this recipe

Close up of a serving bowl with saucy spaghetti and meatballs garnished with herbs with grated cheese in the background.

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Weekend

My most recent Costco run saw me buy not one, but two whole large pumpkins. I couldn’t help myself, they were so cheap and looked so lovely! The weekend is going to be about how to use them up in ways my family will actually want to eat.

I’ll roast a lot of the pumpkin in big wedges, turning some into a warm pumpkin salad and some into puree for the freezer.

I’m also going to make spiced pumpkin cupcakes for next week’s lunchboxes. I’ll skip the nuts to make them school-suitable.

On Sunday I’ll serve up some of the roasted pumpkin alongside slow roasted lamb, and hummus if I have time to make it.

Red Rice, Quinoa and Pumpkin Salad

An oldie but a goodie, this recipe is earthy and filling and bright all at the same time.

Check out this recipe

white bowl with red rice quinoa salad on a speckled counter top with a child's hand in the frame

Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes with Brown Butter Cream Cheese Frosting

These aren't the quickest cakes to make, but it's a whole lot faster if you already have pureed pumpkin (store bought or, better, homemade). And they are worth every minute in the kitchen for the toasty brown butter and spice aromas (and flavors!) that'll fill your kitchen.

Check out this recipe

A close up of cupcakes in golden foil cases on a wire rack

Slow Cooked Lamb

Takes minutes to get into the oven, does its own thing in there for several unattended hours, and gives you the softest, 'shreddiest' delicious meat at the end of it. This is a forever staple here.

Check out this recipe

Creamy Hummus

Cook your own chickpeas or use canned; either way this hummus will be swiped onto veggie sticks, crackers and dinner plates until every last bit is gone and you have to make another batch.

Check out this recipe