Monday 3 January 2011

Tempting oven

That electric oven is very tempting, there is no getting away from it.

Tonight was a nice tea. I cut up some potatoes small, stirred them round in a tablespoon of oil flavoured with dried parsley and cooked them in the remoska for around an hour. This is one of my favourite ways of cooking potatoes. As there was no room in the remoska I cooked the sausages in the oven (tomato and basil sausages, on offer, absolutely delicious!) and then carrots on the hob. I have tried cooking sausages etc above the potatoes but it hasn't really been successful.

I had the sausages on the top shelf of the oven with the indicator about one notch above where I actually wanted it. The temperature control is iffy. For sausages it is not a problem but for a large and expensive roast joint or a cake the guess work involved in getting the temp right is awkward.

Also, it would be impossible to try and cook both the potatoes and the sausages in the oven at the same time, they just wouldn't cook as there is only space for one of them on each shelf and only the top shelf cooks.

I can't help think that those little electric ovens would probably be cheaper to run than an odd big gas oven anyway. And I could use the oven to store all the cake tins.

I shall have a think about this. I so rarely use the oven these days as I often bung sausages, burgers etc in the Remoska and do them with pasta (on the hob) or mash etc. We eat a lot of burgers/sausages as I get the really good quality ones as they taste nice, are easy to cook and are mainly meat.

From tonight I shall keep a note of how many times I actually use the oven. If I only use it occasionally then it is not worth me getting an electric oven. I shall see what the position is at the end of February. I shall also keep a log of what I actually cook using the oven and think if there are ways to work round this.

2 comments:

Morgan said...

I fry sausages in a little Frylight in a non stick frying pan, and then add gravy to the pan when they are half-done. I like potatoes in the remoska as you describe, but I only cook sausages in the oven when I am doing Toad in the Hole. I also do a casserole-type concoction, which would also work in the remoska...or even the slow cooker if given long enough.
It might be worth looking for a Freecycle organisation in the area so that you could ask for one of these things to try out for nothing, then at least if you don't like it in the end, it hasn't cost you a penny and you can cheerfully recycle/Freecycle it again with a clear conscience.

Hugs.

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