Miele steam oven butternut rissoto

I was invited to watch a cookery demonstration at the Miele showroom in London by the lovely TV chef Silvana Franco. Silvana was using the steam oven and prepared a number of dishes that were suitable for children (and weaning babies).

The beauty of the steam oven is that you keep much more of the nutrients in the food. The other thing that surprised me was that there seems to be no transference of tastes in the foods cooked together in the steamer, so you can cook your main meal and dessert at the same time, cutting down on time spent in the kitchen. Always a winner for me!

Here is a recipe for butternut risotto. Steamed risotto is so simple to make. Simply put all the ingredients together, cover and then steam. Remember that children under the age of 5 need more fat in their diets than adults, so don't worry about using butter and cheese. The guide below is for cooking in a steam oven, but you can adjust the timing for a regular oven.

Butternut risotto recipe (Serves 4 young children)

Ingredients

• 350mml hot low-salt vegetable stock
• 2 tsp Sundried tomato paste
• 250g diced butternut squash
• 2 garlic cloves, chopped
• 100g risotto rice
• Small knob of unsalted butter
• 2 tbsp freshly grated Parmesan
• Bunch of flat leaf parsley, roughly chopped

Instructions

• Stir together the hot stock and sun dried tomato paste
• Place the squash, garlic and rice in a large heatproof dish. Pour over the hot stock. Cover with cling film and steam at 100ºc for 30 minutes until the rice and squash are tender and the liquid has been absorbed.
• Remove the cling film and then, using a fork, roughly mash the squash into the risotto.
• Stir in the butter, cheese and parsley then serve.
• * This should be blended for young babies.