Irish Examiner food columnist, Catriona Redmond, tells Brendan why we're not making the most of our microwaves. She gives Brendan recipes for a microwave Bakewell pie, an egg muffin, and a baked potato.
Baked Potato
Scrub the potato well and prick all over with a fork or a knife. Fold a piece of kitchen paper in half and place on a microwaveable plate. Sit the potato on top of the kitchen paper. Microwave for five minutes on high, leave to stand for one minute.
Flip the potato over and microwave on high for a further 5 minutes, leave to stand for one minute before slicing in half. For larger potatoes or lower microwave wattage, increase the cooking time by one minute each side. You can always pop it back in for extra minutes if you find the potato is underdone.
Breakfast Muffin
Catriona batch cooks these breakfast muffins and freezes them to keep her busy household fed in a time-saving way: "I make a batch of 12 every Saturday, and they all get wrapped up and frozen. The night before they go to school, they take it out and let it defrost in the fridge. That morning, they pop it into the microwave for 90 seconds to heat it through."
The muffins are made with eggs, cheese, hashbrowns, and a little bacon or whatever your family might prefer.
Makes: 10-12 muffins
- 750g frozen hashbrowns
- 1 dozen eggs
- 2 packs of bacon medallions
- American cheese slices (use any cheese slices you prefer)
- English muffins
- Line a large baking tray and spread the hashbrowns onto the tray. Pour over a dozen whisked eggs. Bake in the oven at 180 degrees Celsius until the egg is solid and the surface is a little crispy. This takes about 30 minutes.
- Line a second baking try and set out the bacon medallions. Cook in the same oven for the last 10 minutes of the cooking time.
- Once everything is cooked, assemble these simple muffins, wrap them in tinfoil and freeze for up to a month.
- Defrost the night before eating in the fridge,
- Remove the tinfoil for reheating in the microwave. Place the muffin on a plate and separate in two halves. Heat on high for 2 minutes to make sure it's piping hot throughout, and enjoy.
Bakewell Pie
This recipe is designed for a 900 WaH microwave, so you may need to increase your cooking time accordingly.
Before commencing, wash and dry a 300g glass jam jar. Slightly bigger is also okay.
Makes: 2
- 1 medium egg
- 50g caster sugar
- 3 tablespoons sunflower oil
- 1/4 teaspoon almond extract
- 75g ground almonds
- 2 tablespoons jam of your choice
- In a large bowl, combine the egg, caster sugar, oil, almond extract and ground almonds with a fork.
- Just mix until you have a stiff batter, and you don't have an oil slick on top! Spoon the jam into the bottom of the jar. Carefully spoon the cake batter on top.
- Microwave on high for 1 minute and 30 seconds. Allow to rest for 2 minutes, then microwave on high for a further 1 minute.
- Please note, I have a very efficient 900W microwave. If your microwave is a lower wattage, you will need to cook the cake for 30 seconds longer each. 1 minute longer for 600-700W.
- If in doubt at all as to whether the cake is cooked, insert a cocktail stick into the centre of the the jar. If it comes away clean, the cake is cooked. If in doubt, blast in the microwave for a further 30 seconds.
- Leave the cake to stand for at least 10 minutes before eating as it will be piping hot.
- Serve with fresh whipped cream on top with toasted flakes.
The golden rule: Always leave anything you microwave to stand for a minute after cooking to allow hot spots to dissipate.
