Or, what to cook in your combi steam oven, May 8-14, 2023
Welcome to the latest Steam Oven Meal Plan!
New to this blog series? Check out the first Steam Oven Meal Plan for notes about how I do my meal planning and cooking, or just dive in and add this week’s ingredients to your shopping list.
I use my steam oven every day, but I also like to share other recipes I’m cooking, from all around the web. This is the closest you’ll get to being in my kitchen in person.
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A steam oven meal plan for in between weather
We seem to be, once again, experiencing a strange kind of in-between weather here. One day brings glorious Autumn sunshine and temperatures warm enough that we still want salads; the next is freezing, windy and wet so I want to slow cook all the things.
This week’s meal plan is a reflection of the indecisive weather; wherever you are I hope it’ll fit neatly into your in-between season too.
Happy cooking, see you here again soon.
Monday
If I think about it, I really do cook this slow cooked lamb shoulder a lot. I’m not sorry though. It’s tender and melting and shreddable, and does duty for all manner of meals.
In this week’s case I’m going to serve it with roasted sweet potato, toasted almonds, yoghurt and dates. An odd combination, maybe, but I have all of those ingredients hanging around and I like the earthy/nutty/sour/sweet combination with the fatty lamb meat.
Slightly cheating on my days here, but we’re also going to have Deb’s chocolate chunk cookies for dessert tonight (and lunchboxes for the next day or two afterwards). Cheating because I made the dough ahead of time and have it scooped into cookie-sized balls ready to bake straight from the freezer. If you don’t already do this, you should! Double your next batch of cookies and freeze half, and you’ll feel all smug when you can bake and eat warm cookies in about 20 minutes.
Tuesday
Continuing on with the Smitten Kitchen goodness, tonight we’re trying out Deb’s bean and vegetable burritos.
I’m not sure how these will go down with the kids. They tend to love things wrapped in tortillas but I’m not sure straight up vegetable filling will win them over. Fingers crossed.
Wednesday
I have recipe testing plans for work today, but am not sure if they’ll come out great or so-so. Because of that, I’m also making a large batch of Indian meatballs for dinner. If recipe testing goes amazingly well I’ll just freeze them all for another meal. But if it doesn’t, I’ll have these standing by ready to heat and serve at dinner time.
Thursday
I’ve long been a fan of cooking a batch of sous vide chicken and freezing for later. But I never season the chicken before I cook it because it can make the meat texture a little weird (to me). I really want to overcome this problem, though. Having cooked chicken to hand is helpful, but pre-seasoned or sauced, ready to simply heat and serve? That’s a game changer.
I’ll be running my usual sous vide chicken breast recipe, but I’m going to add a miso and ginger paste before cooking, and some sliced scallions. I’ll serve with steamed rice and greens for a simple Asian-themed dinner (plus hot chili sauce for adults). I’ll be bagging the chicken, which I don’t always do, because I want it to be self contained so I can freeze on of the bags and test out how it tastes after cooking, freezing and reheating. Stay tuned for results in a future meal plan!
Friday
Remember Monday’s slow cooked lamb? The frozen leftovers are going to get new life as a pie filling! I’ll make up a quick gravy and mix in cooked potato and carrot chunks. The recipe below for turkey pot pies is a guide to how I’ll assemble and top my pies, for sky high flaky layers of pastry.
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Weekend
So, this weekend it’s my birthday and Aussie Mothers Day! That means no enforced cooking for me. We’ll eat freezer meals if we need something, but I’m also hoping to be spoilt with meals out and maybe a picnic with my boys. Wish me luck. 😉
I have yet to reheat one from frozen, but when I do I’ll be trying it using combi steam at about 85C, on a low (20%?) steam setting. I’m hoping that will strike the balance between defrosting the middle and not drying out the tortilla. If I think it needs it I’ll switch to a higher heat once the middle is thawed. Hope that helps!
If we make the burritos and freeze them, how would you suggest reheating them from frozen?
Hello Emily. I have found your blog and emails so helpful after purchasing my steam oven. I would really love you to post something on cooking dumplings, both fresh and frozen. I’m really unsure on cooking times, but excited to do them in the steam oven, as I can only fit 6 in my bamboo steamer.