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Controlling the steam or water would both use a valve and some sort of electric or mechanical controls so the complexity would be the same. However its off the shelf stuff as apposed to some of the other ideas so far that would involve building governors.
The problem with controlling the water flow to the boiler is that you don't want to starve it of water as it will be damaged if it starts to run dry. Also it doesn't give the flexibility of having some stored energy.
I agree that storing the steam energy would be more dangerous, but I would also like to point out that any steam system we make could be dangerous. In any case safety precautions like pressure relief valves should be considered, and the construction of any boiler should not be taken to lightly. But that being said I like the idea of having some storage to make the system run at a more constant rate despite the ICE engines erratic behavior. And like i said it doesn't necessarily mean you need a bigger boiler with a larger volume of water. you could still use a low mass boiler but have a separate pressure tank, the tank could even be mounted in a remote location, as long as any condensate is able to flow back to the boiler.
Another way to control the system (and probably the safest) would be to control the source of heat (the exhaust). Add a pipe in the exhaust to bypass the boiler and have a bypass valve. This valve could be a crudely made butterfly valve, it wouldn't need to seal perfectly just divert most of the exhaust flow.
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