This week I concentrate on what I call the wet methods of cooking – steaming, poaching and cooking by absorption, of which the paella and risotto are the best examples.

No special equipment is required, although naturally there is much specialist equipment on offer, from electric steamers to couscoussières. All you need is a large saucepan for poaching and steaming, and for the rice dishes, a much shallower pan to encourage faster absorption.

You do not even need a steamer basket. One of the best steamed dishes I ever had was a piece of fish, seasoned with oriental aromatics, placed in a soup plate, over a saucepan of boiling water, covered with foil and steamed in its own juices.

However, if you are likely to use it a lot, a fish kettle is worth buying, as is a large saucepan with steamer insert, or a simple collapsible steamer basket, which will fit most sizes of saucepan.

Fish particularly lends itself to these gentler techniques, as meat lends itself to hot and fast cooking. One does not have to cook fish to tenderise it, but simply to set the protein, thus making it palatable. (Yes, I know, raw fish is also palatable. More on that in my next column.)

Shellfish, too, is good steamed, both molluscs like mussels and clams, and prawns and other crustacea.

Eggs too should be considered for poaching and boiling. Poached eggs are at the heart of some delightfully sophisticated dishes like eggs Florentine (on a bed of spinach and masked with hollandaise sauce), Benedict (on a toasted muffin, between a slice of ham and a blanket of hollandaise) and Arlington, with smoked salmon replacing the ham.

Suitable vegetables for steaming include asparagus, broccoli, beans, bean sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, chard, Chinese cabbage and all the oriental brassicas, as well as courgettes, kohl rabi, peas, sea kale, spinach and spring greens. And it really is best, even though some of the green vegetables lose some of their brightness, to steam them, to avoid all the flavour and vitamins leaching into the water if you boil them.

Generally, I prefer not to tamper with classic dishes, but the mussel recipe, it will be very evident, is based on moules marinière, and a very good version it is too, served either with grilled polenta slices or cornbread. The dish is best cooked à la minute, with the freshest mussels you can buy. And clams can be given the same treatment.

Chilli mussels with cornbread

(Serves 4 as a starter, 2 as main course)

2kg mussels, well-scrubbed and rinsed
Freshly ground black pepper
4 spring onions, trimmed, rinsed and finely sliced
1 tbsp fresh coriander, chopped
1 or 2 red or green chillies, split, seeded and finely sliced – use more or less, to taste
3 or 4 pieces dried tomato, soaked and cut into narrow strips
Glass of dry white wine, cider or beer, about 200ml
2 or 4 sticks of cornbread or
2 or 4 slices pre-cooked polenta
Extra virgin olive oil – optional

As the mussels cook so quickly, first bake the cornbread or heat it through. If using the polenta instead, heat the grill or a well-seasoned frying pan and sear it on both sides until hot all the way through.

Discard any mussels that remain open after scrubbing and rinsing – they are dead. Put the rest in a large lidded saucepan with the flavourings and liquid and cover with the lid. Cook the mussels until they open, shaking the pan for the heat to reach all the mussels. This should take about five minutes.

Put the cornbread or polenta in large soup plates with a splash or two of olive oil if using it and ladle the mussels and juice on top. Serve very hot.

Cook’s note: Another variation is to flavour the mussels with oriental aromatics, lemongrass, lime leaves, garlic chives, ginger, perhaps a spoonful or two of Thai green curry paste, then cook the mussels in coconut milk. Serve them not with cornbread, but over rice, rice noodles or wheat noodles, cooked according to the directions on the packet. Because all versions cook very quickly, it is as well to have your starch accompaniment and any garnishes ready before you start cooking the mussels.

Steamed fish with oriental aromatics

(Serves 4)

Thumb of fresh ginger
1 or 2 star anise
Dried tangerine peel or a sliver of orange zest
½ tsp fennel seeds
1 cinnamon stick
6 tbsp rice vinegar
4 tbsp soy sauce
250g Thai fragrant or Basmati rice
500g prepared vegetables, such as shredded Chinese leaves, slivers of celery, bok choy, shreds of carrot, bean sprouts
3 cloves garlic
4 spring onions
4 whole fish, about 300 -350g each, or 4 x 200g fish fillets, skinned

This recipe uses three steamer baskets, either an electric steamer or a wok with three bamboo baskets. At a pinch, you can steam the fish directly on top of the vegetables.

Put the star anise, ginger peelings, orange, fennel and cinnamon in the pan or wok which is going to be the base of the steamer, and add water, but not enough to submerge the first steamer basket. In a saucepan bring the rice to the boil in twice its volume of water, and add half a teaspoon of salt. Simmer with the lid on for five minutes. Drain the rice, rinse and strain again and place it in a steamer basket, lined with muslin if it has large holes. Steam the rice for five minutes over the aromatics.

While the rice is steaming, prepare the vegetables, and place them in the second steamer basket which you fit on top of the rice. Steam the vegetables for five to eight minutes while you prepare the fish.

Season the fish or fillets lightly and put in the third steamer basket, and on top scatter the thinnest slivers of garlic and fresh ginger, with shreds of spring onions. Sprinkle on a few drops of soy sauce. Place the third steamer basket over the vegetables, cover with a lid, and steam for about eight to 10 minutes for whole fish, thee to five minutes for fillets.

If you are using bamboo baskets, these can be brought to the table, and everyone can help themselves using Chinese soupspoons, chopsticks and bowls. A dipping sauce can be made by adding a little chilli sauce and grated ginger to the remaining soy sauce and rice vinegar. Warm sake or rice wine would accompany this dish very well.

Poached pears with mint and orange zest

(Serves 6)

6 large Conference, or firm Williams pears
50g sugar
4 sprigs of mint, plus extra for garnish
Grating of nutmeg
1 bay leaf
Thinly pared zest of orange and its juice
300ml white wine

To decorate: toasted flaked almonds, optional

Peel the pears neatly. Put all the ingredients in a large saucepan, bring to the boil and then simmer gently until the pears are tender.

Transfer the pears to wine glasses, or serving dishes and then strain the cooking juices and boil it down to a syrup to pour over the pears. Decorate each pear with a sprig of mint where the stalk should be and almonds if using them.

These are very good served with custard, thick plain yoghurt, vanilla ice cream or orange sorbet.