When life get busy, it’s easy to reach for convenience foods that aren’t so good for us but there’s a groundswell of passionate home cooks who are finding new ways with steam.

Steam oven cooking can save time on food preparation and produce nutritious dishes so tasty even the fussiest teenager wants to devour them.

According to Fiona Workman, a Nutritionist at Sydney’s Nature Care College, not only does steaming help food taste better, it is also better for you. Steam is one of the best cooking methods for retaining flavour, colour and nutrients.

“Cooking is a form of pre-digestion, softening the fibre, and making it more palatable, tastier and easier to digest. Steaming enables cooking at lower temperatures, limiting the destruction of vitamins and minerals.”

In recent years, a trend has emerged where home cooks are replacing the microwave in their kitchen with a steam oven. And it is not just for steaming vegetables or fish.

Cooks who have embraced steaming are turning out great-tasting and family friendly dishes for breakfast, lunch, dinner and even some sweet treats.

The ultimate poached eggs for family brunch

Family cook Martine AhHeng looks forward to Sunday brunch as a relaxing time when the family can reconnect. By steaming poached eggs, Martine is super relaxed, present and part of the conversation from the start.

This is a stark difference to poaching eggs the traditional way, which separates the cook from the conversation.

“It’s so easy. I simply place eight eggs into the Miele Steam Oven at 75 degrees for 17 minutes and walk away. The result is a perfect, runny, yummy poached egg, and no containers to wash up,” Martine says.

“After steaming, you’ll never poach or boil eggs using a saucepan again.”

Superior taste with less effort

When it comes to more substantial dishes, steam ovens are being used to produce great tasting main courses that have the family wanting for more, such as Martine’s lasagne.

“You’ll never bake another lasagne after steaming one,” she says. “Steaming lasagne, or any other pasta bake, is absolutely delicious. The pasta becomes plump, absorbing the ultimate amount of moisture, and the whole dish never dries out.

“I have a Miele Steam Combination Oven. Firstly, I steam the lasagne and then brown it on top using the grill. It’s perfect and so easy as it’s a pre-programmed function. All I have to do is push one button.”

Foodie and working mother of two teenagers, Antonia Maganas, has wowed her family with her steamed seafood risotto.

“It is so easy and tasty. I just set it up with all the ingredients in a container, push a button on my Miele steam oven and just walk away. “There’s no stirring and no risk of burning,” Antonia said.

Greta Fullagar, a Miele Culinary Expert at Miele and mother of three hungry teenagers, says the beauty of steam is that it’s almost impossible to burn or overcook a meal.

“Biryani is another set and forget dish. If you prepare it on the stove-top and become distracted, it’s easy to burn the bottom of the saucepan,” Greta says.

Achieve restaurant quality

Greta uses her Miele Steam Oven to cook beautifully tender, restaurant quality steaks that are made to order. Her secret is to steam the steak first, on low heat (55 degrees) for two hours, or overnight on a lower heat. Then pat it dry before searing it in a hot pan or BBQ to give it colour.

“If I buy the meat in bulk, I steam it first and put it in the freezer. Then it’s pre-prepared for when we have a barbeque.”

Other mouth-watering dishes are Greta’s slow cooked ribs and confit duck.

“I love to cook meat slowly, overnight in a marinade on low heat, so it just melts in your mouth. Both these functions are programmed into my steam oven,” Greta says.

But the star of her steaming hot dishes is a side of salmon that her family insists she cooks every Christmas. And it’s unbelievably easy, just 65 degrees for 10 minutes.

Enjoy peace of mind and the many nutritional and flavour benefits of steam cooking with Miele’s 30 day money back guarantee when you purchase any Miele steam oven.
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