Or, what to cook in your combi steam oven, April 17-23, 2023
Welcome to this week’s Steam Oven Meal Plan for real people!
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A steam oven meal plan for the school holidays
It’s the middle weekend of a two-week term break as I write this, and my kids appear to have eaten EVERYTHING in the house. Although I’ve cooked every day, and baked a couple of times, and shopped (multiple times, sigh), there’s just nothing left. That’s growing boy-children for you.
Anyway, the above means this week is more-than-usually about meals which can be designed to include leftovers, and filling snacks.
Happy cooking, see you here again soon.
Monday
Muffins are first up this week. I need to fill those hungry bellies at a moment’s notice, and these can be frozen after baking, ready to thaw on the counter for morning tea in the coming days. They can also be defrosted quickly in the microwave for hunger emergencies.
I’ve got a serving of Asian style braised beef ribs in the freezer for dinner. They’ll be thawed using my steam oven’s defrost setting and reheated after that. Usually I serve them with steamed rice and greens, but we’ve got fresh egg noodles in the fridge so I’ll use those.
Tuesday
I spied Yossy Arefi’s one-pan chicken with honey and miso in the New York Times newsletter a couple of days ago, and it jumped straight onto my meal plan. Arefi has written the recipe for broiling, but it’ll adapt very simply for steam ovens. I’ll make it exactly as written, but preheat my oven to 400F/200C, combi steam setting (40% steam if you have variable humidity) for cooking. Start the chicken off for 12 minutes, then add the asparagus (broccolini in my case, as asparagus season is gone here) and cook for a further 8-10 minutes. Double the recipe like I will be, if you want leftovers for lunch tomorrow.
Wednesday
It’s highly likely Monday’s oatmeal muffins will already be gone, so we’ll do a one-bowl cake that my toddler can help with if he wants. The kids will eat almost any cake with raspberries baked in; this one, also studded with chocolate, is no exception.
It’s my eldest kid’s birthday and he’s requested takeout burgers, so that’s dinner tonight.
Thursday
Tonight’s dinner is an abomination of Tex-Mex and Italian, and I am not sorry. I’ve got steam oven chili in the freezer, and dried pasta in the pantry. I know I could (and often do) make tacos or burritos with the chili, but my kids (all kids?!) LOVE pasta. So, mexipasta. It’s a thing.
Friday
I’ve got some recipe testing to do for my upcoming cookbook, so I’m going to do a sheet pan shrimp (again, because I have not been able to nail it despite three earlier attempts!). Given I’m not sure who’ll eat the shrimp, I’ve also go plans for twice baked potatoes. If they don’t get eaten, no problem, they’ll keep for the weekend.
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Weekend
There’s lots going on over the weekend, so I’m putting together Moroccan chickpea and couscous salad, which will be there to grab for whoever’s home, whenever they’re hungry.
I also need to bake for company, and I haven’t made a fruit crumble for ages. The weather has turned suddenly cooler here, so it’s perfect to make while there’s still a little stone fruit around but the heat of summer is gone.
2 Responses
Ah, yes, I forgot they don’t show everything for free over on NYT! I am a paid subscriber, but I seem to recall that they give you a certain number of free articles per month – not sure if this is the case any more but it would be worth looking at. I can’t share the exact recipe due to copyright laws (and ethics re fellow recipe creators!), but I often find that Googling the writer’s name and the recipe ingredients may net you a version of the recipe elsewhere. Failing that, ‘miso honey chicken marinade’ in a search will get you to something approaching Arefi’s ingredient list. Pop it onto 4-6 large chicken thighs and marinate in the fridge for a half hour, then cook per my adaptation above. I hope that helps.
I’m interested in your adaptation of the NYT recipe, but I don’t subscribe and it keeps bouncing me out, demanding that I subscribe in order to see the recipe? Any help?